Prague
This past weekend, TAMMadrid flew to a TAM-reunion in PRAGUE!  (Officially the farthest (furthest?) eastward I've ever gone.)  We missed our Italian (excepting Des) and French counterparts, but the 15 of us who were there made the most of it :).  The weekend revolved, shockingly, mostly around talking (read: gossiping about one another), eating delicious foods, drinking (though yours truly abstained from the absinthe that flowed far-too-freely at the party on Saturday), and dancing at sketchysketchysketchy clubs/bars.  We did have a chance to walk around the city which is absolutely beautiful, due largely in part to the fact that it avoided being bombed during the second World War , though it was not unscathed by any means.  For example, the famous Astronomical Clock had to be repaired after being bombarded with heavy artillery fire right at the end of the war...sad.  Anyway, the architecture is fabulous (especially the clock!), the Charles Bridge is Impresionante, and the palace is absolutely gorgeous...even from the distance at which I saw it.  (There was some serious sleeping in-age, so there wasn't much chance to see it in the daylight, let alone visit.)  AND on Sunday I got to a) see Emily V. (my facebook wife) which was fabulous and b) go to an Oscars party and see them in English with a couple of fab TAMers!  My weekend was complete!  I hated leaving TAM friends, because honestly, they're some of the brightest, craziest and amazingest people I've ever been lucky enough to be thrown together with, and I'm not sure when I'll see them again.  Even so, I wasn't too unhappy to leave Prague which, despite its beauty, impressed me with a depressing ambiance due, probably, to a combination of the gray skies and my complete lack of any knowledge of the Czech language.  And coming home to Madrid was just that - coming home  - which is a good feeling no matter where that home place happens to be at the moment.

Premiere
Back in Madrid, such adventures as we never expected awaited us!  So, my amiga Jamicita met a guy a couple of weeks ago who, as it turns out, is the brother of a Spanish film/television actress.  We found this out when, on Wednesday night, he called Jamie and invited her (and me and my companyera de piso) to her new movie premiere!  With a half-hour's notice, we made ourselves casually gorgeous and headed out!  The movie was, well, terrible, but we met Spanish movie stars!  Nor did the excitement stop there because, as everyone knows, after a movie premiere there has to be an afterparty!  Yes, we went to a Spanish Movie Premiere Afterparty, which took place in a bar that will (I'm sure) never let us in again (being commoners (and poor)), but which had an open bar and delicious drinks, the terrible movie playing behind the bar, and the movie's producer singing lead vocals in a band that played a mixture of Elvis and Frank Sinatra.  PLUS we met one of the girls from the movie (who had on a fabulous red plaid dress), as well as this Jamicita's guy's sister, AND the bad guy (VERY bad, evil man) from the movie who was, of course, absolutely charming and with whom we took a picture, giggling all the while like 13 year olds.

So while life is tough sometimes, especially with missing my family and amigos back home, worrying about the future, worrying about Now, etc., it also keeps giving me gems and moments which make everything else just that much better.  MUAH.  Love and besos, como siempre.

This week we held class not in Madrid, but in Alcala de Henares on Monday and Tuesday, and then overnighting-it Wed-Thurs in Siguenza, a little town about an hour and a half away. Not only were 3/4 of the classes amAzing (they are all lectures, so it's hit or miss), but the presentations we gave on Friday were actually quite good, AND Siguenza turned out to have a great little (empty) bar whose bartender was nice enough to play every single song we asked for. In a row. AAAwesome.

Friday night, Camilo and his roommates threw a fiESta, which lasted from 10:00 pm through 7:00 am when we staggered home from the post-party club. Again, I love the mix of languages spoken at all of these...(mostly) Spanish, English, French, Italian, German and probably some Portugese. It's crazy and freaking amazing. The club was good, especially because I wore flats so my feet didn't hurt. And, of course, it reminded me of just how different it is being a girl here than being a girl in the states, mostly insofar as how extremely pushy guys here are (Spanish and non). No beating around the bush in old Espanya, oh no.

