nothing, nothing, and more nothing

Hoooooo... So there's really not that much happening, yet again.

Work isn't bad. Sam and I got to go play with some puppies last week at NEADS in Sterling, where they train service dogs. We're gonna write a few stories about them (hopefully) so we're going back on Thursday to interview some people again. It should be pretty cool. I hope there are puppies again. They're friggin cute :)

I'm also meeting with a girl named Denyse on Sunday to see her artwork. She does these really pretty watercolor pictures - check some out here: http://www.objectdar.com/

Other than that, I'm almost done with this internship. I've finished the required number of articles and briefs and photos, and I wrote both required papers, too. Yay! All I need is a few more hours, so by the end of this week I should be golden. Which is good, because the application to study abroad in London finally came up so I need to get to work on that!

In other news, I've been reading a lot. This isn't anything new - anyone who knows me knows that I read pretty much a book every day... maybe every few days. I just finished The Help and Water for Elephants. Ahhhhh they were both incredible. Especially Water for Elephants. Seriously, if you haven't read that yet, do it now. It's one of those books that you literally can't put down and once you're finished, you'll wish you had read it slower to make it last longer. It's ridiculously good, and I just wanted to sit there and hold it when I finished reading. AH. <3

Read it. Now.

Florida

Hola. So I know it's been a long time since I posted, but I've been super busy.

I just spent ten days in Florida visiting my grandma and sister. My grandma has been very sick for a while, so it was good to see her. I won't go into personal details.

It was very pretty there, and ridiculously warm. I spent a lot of time in my grandma's pool, and we went to the beach a few times, too. It was almost too warm to swim - like bath water.

I went to see my sister Keleigh, too, who I haven't seen in months. It was great to see her and her boyfriend and their puppy Archer. He's a cutie. If you don't pay enough attention to him, he'll lay down in front of you on his back and just wag his tail until you finally notice him. Weirdo! But super adorable.

We also saw burrowing owls at Kel's house - these little teeny owls that live in the ground. They were soooo friggin cute and little :) One started squawking at me when I squatted down to get a picture of him. I think I scared him but it was still wicked cute. Their houses were like right in the neighborhood where people lived - you can see a house in this picture. It was weird - I've never seen something like that before.

Ohmygod I can't believe I forgot to mention this

Rich bought me tickets to see the Broadway tour of Lion King in Syracuse this September!!!

I cannot believe that I forgot to write that before, but I had to add it in now. I'm so so so excited! I've always wanted to see it, ever since I saw Beauty and the Beast in Rochester in 5th grade. Ahhhhhhh Lion King! :)

Rich surprised me with the tickets - he kept telling me he had a surprise but I didn't believe him, and then when he got here he told me the surprise was in his duffel bag. I unzipped it and there was a big black t-shirt on top with the Lion King face, and I thought the shirt was the surprise. I would have been happy with just that! But then he said, "Oh yeah, it comes with two tickets."

AHHHHH. I literally threw myself at him, I was so excited. It probably hurt. (Sorry, Rich!) :)

Anyway, I am so so excited and I had to share that. It's not just the fact that I get to go see it that's making me feel like it's Christmas, it's that I was totally surprised and got something really special from someone really special. AND we get to go together. :) So happy.

Fourth of July festvities, and new paint

I know, I know, I haven't blogged in a long time. It's actually been pretty busy around here lately, and no, I'm not just saying that.

I spent Tuesday in the Worcester office of The Landmark, editing and such, which was pretty cool despite the fact that it was a super slow day and the highlight was watching everyone in the office looking out the windows to make sure their cars wouldn't get ticketed.

Wednesday I went into the office again (in Holden this time) and did my usual stalking of people and places I could possibly write about. My editor gave me a story about a 13 year old boy in Rutland who races RC cars and has national sponsorship now. I tried to get in touch with him but so far no luck, which means I'm over deadline. Ruh roh.

I talked to the kid's grandmother, though, which is another story in itself. I don't want to say much because I don't know who reads this, but let me say this: ten cats.

This weekend, though, was by far the best of the summer so far. Rich, my boyfriend, came to visit me! Yay! His family went to the Cape for a few days and dropped him off here on their way home so we had about 3 days together. We went to Walden Pond and putted around in a little canoe, went on a real date (yay!) to dinner at one of my favorite places, O'Connor's in Worcester. If any of you live near here, you should check it out. Delicioso.

We went to see the new Pirates movie, too, which didn't disappoint. It was very good. And I bought a huge thing of popcorn so we got bloated and happy (me more than Rich...I like my popcorn) :)

Rich had to leave yesterday, which is very sad. :( It's lonely here now.

To keep busy I finished peeling all of the wallpaper out of my room in between working on that article and my internship paper. I feel like I have a lot of stuff left to do with all of that, and with my research work. Gahh. I don't know what to do - I really hope I can finish it all.

I painted my room, too, so now it's two different shades of blue, a far cry from the bright pinky-orange of the wallpaper, which made it look like the whole room was on fire whenever I turned my light on. Now it's nice and calming.

Anyway, Happy Fourth of July. Go watch some fireworks and eat a hot dog for me.