Ten to go

Well, looks like it's time for my weekly update. I'll make it a quick update.

Wednesday I learned I had no cavities, had lunch with my dad and saw my grandparents. I'm not totally sure what I did on Thursday or Friday. It probably involved a lot of looking down at the beach and a lot of junk TV. Oh, and I also got a ginormous package of clothing I ordered online. Yahoo for that.

Saturday, I went to a high schooler's 17th birthday after work. Yes, you read that right. A friend's little sister had a birthday kegger and us older kids were there to "supervise." It was strange. I felt old and experienced. Mer.

Sunday, I had the delight of closing at work. On Monday, I returned a good half of the clothes I ordered since they didn't fit (which was actually my original plan - go me!) I also went to a bookstore to get some books. That last sentence was really redundant, sorry. But anywho, I hadn't been in a bookstore just to browse in forever. I really enjoyed it and need to make it a point to go once back in Gainesville as an escape.

Yesterday, I read by the pool for a bit and then went with my mom to my grandparents'. We ended up finding a little dachshund running around, played with it for awhile, decided to call it Frank, watched it try to hunt lizards and introduced it to splashing around in the lake, all to have it taken away by his fat little owners who didn't even thank us for taking care of him. Rude. On the bright side, I got empanadas and arepas to bring home.

Today was simple. I slept too late in between waking up from really weird dreams, hung out on the beach for a bit, made a cake using a recipe that used to be a favorite in high school and finished up some involvement applications. I should be going out, but the limited luxury of my couch and the proximity (or lack thereof) of my condo keeps me in. I go back to Gainesville in 10 days and am not ready to leave home.

I swear, nearly once a day, I go "I should update my blog." And then I don't. I don't know why I don't either. I suppose on my next one I will be better. I think part of the reason is this is a things-I-did blog, not something that I just scribble on.

By the way, I've decided to start a separate blog once my Facebook account is activated again, given that this blog purely had the purpose of documenting a summer that I couldn't share through obnoxious status updates and too many pointless photographs. Prepare for a new link to be posted on Bid Day.

Bittersweet things

This weekend was spent in Gainesville, seeing friends and doing general college town shenanigans. It was good to see everyone, as usual, and to appreciate what they've come to mean to me. Also, after our Ginnie Springs trip, we reflected on if there will ever be another time in our lives when we will load up on school buses full of a pallet of Natty's and float down a river for a few hours, just enjoying ourselves and the moment. Our conclusion was no, we have 2 more years to do all this and we better enjoy every remaining minute on it.

So bittersweet, but it made me so excited to go back in the fall. I'm looking forward to truly taking advantage of what's left of my college career. Especially given that I was asked a good 3 times at a Friday latenight if I was a freshman. While I had to tell the nice little frat boys that, no, I was actually their elder, it also brought to my attention that I better use my youth while it's still there.

Now, I'm home and sick. No bueno, but I think that now I've gotten through the first 48 hours of it, my sinuses are starting to regulate themselves again. I know you really wanted to read all that, sorry.

My nose might also be on the breathable side now because I started bawling while I was watching a movie involving a kitty that looked like my old one. I miss George. A lot a lot a lot. And as much as I keep pushing for a new one, he was a special one and always will be. It still makes me upset that we had to leave him at my old house, but I just imagine he's happier there than he would be cooped up in the condo.

I've spent a good majority of this night sitting on my balcony, watching all that is Miami. This view has become one of my favorite things in the world. You can see all the cars like ants, watch the weather rolling in, the ocean always churning in the background. I intend to enjoy the last 2 1/2 weeks I have of it.

Just myself

I've realized that this summer has led to a lot of alone time, just me sitting and thinking and wondering. I made an effort to detox from the bad things around me, and I think it's working pretty well. While I wouldn't exactly say that I'm joyous about the state of things that surround me and my life right now, I am proud to say that I do know what will make me happy. I just need the right surroundings and the right opportunities.

Suffice it to say, I think that's what matters most - knowing what you need, figuring out what you want and making yourself capable to achieve it, all with a dose of sensibility and a dash of optimism.

On that note, with all my musings, I've really embraced my creativity. I don't want it to go away when I become a part of the college crowd mentality again. I'm definitely going to make an effort to remain an indivudal, while still keeping my fratstar shining. Also, I've realized that this blog has been more of a page from my iCal than anything else, so I'm going to make an effort to get a little more personal and more frequent during my last month of writing on here.

That's another dilemma - I want to keep blogging, but I feel that this one's purpose - to document my summer without Facebook - will be done come Bid Day. Do I start another one? Should I just change the title of this one and keep going on here? If anyone has any ideas or comments, help me out please. I'm a bit baffled with what I should do. But, on the bright side, I don't have to make a decision till August 25th. I guess time is on my side this time.

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.