AND tonight was amAAAzing. It almost didn't happen...(if I hadn't gone to Populart, if I had left early like a couple of girls did, etc). BUT! Anyway. So, when I was here before, we used to go to Populart (a jazz club) 1-2 times a week, where there was this terrifically nice and very funny Brazilian waiter. Sadly, the last I'd heard (a LONG time ago) he'd moved to the Islas Canarias with his girlfriend and was working there to be near the beach. HOWEVER. Tonight, as we were sitting there at Populart listening to an awesome Blues group, who should walk in but My waiter!!!! Not only that, but (note: I hadn't seen him for 2 years, and I never thought he would actually remember me), but he saw me, looked twice, WAVED and then when I stood up to talk to me, called me by my name! OMG. He remembered me! Completely made my life. PLUS, he only got in last night and he's leaving on Wednesday, so there is no way I would have seen him EVER again if I hadn't seen him tonight. Um, wow. We talked for a few minutes until I had to go and catch the metro...but en serio, I am still glowing. Squeeeee! So I'm officially (again) a Populart regular. Le happy sigh. I love it here.

Love. Hugs. Besos. Miss you. MUAH!

Madrid is still, without a doubt, one of the most fabulous cities in the world. Actually living here is (obviously) very different than studying here with a group that arranges everything for you, but it's been an, erm, character-building experience. Now for the good, the bad, etc.

The good:
-Our apartment is now decorated and CUTE! Thank you IkeaSpain. And we have quite good stolen internet...at least in Camilla's room.
-The Euromasters students are superfun, and as a few of them are living the real 'auberge espanyol', we've had some dinners at which english, spanish, french and a spattering of italian are spoken, which is SO confusing and so so so fun. Especially when wine and cocktails are thrown into the mix.
-Our classes are going to be extremely interesting, and I'm actually (pathetically) excited to meet a couple of the lecturers. Mostly the one whose work I pretty-much-copied to write my Capitalism paper last semester. I want to thank him. And get his autograph. *squeals*

The bad (but mostly okay, now):
-When we moved in, we didn't have mattresses. Or heat. However, once the mattresses were delivered, they turned out to be supercomfy (aka no hole in the middle! yaaaaaaaaaay! i'd started to despair of Spanish mattresses.) And a few days later, the boiler was fixed. Aka we can take hot showers AND we don't freeze at night (yes, it does get that cold.) We also don't have internet anywhere in the house except Camilla's room...which is officially five feet wide. It's a bit tricky when we're both Skyping...but we'll survive.
-We had several tiles fall off of our bathroom wall, and will now be hiring ourselves out as Handygirls, as they are nicely glued on again and look more beautiful than ever.
-Our classes are going to be quite tough, at least workwise (thanks to that whole we-don't-want-you-to-read-too-often-in-English-so-we're-giving-you-translations-from-english-to-spanish-to-read...BAD-translations. Muahahahaha), which is NOT what us Madrilenyos were led to expect, but again, with lots of coffee (cafe con leche, soy caramel lattes, you name it it's here!) we'll prevail.

The short-circuits
So. The heat was fixed. We had internet. We even had mattresses. What we didn't have was any real food. So, under the pretense of becoming a real cook, I prepared some gourmet comida (okayokay, I'm lying, I was going to heat up some tortilla espanyola, as a break from the diet of deli meat and rice I've been consuming) and turned on the oven. Nothing happened. Confused, I turned it off, then turned it back on again. And with a crack(!)...every light in the house blacked out. Camilla, who was mascara-ing her crazylong eyelashes, shrieked and I stomped down to the super's office. He turned the lights back on! And then he had me turn on the oven...and they went off again. That time we learned our lesson. So it's back to rice and deli meat, at least for a couple of days. Le sigh.

Love you all.

I'm back in Spain! Last semester went by in an insanely fast blur, but in a nutshell: North Carolina was fabulous (especially once it cooled down), and I absolutely love both my program and the other TAM (Trans-Atlantic-Masters) students. The end of the semester was pure hell bc we had three long papers due in political-science classes (I still feel like a major imposter in a Poly-sci program). But in general, I loved all of it. :) Major highlights were: Going to DC and seeing Monica and Lisa, fur-covered beds, and a Dick Francisesque horse race with Sarah (thank you thank you!); Seeing Julia!; Claremont-people reunions; Going to Charleston with the TAM girls; Artichoke-dip-and-John- Stewart-filled nights; Grey's Anatomy parties (are these ever not a highlight?); and, of course, all of the TAM fiestas.

