Improvement

This past week, while not a full-blown excitementfest, has managed to be better than the previous ones. I'm waking up, I'm moving, I'm getting things (kind of) done.

Wednesday, I visited the Abuelos in the late afternoon. I was running early, and my grandmother was running late, but it ended up working out perfectly. I decided to go in their backyard, to go explore around the lake, like I used to when I was little. While the tadpoles aren't there anymore, I did get to find some baby turtles hanging out by the shore. Then, I was fed empanadas and arepas, and I got some to go. Nomnom. After that, I stopped by my dad's to visit and eat dinner over there. On the way home, I managed to have perfect timing to see my old friend Christin. She's living in Coconut Grove now, and I found the perfect parking spot, like it was destined. It really was so good to catch up with her, it had been a good year or so. We spent a good 2 hours talking about life and what we'd done and what we're going to go. It felt really good to be connected again.

I don't really remember what I did Thursday. Guess it wasn't that big of a deal. Friday, I had a momdate. We browsed through some stores on Lincoln Road, ate dinner at Van Dyke's and sawGet Him to the Greek. We had to give it a bit before we could both laugh out loud sitting next to one another.

Saturday was a busy day. My body decided that 8 a.m. was a good time to get up. I rolled around in bed before I had to get up. I met up with Sam and her friend Caitlin at the Red Bull Flugtag downtown at Bayfront Park. It was ridiculous, and exactly as the commercials show it. Again, just utter ridiculousness - people put so much time and money into building huge contraptions, only to dance around them and then crash them into the water below.

Eventually, we couldn't stand the heat any longer (it was hottttt) and headed our separate ways to go home. Jorge and Lea had been at the event, so they met up at my place, where we hung out and went swimming in the ocean. After they left, I took a pleasant little nap while it rained. Later that night, I went over to Christin's for a girl's night. Wine, sappy romantic comedies, brie, brownies and good friends full of thoughtful discussion really made it a success, and I came home relaxed and ready for a fitful night's sleep, something I had really been needing.

Sunday was spent at work, and Monday, I ran some much-needed and badly-put-off errands. Today, I enjoyed the sun, something I've been neglecting to take advantage of. I have less than a month of summer left, and it's starting to freak me out. While I'm ready to get things moving and shaking again in Gvegas, I also know how badly I'm going to miss home.

Nothing to show

As my title hints, I have no idea what I've really been doing since my last post. I've fully divulged into summer mode, and I think it's about time to stop. My mornings are drawn out, usually lasting a good 2 hours+ from the time I actually wake up. Then, I do a lot of putzing around and musing through my thoughts. Unfortunately, this does not lead into any productivity. So, I'm going to make a better effort for the next week to actually do something with all my free time.

Friday, I worked in the evening and then went to Jackie's for a formal evening. Formal is really code for playing dress-up, but it was something to do, and the creativity even extended to getting sandwich and chicken finger platters. It ended up being really cute and a good time, and it was nice to see everyone in their fancy stuff, given that the next event where such a large number of friends being all dressed up together will probably be somebody's wedding in a few years. Personally, it made me reminisce about our bar mitzvah weekends in 7th grade, especially when the kitchen turned into a makeshift dance floor.

On the glorious 4th, I went over to the Gbig's for what we retitled a "casual dinner party," given that the small number of people meant too much food and actually sitting down at the table. When we started doing fireworks, more people trickled through. It was great seeing her when she was down, and I'm always amazed at how close we lived to each other, how we were involved in similar things throughout high school and, yet, we never knew each other. Weirdweirdweird. Overall, 4th of July weekend was a no biggie for me, with too much time spent on the Internet looking at all the sales. I got my obligatory grilling in the night before, as the mom's bf and his kids were back down for the weekend.

On the bright side, I'm supposed to get packages for the next 3 days from my little online spending spree. I love packages, but I think everyone does.

Homebody

Since I last wrote, I've realized I've been nesting.

