pc or mac?

most (if not all) of you know about the blue screen of death that my computer occasionally gets. well i've been getting it several times a day lately and with starting grad classes in the fall i have decided that it's finally time to invest in a new computer. (i'll be starting part time evening classes through Mary Baldwin to work towards my special ed teaching certificate and masters)

and so now here's the question- what kind to get? i must admit i've been leaning towards switching over to a mac, but am still researching.

so i need your help- what kind of computer do you have? what do you like/dislike about it?

Book Signing

last Saturday my dad has his first book signing! it was at a Barnes & Noble in Harrisonburg, VA. they had a poster for him up in the window and a table set up right in front. it was awesome and really cool to see! also, on my 3,650 things to be happy about calendar one of the things for that day was "book signings" how appropriate!


check out the book here

Texas comes to Cville

this post is way over due, but my Texas family came to visit Charlottesville a few weeks ago so i'd thought i'd post some pictures! having the kids here gives us excuses to do lots of fun things, so we did some of our staple activities as well as some new ones. we took our annual boating trip on Lake Anna, went peach picking, and of course did chocolate fountain! we also added some new events this summer like going to Frontier Culture Museum (which is in Staunton, VA and is pretty sweet) and throwing pots on the wheel at a friend of my parents house! it was great to have them here!

Sophie modeling on lake Anna

the family looks like they should be in a noodle ad herepeach picking- joined by Katie!

chocolate fountain is a must

"ladies breakfast" with Sophie while the men went out to breakfast. we used a combination of a tea set of mine given to me by Granny Thollander and Sophie's princess tea set- it was a big hit

jake making a pot on the wheel!

it's always awesome to see them!

I just need you now!

last Sunday my mom and i went to the Charlottesville Pavilion to see Lady Antebellum! The Pavilion is an outdoor music venue in Charlottesville, and one of my favorite places to go. They hold free concerts on Fridays in the summer (call "Fridays After Five") but this was my first time going for a full on big show! it was great!

it's not that big of a place so every seat has a pretty good view- here's the band

and here's the inside of the Pavilion tent

and one more picture of the band (a little blurry)

Lady Antebellum was fantastic and it was a really great show. We also had our own little extra show as the 3 middle-aged women sitting next to me were totally wasted. first it was humorous as they spilled drinks on the ground and gave us lots of delicious kettle corn they had bought. but as they kept drinking it got pretty out of hand! one lady fell into me about 3 times and i'd catch her and place her back in her seat. the people in front of us had to sit forward the whole time for fear of the alcohol coming back up. after making a spectacle of themselves, two of them passed out and security came to kick them out. as they were escorted out our entire section gave the security guard and the guy that had got him a standing ovation. it was pretty quite a side show

tasty tasty tasty

last saturday i went tubing on the james river with a couple of my roommates and some friends. the water was awesome, the weather nice, and it was all around a great time. one of our friends had forgotten his wallet so we bought him breakfast and provided some snacks. the next day we opened our front door to this:

now if you haven't discovered munchables yet, let me introduce you. take a thin pretzel and cover it with a tasty ritz cracker. add a dash of flavor (my favorite is cheesy sour cream & onion) and let yourself enter a whole new snacking experience. gosh they're delicious

needless to say the beer & cracker fairy is a welcome guest

i like to dress business professional

gotta love a job where you can wear this to work. it was dress as your favorite food day. anyone know what i am? (hint: a one word answer will not fully capture my costume)

lots and lots of sun

usually when i draw the sun i draw it like this:

it just looks so friendly! but today with the temperature breaking 100 and with the heat index being about one-hundred-and-ridiculous, i felt like i understood the true nature of the sun, and imagined it like this:

and for the 7 minutes or so that i was outside tie-dying bandannas with my campers i felt like this:that's right, i'm comparing my experience to melted rock. oh sun how i love you, but i forget how powerful you can be!