Christmas was also fabulous. I love going home to (some) snow and my family, even if Cody feels a little bit weirder as I get more and more distanced from it.

AND now I'm back in Madrid! I'll be here through (hopefully) next December, when I'll graduate with a MA degree and have to find a job... I'm here with two amazing TAMers (Camilla and Camilo) and we've all finally found housing! Which is superexciting! Camilo's going to live in a piso (apartment) with a Spaniard who sounds really nice (so we'll go over to practice our Spanish), and Camilla and I found a tiny-but-adorable-and-very-central piso which we'll decorate and then expect all of you to visit. (When I say tiny I'm not exaggerating...but it's really cute.) We move in Tuesday-ish (which is cutting it close, I know, because classes start on Wednesday!) and then everything's taken care of for a while. Til we need to buy things like food and sheets and AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAck.

Anyways, I'll try to update more often (after we get internet installed in the piso). In the meantime, love and hugs and smooches de Ethpanya.

*I'm in North Carolina! My (Trans-Atlantic-Master's) program is AMAZING. Even though I'm overwhelmed with a feeling of incompetence and, well, sheer ignorance when it comes to Capitalism, Foreign Policy, or really any of the other things I'm supposed to be getting a Master's in...it's terrific. I love the classes (especially our European Integration class in which the teacher is superintelligent, well-dressed (european-style), adorable and likes to go out with us for drinks :)). AND the other people in the program - 19 girls, 3 boys (thank you Scripps for preparing me for serious overdoses of estrogen) - are funny, smart, well-traveled and all like to fiesta (especially when dancing is involved,and especially when there are cages gracing the walls).

*My efficiency room is totally cute. It even has a cute little sink, fridge, microwave and burner so that I can make great culinary masterpieces. I share a bathroom with a Spanish woman across the hall. (She's also really nice, AND I get to practice my spanish. Woot!) My landlady is crazy (she sometimes wears belts across her chest. not her stomach, her chest. It's very bizarre. And when I showed up, on my first day, she handed me a teensy packet of crackers, with half of them missing, and a jar of cold water.) She's also (somewhat alarmingly) old, and very sweet. Luckily I get to do my own laundry, so I don't have any underwear-ironing to contend with.

*I passed my Spanish language exam! AKA I get to go to Madrid, starting in January! Yaaaaaaaaaaaay! So, here's the deal. COME VISIT!

I love you all. Muah.

I am sitting in one of the cutest motel rooms ever. It's totally white, with two comfy reclining chairs, and a TEDDY BEAR to keep me company. The office has homebaked cookies to give away, the bathroom is decorated in ducks, and there are wall hangings all over the place saying things like "you are special", and "you are loved". Faaantastic.

I'm actually already on my way east! Summer ended entirely too quickly - we fiested it up at the end with a river trip (even dad went) (by one of my favorite though one of the most arrogant guides)and a wedding that included a traditional good old american service, a korean service, an amazing dinner and Dancing! Dad did his best impression of Love Actually's Hugh Grant and was a huge hit. Also, claro, there was lots of family (and dog) time, chillin' with Bobbie and her 2 little boys (who may be the cutest kids in the entire world) and lots o'crazy-strong-and-deliciously-tequila-ey-margaritas for the old b-day. And lots of work before finally cleaning my room, packing, and leaving. Phew.

Now I just have to pick up a guy - he's in my master's program - in Lincoln, and we should reach Chapel Hill on Saturday night! Wheeeeeee!