I have no idea why, but I've been overcome by a desire to clean things, cook, to beautify my room, to change where things are in my room and to just generally wallow in nostalgia. I realized on Tuesday that part of this may be because I'm truly entering into the "adult" stage of my life - I can't deny that I'm not a kid anymore, and I'm going to be out in the real world pretty soon. I've been doing a lot of reflecting on what my friends, new and old, mean to me and the ways I've changed since meeting them. Plus, today starts my third month of love life detoxing, which was originally supposed to just last through May. It accidentally kept going, so I guess I'll be unarguably mentally, emotionally and physically prepared for new happenings once I get back to Gainesville. Add to that the realization that this is most likely my last long summer at home, and I've been an emotional wreck. The nostalgic whim of kissing off kidland even made me start a bucket list late one night. Oyvey.

So, aside from my ludicrous emotional turmoil, nothing too big, event-wise at least, has been happening. Sunday evening, after my last post, DG had people over for a potluck dinner. So sophisticated was the verdict on this idea. It also made us feel old. See, I can't escape this transition anywhere I go. Anywho, dinner was great and seeing old friends was fantastic - we had interesting conversations ranging from who's getting pregnant from high school to international lovers. Classy stuff, really.

After, I saw another group of friends and we all watched the Entourage premiere together. I was happy, as I didn't even know the show was starting again so soon. Monday, I overslept. And since, I have been doing too much of that. It probably didn't help that I was at work till nearly 2 a.m. that night and, consequently, slept till 1 in the afternoon the next day. Luckily, Wednesday night I wasn't kept so late, but my sleep schedule is still ridiculously (and frustratingly) out of whack. Plus, when I do finally get to sleep, it's a lot of tossing and turning. I'm waiting for the crash to come soon. And honestly, I'll be relieved once it does. I'm sick of waking up in the middle of a crazy dream and being groggy for the rest of the day.

Friend profile: Nora

So, I've been meaning to do this for awhile - give you a taste of who my friends are. Quite simply, they will be Friend Profiles. Easy as pie.

Truthfully, I had this one all set up. However, my phone ran out of texting memory, so I completely forgot that my Q&A sesh with Nora was on there, and, consequently, I deleted all the information you are about to read below. So, a big thanks to Nora for letting me ask her mundane questions about her life and her willingness to answer, again.

This is Nora. She is really excited to be my first profile on my blog. Don't be fooled, that smile is total enthusiasm.

Nora and I met our freshman year at UF, walking home from some fratastic event. We drunkenly learned about each other, and I thought she was crying about some boyfriend who got sent to Mexico. Later on, we became better (sober) friends, and she clarified that he moved to New Mexico. Whoopsies. She's now one of my best friends. We had the foundation that most college best friendships have start with, apparently.

Here are some tidbits about her:

Hometown: Chicago

Lives in: Coral Springs (when not in Gvegas with me)

Status: Taken

Major: Advertising, Minor in Busiess

Fave animal: Wolf

Fave song: "Something" by The Beatles

Best trip: Going to Greece

Pet peeves: Incorrect grammar

Fave place: bookstores

Pets: 2 dogs - Buddy and Daisy, Rex the fish

Ideal guy: Bad boys, ie: tall, skinny, tats, outgoing, chitchatty

Fave color: red

And now, some pictures of Nora and me doing, well, whatever it is Nora and me do. Mostly rage and dress up in ridiculous things and make fun of people who aren't cultured and talk about how much we want to be in the real world or at least just have a real apartment so we don't have to deal with crazy, screaming girls.

Nora and I both used to be emo kids back in the day. So, instantly, we bonded together in our Lily-littered world. To confirm our friendship, we went to a Dashboard Confessional concert together.

Nora and I have become Team T&A when out. We know how to emphasize our assets.

Going through the past 2 years of photos of us together, I am quickly realizing that Nora is always appearing on my left. Literally, always. This is a strange phenomenon.

Last summer, our friendship strengthened significantly when we went to Bonnaroo together. We decided it was our chance to change sorority stereotypes, one adventure at a time. We now use it as a pick-up line for frat guys.

Nora has visited me in Miami a few times. After her last visit, we realized Nora is too much for Miami to handle. But it's okay, I still love her for it.