ingrid michaelson is coming to charlottesville sat sept 19

i am very excited!!!

(for those of you in dc she'll be there fri sept 18)

motorcycle ride

my friend jonathan recently bought a motorcycle, and naturally i wanted to go for a ride! now i have mixed feelings about motorcycles. one the one hand i know they're really dangerous. on the other hand....they're really really fun. you basically feel like you're flying! so anyways, jonathan borrowed a sweet motorcycle jacket and helmet for me and we took off all over the virginia countryside. we even saw a baby black bear running along the road! luckily we did not see the mama nearby, but believe me we drove away quickly. here's a little video i shot on the drive. i thought jonathan was honking for dramatic effect, but you'll notice he's actually trying to scare a deer off the left side of the road. i didn't notice this deer until after i stopped filming, but the camera caught it!

i got a new job!

most of you know this- but a few weeks ago i got a new job! i'll be a special ed TA at one of the local high schools, and i am soooo excited. it's exactly the sort of program i wanted to be in, and my hours will be fantastic!

i told my current job i was leaving two weeks ago and today was my last day! so i'm finished! now i'm gonna take some time to hang out, travel around a bit, and hopefully find an apartment/move in. i'm actually goin tomorrow to look at places with one of my roommates so we'll see how it goes.

i'm excited!

the family heads off

sadly louisa, jake, ben, & sophie left today. we had a fantastic time and here are a few pictures from the rest of the time-

reheated leftover chocolate from jake's bday chocolate fountain

sophie liked to snuggle with my stuffed animals in the morning (does this remind anyone of ET?)

ben will make an awesome old man

the kids at monticello

luray caverns (they have new audio tours and they're pretty cool!)

peach picking

some were hard to pull off...

i miss them already!

too many cats

i tried to put this at the end of the last post but it was too big to load

this is a video of sophie "reading" the book 'too many cats'. it's a little long but you get an idea of how hilarious she is. she's memorized the book and loves to 'read' it with lots of feeling!

the nephews and niece!

my texas family arrived last wed night, and it's been great!

here are a few pictures from boating on lake anna, car rides, 4th of july (oh yeah someone gave us matching shirts), and the chocolate fountain on jake's birthday. these pictures are cute but what they don't capture is how smart and hilarious these kids are! they're awesome!

family!

these people plus by bro and sister-in-law are coming today! hooray!

(and isn't sophie's face awesome in this picture?)