Love, hugs and all the rest.
Muah

Cody gets wild during the first part of July! This is good, not only because it means that there are more people in town which means that work is much less boring, but also because it means that it's time for the pro-rodeo! From the 1st to the 4th (I'm sure I've written about this before), instead of the usual Cody Nite Rodeo, which, albeit good, is an amateur rodeo, they hold the Cody Stampede, which is on the Pro-rodeo circuit! I LOVE IT! I feel very bloodthirsty chillin there, cheering and screaming for a bunch of men and bulls and broncos, all while eating cotton candy and drinking diet coke (and beer) to my heart's content...bloodthirsty and happy. :D

So not only was dad busy, but mom was announcing during the parade this year. My favorite moment was when dad rode by with the Stampede Committee (the guys who put on the rodeo). Mom said, "One of those handsome cowboys is my husband! Will you tip your hat for us, honey?" And the entire board lifted their hats! Mom burst into unstoppable giggles (all of this into the microphone, btw) and yelled out "Boy am I a lucky girl!" She couldn't stop laughing. Twas faaabulous.

In other news, I found an apartment for next semester in North Carolina. It's actually an efficiency in the upstairs of a house owned by an incredibly nice sounding older lady. I'll live there with one other girl, and everything's included in the rent - even internet! Woohoo! (Now, if only I could finish gettng my loans through...GAAAAH!)

Aight, back to work and pretending that it's not already mid-July. I miss you.

Home highlights:

For my dad's birthday we had a delicious dinner (shrimp caesar salad may be surpassing avocado as my favorite food) and an even better cake (if i do say so myself ;)). The next day we had a bunch of well known western authors over to the house for a barbeque (there's a convention of them in town) and watched them get shnockered and stumble around in cowboy hats and boots, waving their beers and steaks and talking about publishing, western art, and women (of course). We have a lot of leftovers, so if you like steak and macaroni salad and brownies...this is the place to be.

Work is mostly the same as last year (read: boring), except that, to add some spice, we had a boat flip the other day! No one was really hurt, but it was a boat of old people and they were FREEzing. Good old snowmelt runnoff.

The Pow-Wow is today! aka...Indian Tacos, a wonderful concoction of fry bread, meat, and other yummies. All that AND dancing and crafts.

And tonight I'm headed to Yellowstone to celebrate Glenn's 22nd birthday with the bears and the geysers! YEEEEhaw!

Ciao darlings, and loads of love and hugs (of course)

Woot! I'm in CANADA having an absolutely fabulous time with my two ex-roommates (and Michelle's 2 birds who, although cute, are so freaking loud it's unbelievable.) We have been sleeping a lot, watching a lot of tv, eating yummy food all the time, and of course seeing Vancouver! And there was a terrIfic pirate party on Monday complete with 5 swords (plastic, of course), 1 pirate orca (also plastic), 1 hot tub and numerous cocktails made by the one and only Captain Michelle.

More news is: I GRADUATED! CRAZYCRAZYCRAZY! The week and weekend before were crazy - we went to Vegas, my parents came (and packed up my room - thank heavens for parents :) ), we all went to the dance party the night before graduation with tons of Scrippsies and awesome dancing parents and our college president leading a Conga line. And then came Graduation and that horrible saying-goodbye thing, to all of the amazing wonderful incredible people I've come to love so much over the past few years. Luckily I expect not to have to really say goodbye to any of you for too long. In fact, I foresee lots of visiting and emailing and facebook poking in our futures...but enough of that rambling crap.

Ciao for now. Love. And I miss you all. Mucho.

I finished both theses (albeit with some clashing with my spanish reader) with 96 pages about Willa Cather (in English) and 60ish pages on Luis Cernuda (in Spanish!) AND I got fairly good grades on both! Woot! SO as it turns out...

I WILL GRADUATE ON SUNDAY! GAH! (In the ugliest robes EVER!)

Recently I've hung out with amazing folks, been a loner while I pretend to pack, seen my family!, gone to Vegas with some cool peeps, shopshopshopped, tried to figure out more concrete future shiznit, and drunk copious amounts of coffee, diet coke, and other assorted beverages.

While I'm ready to graduate (oh-so-ready) and leave mucho del pettiness-o and drama behind, I am going to miss all of these people and these moments and this incredible life so so so much. (Just like I miss all of my espanyoles...) Me duelen goodbyes.

Loveloveloveandmorelove,
Me

So what's really keeping me going on this English thesis is the fact that Willa Cather is freaking amazing. I absolutely love her. So I'm gonna post my two favorite quotes -- so beautiful and poignant and amazing that they make my heart ache; things that are not necessarily easy to articulate, but that are nonetheless true.

