the MOTHERLAND!

i realize this grand announcement is a little old-newsy, and some might argue that it doesn't quite deserve the hype that i'm going to give it, as it is going on 6 weeks since i first discovered the news.

the news that i am going to be serving my mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in:

BERLIN, GERMANY!!! for the next 18 months of my life.



[pretend like you didn't know that already and get WAY excited for me ok?]

i enter the MTC on dec.7, which also happens to be pearl harbor day, and rest assured that my dear history-loving heart fully recognizes and appreciates that fact.

i cannot even wait. i'm already obsessed (yes, i'll admit it) with anything and everything German. also, i enrolled in german 101 and learned that "mustache" in german = schnurrbart. say that out loud and NOT laugh, i seriously dare you.

so. there you have it. this blog posting of my mission call pretty much equals in officialness as the letter of acceptance i sent to the first presidency, right?

XoXOxxxOXOoooOX

Halfed It

done and done.

13.1 miles

1:57 minutes

and only a minimal amount of crying involved.

WOOOOOOO!

my bathroom.

i have serious issues with public restrooms. it is nearly impossible for me to go the bathroom when there are other people in the vicinity. this fear combined with the fact that i am a college student have made for some painful experiences.

while on campus i will go to embarrassingly far lengths to avoid a congested bathroom. in doing so i have discovered "gem" restrooms where there is very little traffic and i become a loyal fan and frequenter. i have favorite restrooms in almost every building on campus. once such bathroom is the one located outside my office in the Kennedy Center.

i realized just how comfortable i have become with this particular bathroom when i discovered myself unbuttoning my pants before i had opened the bathroom door. once inside, i didn't even bother to close the stall door (!)

SO weird. i kind of love it though.

i wasn't kidding...

about that last post.

my roommate's fiance opened up his backpack yesterday during class and found one of our furry friends sitting amongst his notebooks.

hair here, hair there, hair everywhere.

really though, it's getting out of control.

i don't dare walk on the carpet without shoes on.

i'm afraid to touch our floor with any part of my body for fear i will be the innocent victim of a predator hairball.

i feel the uncomfortable feeling of hair stuck between your toes and tangled up in your socks on a regular basis.

i'll admit, we don't vacuum a whole lot. BUT. this saturday i finally broke down and pulled out the dusty vacuum from the closet and zoomed around the apartment with a vengeance, laughing all the while at all the hairballs i was snatching up.

however, it was the hairballs, or the "domestic tumbleweeds" as my roommate lovingly refers to them, that had the last laugh. the very next day, i was feeling comfortable to enough to lay on our ground when i looked to my left. HAIRBALL. i looked to my right. HAIRBALL.

the heck??!

boom baby!

i'm baaaaaack.

i'm sure all my followers are just ecstatic to hear that i'm back from my year long blog hiatus induced by the fact that i forgot my password.

however, i am no longer a Lady in Spain, i've been forced to update,

and consequently, my posts will probably not be near as exciting as they once were.

but. nevertheless. stay tuned.

we didn't start the fire

This weekend was spent enjoying Spain's biggest pyro-holiday: Las Fallas in Valencia. It is a chance for every fire-loving fellow to meddle with anything and everything fire related until their hearts are content and every desire satisfied. The entire city was rigged with lines and lines of explosives and the constantly exploding fire crackers kept us on our toes. The huge fallas (wood framing covered with paper mache and then painted to resemble Disney's Toony Town architecture) were set up on every corner.

This holiday includes parades of traditional Valencian music and dress, bull fights, delicious sweets sold from booths, millions of people crowding the streets, fire crackers, and more. However, the concluding event trumps them all: the torching of all of"las fallas" at midnight.

Naturally, with this kind of environment we couldn't help but envision ourselves as part of a massive social revolution, and act accordingly all day with the sweet tunes of Billy Joel to accompany us.

The streets literally full of fire crackers.

Delicous bonuelos

traditional dress and dance of Valencia.

the burning of our falla

our "revolution faces"

what a day.