New look, same blog

I felt like changing the look of my blog.

School is starting soon and I'm growing more nervous as the days to the FIRST DAY dwindle down.

Yesterday was my attempt at another one of my parties. I thought it would be fun to have a potluck. Unfortunately, not many people were free/available, which Jeremy told me later could have been avoided if I had asked when most were free prior to setting the date. I don't think it would've mattered though. August is a busy month that passes quickly and surprises us all when it ends into September. People are busy moving, starting school, starting new jobs, etc. So we ended up having 3 guests, making the "party" total 5 with Jeremy and myself included. It was definitely more of just a few friends hanging out, than it was a "party". I ended up forgetting to get all of the ingredients for the carrot cake cupcakes I was planning to make (doh), but made sausage,peppers & onions for a dish, and a simple green salad with apples for another dish. Jon brought pasta salad, which was really great and George provided us with our post-walk to the the park snack of hummus dip & chips. My party attender numbers have been dwindling, so I need some new food ideas to help entice people to actually come!

I was thinking of attempting another potluck party, with an added game twist. There is a new game show Minute to Win It where contestants play games using common household items and try to complete them in a minute. Some of the games look impossible and boring, but others look fun. Maybe at the next party, I can have something like this, where I split the guests into 2 groups and have them each pick players to verse each other in these minute challenges. I'll need to have a good prize for some incentive though...thoughts?

To the ends of the Earth (or the USA)

I realized after I got back from my family roadtrip to Maine, that this summer I've been to about every coast in the continental United States. Florida, California, NJ, and Maine.

My pockets are feeling rather empty, but my camera is full of photos that I need to get printed.

My trip to Maine was fun. We went for 4 days, but managed to pack a lot of activities into our itinerary. We went to the Lobster Festival in Rockland, a winery near Augusta, Bar Harbor, and whale watching. Aside from the famous Maine lobsters, I also enjoyed the overabundance of foods containing/made of wild Maine blueberries. The winery also had a small collection of wines made exclusively from blueberries, and I bought their "Sweetheart" wine in hopes of using it to make Sangria at my next party. Speaking of parties, I'd like to hopefully plan one before my semester starts.

My first day of Grad School is September 8. I'm both excited and nervous. I haven't taken an academic class in over 2 years, and I'm sure getting back into the grind of note-taking, studying, and taking exams, will be challenging, but I'm ready for it. I'm also excited to see some new faces and meet new people.

Jeremy sprained his (other) ankle a couple days ago playing basketball, so I went to visit and take care of him yesterday. I ended up also cleaning his apartment - vacuuming (what a strange word to spell), mopping, re-organizing shelves/cupboards, scrubbing the oven/stove top, doing some laundry/folding it/putting it away, etc... Luckily, I enjoy doing all of those things and was accompanied by my handy ipod full of upbeat dance songs. Anyway, Jeremy seems to be doing a little better today. He's able to walk a little bit on his foot without being in excruciating pain, so that's a plus/sign that the sprain is NOT as bad as the one he had last year (that left him nearly immobile for over a month). It was nice to be able to help him out and take care of him though. I enjoy spending time with Jeremy, and that always pleases and surprises me at the same time, if that's possible, that we still love each other so much after being together for so long...

I should head to bed soon since I've been feeling a little under the weather today. Hopefully tomorrow will not be rainy since I always feel happier/better when there's sunshine.

PS. Tracy, I miss you!