"There was about Alexandra something of the impervious calm of the fatalist, always disconcerting to very young people, who cannot feel that the heart lives at all unless it is still at the mercy of storms; unless its strings can scream to the touch of pain."

And:

"She wanted to live and dream -- a hundred years, forever! As long as this sweetness welled up in her heart, as long as her breast could hold this treasure of pain! She felt as the pond must feel when it held the moon like that; when it encircled and swelled with that image of gold."

Simply. Amazing.

~ I have officially turned in a draft of my spanish thesis. It would have been better if my first reader wasn't mean, but STILL!!!!!!!!!!! Now I just have to work on my English one, turn in that draft, hope that comments aren't too horrible AND are changeable...and turn it on the 21st of April! Thank heavens I left myself so much time...
~ I hope that everyone had as good a time at 01:02:03, 04/05/06 as we Scrippsies (and Mudders) did. Next party? 12:34:56, 07/08/09. Be there.
~Okay, and since Spring break, the monotony has been broken up with: the aforementioned celebration, Disneyland (mostly, admittedly, the Tower of Terror because it is the coolestrideEVER), a trip to LAX and then Santa Monica with Julia and Sarah and Glenn (who had a long layover) for a walk on the pier and some AMAZING crepes and martinis!!, TONS of rain and some fabulous grey-sky-windyness yesterday. Oh, and thesis. Riiiight.

Otherwise things are pretty much senior-year-ish. Things are uncertain (futurewise), people are crazystressed, the weather has been acting apocolyptic. But all in all I think we're handling things well. Friends are fabulous, incredible, etc. Now if only we could simmer down some of those hormones everything would be perfect...

Love, hugs, and of course os echo de menos.

Spring break (March 10-19) was utterly fabulous.

A group of 12 of us (although only 11 after the first night because Katie :( had to leave to play softball) found ourselves a pair of cabins a wee bit north of Santa Barbara and were there from Tuesday through Sunday. The cabins were adorable - each had two bunk beds and a loft, as well as a kitchenette (mind you the "ette" was emphasized) and a bathroom(we decided to really rough it on this trip). There were little barbecue pits in front of each cabin (Fire! Cris's real vacation began here), a country store/coffee shop about 2 minutes away, and a BEACH only 10 minutes (walking) away - and the walk was through foresty-area. So. Beautiful. And in Nature! (Gasp!) We could even see the stars at night...and smell the skunks! Mmmmmmmmmmm.

Of course, debauchery ensued...just kidding (or am I?). We:
- Ate cheeseburgers with all the trimmings -- including avocado - and s'mores for dessert! And when it was cold and rainy - Bailey's with hot chocolate! (Multiple times, mind you.)
- Had a chest of FUN! (Self-explanatory?)
- Played oh-so-many games. There was a stage near the pool that we decided would be the best place to perform upon for one charade-like-game, and boy did people step up to the plate (or the platform if you will). Highlights were Reid pretending to be Mary Poppins and numerous people doing the the Pterodactyl walk (Emily's specialty and of course Mike guessed it! Hahaha.) -- all in the dark under the moon and stars, after, perhaps, a wee bit of liquid warmth. Pretty much a perfect night.
- Went to Solvang (random little danish (Yay Danes! (aka Michelle) village full of windmills), buy marzipan and eat an amazingly delicious dinner in honor of St. Patty's day!
- Explored downtown Santa Barbara via coffee shops and Verizon stores. Such a pretty town.
- Some people actually got work done during the breaks in the action (YAY Lauren and Caitlin!) while others rented cool bikes with flowers painted on them (go Sarah), looked at anenomes (Julia is such a cute beach-comber), basked in the sun, and listened to waves and music - provided by our favorite singer/songwriter Amy and her gueeetar named Twang.
- Watched sunset at the beach. Pretty much a wee little spot of heaven.
- Lost games of soccer and frisbee to a group of 10-12 year old boys -- though damn it we kept our dignity -- (Oh, no, wait...) -- and then ran down to the ocean in the rain and jumped in despite its freeeeezingness!

In short: amazing, fun, relaxing, incredible people, and oh-my-goodness such a lovely memoria.

