The first three weeks of summer saw me sitting on the couch, watching reruns of ER and knitting a blanket. It was exactly what I needed. Here's a picture of my handiwork:
On the 4th of July, I went to DC for a Super Patriotic Independence Day Extravaganza with Carla, Aya, Tim, and Justine. (Matt was in Canada being thoroughly unpatriotic, but enjoying some time with good friends from college). We got there early for the parade (and nearly died of heat stroke in the process, as the heat index surpassed 100 that day, and we were outside from 9:45 till 1:45), then made a quick pass at the Muppets exhibit in the American History museum before deciding to try to avoid the crowd and go eat lunch at the old post office. After lunch we came back to the national mall to see the folk festival that was going on, but it started to rain and we had to make a beeline for the Natural History Museum. While there, Carla and I were violated by a perv lurking around the bug zoo...he was walking up to ladies and prodding their rears with his dirty parts, but it seemed as though he was just bumping in to you. It took me three times to notice that this is what he was doing, and Carla nearly as long. We reported him to security, but they probably couldn't do anything about it. Once the rain let up, we hopped on the metro to get away from the crowd for a nice dinner, then came back for fireworks.
There were 800,000 people watching the show in the national mall...which means about 500,000 trying to get on the metro afterward. It was truly the most insane experience of my life, waiting in that mob. Fortunately they were smart enough to only let people down onto the platform in small groups. Unfortunately, when they let us down there was a train headed to our destination that Carla was just able to hop on to...and the rest of us missed. We chased after the train, watching Carla yell "I don't know where I'm going!" and trying to signal to her to go all the way to the end. Here we are showing how sad we are to have lost her...
After the trip to DC, I had a few funny tan lines, so I decided to try out this whole tanning booth thing. There was a new place near my house that was offering a deal, so I went. First of all, everyone should try a tanning bed at least once in your life because it is a crazy experience - I'd say akin to a roller coaster, with all the noise and the danger (at least if you're a nutjob like me and spend your entire 8 minutes lying there thinking of everything that could go wrong and cause you to become a crispy corpse). I did get a little burned, but by the time of the wedding I was looking sunkissed and super.
So that brings me up to the big event - Laura's wedding on July 11. It was the most fun I've had in ages! The festivities officially started on Thursday with the bachelorette party - we went to Suzi's for a fajita dinner and some reminiscing, then out to Kelly's for a beer and all the naughty presents. Laura's brother Eric, as the maid of honor, came along to Kelly's, and I'm sure he was endlessly embarrassed by the sex book and the edible undies...but he was a good sport. Here's the bridal party (Liz, Laura, and Betsy, Zack's sister, on the bottom, and Christie and me on the top), enjoying our time together.
Next came Friday's endless fun. We all went together to have manicures and pedicures at this great little place in Old Town Albuquerque. We brought along massively delicious chocolate covered strawberries from the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory (P.S. if you're nice to the guy working there, he might just give you a free strawberry...) and "Barefoot Bubbly" champagne for a truly pampered experience. Then it was off to home to prepare for the rehearsal, which was a lot more fun and less stressful than I thought it would be. Once we'd gotten the right walking speed and camera angles and everything, we piled in the church van to go to the rehearsal dinner, which was at an Albuquerque Isotopes game (great idea, Laura!). Here's some of Laura's college friends and us, enjoying the picnic:
Finally, the wedding day arrived! The wedding was beautiful (I'll have you know my mother made the bridesmaids' dresses, and she even finished them more than 12 hours before the wedding started!), fun, and a little nontraditional. I cried, of course, because now it's Zack's job to be Laura's best friend and make her happy, and because he loves my crazy Laura for who she is, but I'm glad we got her hitched. The reception was definitely the most fun reception I've been to, probably because I knew everyone and helped choose the dance music, but it was really well planned as well...I even caught the bouquet (though Matt says it doesn't count if I picked it up off the floor, which I did, but only because Laura chucked it waaaaay to far!). Here are the best wedding pictures for those who are interested....(there's more writing after the pictures!)
After the wedding I went to Las Cruces with my mom to see my cousin and her baby, the adorable Leslie Ann. Short trip, but it was nice to see Toni and meet the baby. We even got to see my aunt Jo and uncle Clint for a minute before we had to leave. A lot of driving for one day, but to see family and make a quick trip down memory lane with a drive through Truth or Consequences, it was worth it.
After a bit more time at home, it was back to B'more and trying to find a place to live for the next year. We decided that we wanted to move further in to the city, and to live in a cute rowhouse with a bit more Baltimore flavor. We found a roommate so that we'd have more options (hard to find a 2 bedroom in our price range, but 3 bedrooms was much easier). The new roomie is a 2006 corps member who, incidentally, will be teaching Spanish at my school this year. He'll have the kids that I had this year...they're going to freak when Jeremy gives his phone number and it's the same as mine. It'll just expedite that whole "Mr. Tor is dating Ms. McCants" rumor that would spread no matter what anyway. At any rate, we've got a cute house now...2 bedrooms plus this crazy loft room (like a balcony overlooking the first floor), 3 stories, a park across the street (that is clean and not sketchy), and an enclosed back yard. I've been painting to spruce up the inside a bit more (it was very, very white, and painted all with flat paint...now it's more fun). It's in Seton Hill, the neighborhood just west of Mount Vernon. Nice neighborhood! We loved the house and even convinced the landlord to give it to us for $300 a month less than he really was asking. Yay!
So that's the summer. Class starts on August 28. Oh yeah, Dr. Peters officially did quit...so who knows if/when we'll have a new principal. I'd be worried, but I hated Dr. Peters so much for being such an unprofessional lunatic that having no principal will be better than having her again. It will all work out in the end! Now it's off to plan for the year (I've been working with my friend Adam on our plans, and we're already pretty far, and I couldn't be more excited!) and finish packing up the old house...Sunday is moving day. Check back for school updates...I'll be regular again once school is up and running. :-)
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