~ Nelson came to visit! We went to DISNEYLAND (WAY FUN), saw Aunt Carla and Uncle Bob (out in beautiful old Ventura), and chizilled here on campus. Crazy old Claremont, eh Nel? Anyways, it was fabulous and I absolutely loved having him out here! (He even got a bit of a math lesson while hanging out on mudd :) )
~ There were at least 3 birthday parties for wonderful people who all celebrated with lots of friends and drinks and cake!
~ Valentine's day came and went with the spreading of love and hugs and a few flowers here and there.
~ Sleep has become less important as of late...almost obsolete.
~ Perhaps as a result of the above, my diet coke consumption has increased a wee, tiny, itsy-bitsy-bit.
~ I've procrastinated more than I've ever done in my life, resulting in a very full thesis-writing schedule for the entirety of March. Okay, not the entirety. Probably not even the majority of March. But still, some major writing is gonna happen this month. I swear. (After, ya know, the Oscars and Spring Break and Kareoke bars and some Fiestitas. Muahaha.)
~ And of course I've spent enormous and wonderful quantities of time with my amazingly lovely amigos aqui causing all sorts of mischief and being just generally debaucherous.

I love you all and miss vosotros como whoa. I got all nostalgica ayer y mire a todos mis fotos y...ay dios mio ~ como yo quiero regresar a un hostel en la playa en espanya para un tiempo largo. JOder.
Besos y carinyo, clars.

SO aside from the Thesis stress (and class, but really who thinks about That terribly often?), all sorts of partying is going on (even the occasional sleepover in the Browning living room on the couch...). I've been having incredibly wonderfully fun times with the English Major Posse (aka Emily, Lauren, and Amy, all of whom are fabulous and pretty much the most amazing people in the world (and definitely not watching over my shoulder as I write this.)) We even had a Superbowl party! (Which we only went to for the food.) (And for the post-game Grey's Anatomy, which was superintense.)

One of the MOST exciting things we've done recently was paintballing (though Emily couldn't come and we missed her terribly), and although we had only slept 2 hours the night before...it was interesting and okay-fun. Except that the next day we were all moving like we had arthritis (except Emily (who wants to be able to press ctrl+f and find her name on this page more than once)) and had bruises all over. And except that it's hard to actually play a game with guns where one of the fields is named "Vietnam" and which, according to many paintball veterans, looks awfully realistic.

But anyways, back to the fun! (with Emily and Lauren and Amy and oh my god stop pressuring me to write your names here).

I miss you all and love y'all como whoa.

~Easy, fast, fun drive back up to Sacramento and then down to...

~San Diego the weekend before school started! Tristan showed me around the Gaslamp area (in SD) on Friday night (while eating inordinate amounts of chocolate and stopping in a German-esque (according to him) beer-garden-type place.) What an incredibly lovely, fun city. Saturday we visited a beach and explored some pretty-albeit-empty tide pools (my boots are still shedding sand). Then off to visit Shannon(!) with whom I gossiped for hours and hours.

~Back to school last Sunday. Incredibly good to see everybody and talk muchomuchomucho over lemon drop martinis, red wine, Grey's Anatomy and assorted other fabulous tv shows.

~Classes, working with 4-year-olds, homework and thesis meetings. Meh. These are obviously not a priority.

~Really avoiding thinking about next year. In a big way.

~Game nights in Sarah(otherwiseknownasthegimp)'s suite. Lot of games, yummy drinks, flirting, catching up, and just generally enjoying each other's company.

Really, almost Too social.
Abrazos a todos

Christmas and New Years (and the other assorted holidays) were freaking awesome. I love my family and my dogs. And my warm boots. And of course the people who were home over break. (Including Glenn and Karl and Dustin, all of whom were involved in an intervention to help me with my non-existent-pothead problem. Thanks Glenn. Mucho.)
Along with that, here are the other exciting things that have happened during vacation:

1) We went bar-hopping once (apparently bartenders in Wyoming are unused to making cosmos - sigh) hitting up the Irma (old people hangout), the Silver Dollar (hangout for the people who will prolly never leave Cody), and Cooter Brown's (hangout for the, erm, more marginalized folks in town).
2) Lotsa church and singing (not too off key this year!) for Christmas Eve.
3) Drinking and eating fudge with parents and friends of parents for New Years Eve (per usual, and very exciting of course)
4) Oh so many movies (Yay Netflix!)
5) Sending off a few graduate school applications.
6) Cleaning out my room. SOOOOO many bags of crap are now making their way to the Bargain Box. Yay reusable crap!
7) Getting ready to leave MANYANA! WHERE DOES VACATION GO??!!
8) Echando-os de menos.

Besos!

EndofSemester/Beginningofbreak Highlights:

- Turning in my thesis chapter!
- MAKING EARRINGS with the chicas aqui (Yay new obsessions!)
- Oh-so-much-homework. And a grad school application.
- Seeing Chronicles of Narnia
- Making fudge, watching Love Actually, and drinking wine
- Casemas, even though the fake snow smelled like old, nasty lotion
- Playing Therapy (oh how I love games that make people squirm) with Baileys and hot chocolate
- Driving home with my little (aka 6'2" tall) brother
- Getting home, being greeted by the DOGS (and my wonderful PARENTS), and seeing fabulous people (even if several of them are engaged which strikes me as absolutely CRAZY)

On a side note, I miss y'all terribly.

I wish you all the Merriest of Christmases and Felithes Fiestas!!!

All my love and huge hugs ~ Evelyn

This past weekend I went to Las Vegas to see the first two opening nights of the National Finals Rodeo with my dad. It was SO fantastic!
On Friday night we stayed at the Mandalay Bay - (after a slight fiasco with rooms getting cancelled at our original hotel) - on the top (34th) floor with a gorgeous view of the strip and the best mattresses EVER. And a huge bathroom. I loved it. On Saturday, we moved to the uber-stylin' Super8, which was also actually quite nice, except for the slightly sketchy guys who hung out in the back alley doing...well. We don't ask questions like that.

Friday: RODEO! AMAZING! Picked up dad from the airport, drove straight to the rodeo: fricking awesome! Afterwards we chilled in the tents that the sponsors had set up with bars and music, etc. (Sponsors being: Coors, Jack Daniels, Dodge, and the US Smokeless Tobacco Co...all VERY classy.)

Saturday: Walked around Vegas all day (including at the Cowboy Convention (a trade show) where I won a baseball cap), ate at In&Out, drank margaritas (well, dad had a very manly beer), and then went to the 2nd night of the rodeo, where I screamed myself even more hoarse, and where we saw an INCREDIBLE bareback rider get totally gypped point-wise, but then a bullrider who got 94 points and was absolutely amazing. I find myself getting way too into the whole cheering thing, and dad left a little more deaf in his left ear than he was before. I also got Trevor Brazille's autograph on my ticket! (And Fred Whitfield's, but that's not quite as exciting.)

Now, back to ohmygodsomuchwork. But what an incredibly nice weekend with my dad :D
Lovelovelove y'all.

I looooooove seeing my family. Nelson is tall and growing a goatee, which would be cute except that he can't apparently grow any hair in the Middle of his chin, so it's growing kind of only on the sides and looks a bit sketchy. Anyway, he's going to shave it off as soon as he buys a new razor...Mom and Dad look fabulous if a bit tired. And I saw the puppies! Adeline is so big now (comparatively) and Shadrach is, well, deaf and somewhat blind, but still has a very good heart, nose, and appetite. And my aunt and uncle are kinda crazy and feed tons of (probably rabid) raccoons in their backyard. C'est la...nobody's family is perfecto. Thanksgiving was fabulous nonetheless.

November's been a bit of a blur. Lots of essays (I finished my 30-pager TONIGHT! YAY! Now onto grad school apps and all of the other homework that's been ignored!), lots of class, not much sleep, and some good old fashioned fun, including Julia's birthday party! 'Twas awesome. We all got dressed up, there were classy yummy sweet drinks and good desserts, pretty decorations, and good music. Some people (no names, please) even went a bit crazy and sang and danced along to the song "I Touched Myself", along with other classics. Oh the craziness ;).

This year is killer. It's so hard not knowing what's in store for next year. And whether or not we'll even all survive this year. Jodin. *Sigh*

Lots o'love. Os echo de menos.