It's a little chilly here today. The sky is gray and the trees are swaying in a cool breeze that's blowing through my windows. It feels like April, not June. It's nice to be cool though, since the air conditioning hasn't worked since I got home. My sister is home now, until Monday or Tuesday. She came to see me, to do some research, to be home for Father's Day. We went to the mall to see Up and do some shopping today. Up was funny and sad and it made me cry but I was smiling at the end. I recommend it. And of course I couldn't resist shopping. It's my weakness, among other things. I bought two dresses and some bows for my hair, eyeliner, nail polish, and of course two magazines. I can't wait to replace my old desk with a big bookcase, in which I can dedicate shelves just to magazines. I have so many and I want to keep most of them, if not all. It has been almost a week since I left Evanston (and the time stamp on this will still be in central time) but it feels like longer. I'm not sure if that bodes well for the rest of the summer, but I think once I have real things to keep me busy I'll be more likely to keep to myself. I miss my friends from school, but I'm so glad to see the ones here. And luckily, keeping in touch isn't hard at all. My mother remarks how often I'm tapping away on my phone or typing on my computer to someone states away. And that's comforting to me. That I can get in touch with someone just that quick - that months apart doesn't mean that friendships will grow any less strong.

You wanna say you're mine, be with me all the time

Today I started cleaning. One of the things I want to do is get rid of a lot of stuff that I just don't need. Helping me in that task is the fact that my mother has told me that I can paint my room and rearrange furniture, maybe get a few pieces of new furniture this summer. I'm planning for massive overhaul. And it has already started. I'm going to be saying a lot of goodbyes as I clean and also taking a lot of pictures to both remember things that are leaving and look at how my room has changed. I'm really excited for this. I'm also really happy to be home. Even though I have some minor feelings of missing certain people, since I'm keeping busy it's keeping that at bay. I love summer.

On the street where I live

I'm finally back home. By this point, I've actually been home for a full 24 hours. Yesterday was a bit of a botch, traveling wise. My flight was originally scheduled to leave at 2:10 but after delays, a cancellation, a switch to a different airline and some more delays, I ended up getting out of O'Hare around 8:30 and getting into National at 11:03. I was positively worn out by the time I got home. I woke up around 12:15 this afternoon after sleeping in my own soft bed which was magnificent. I ate lunch from Balducci's with my mom before taking a long shower. At 4 I went to a tea party at one of my very best friend's house. It was great just to be back and fall back into the life that I have back here. My dad came home this evening and we went out to dinner at the standard getting home from school restaurant. It was also my parents' anniversary. 27 years! It makes me so happy to be with them and see how much they love each other and see how much they love me. I'm not sure if I've ever seen anyone as happy to see another person than when I come home from school. My parents are all smiles to see me back in the house. And it makes me extremely happy too.

Good morning world

What did I do all of today when my go-to spend all my time with person left for home? I chronicled this throughout the day
7:48 I walk back up the stairs to E4 after saying goodbye and being up alllllllll night. I'm tired and kind of sad, but I have to get my packing done before noon.
7:50 short conversation with roommate about how I didn't sleep
7:55 shower
8:14 get back to my room, get dressed, get laundry together
8:23 laundry
8:26 laundry is in the washing machine. I spend the intermediate time packing more. I manage to pack my bedding into a duffel bag with a great deal of difficulty. Mostly I try to do what I can while not waking my roommate up.
8:54 laundry goes into the dryer. All my attempts to reach my mother are unsuccessful. Overwhelmed by packing. Aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
9:45 return from breakfast. roommate is up so I resume packing
10:06 back upstairs with clean laundry. score.
10:25 (ish) Finished packing for storage! Commenced taping up boxes and rejoicing.
11:24 All the storage boxes are taped up and ready to go. Now on to the boxes that will be shipped...
11:51 All the boxes are taped and ready to move out. I cannot wait for the storage people to come and take them away from me. Also, I dropped my white cabinet on my toe. It really hurts.
12:00 Waiting begins
12:23 still waiting. Fatigue sets in. I can't fall asleep at my desk waiting for these people to show
12:34 people seem to be talking to Andrew...getting his stuff. Lovely.
12:36 I decide to move my boxes out into the hallway
12:43 My boxes are out of my room. The storage people are taking them away. It's time for me to go to sleep
2:40 (ish) woken up from my nap from very loud voices. I go to the bathroom, intending to go back to sleep after I get back. After being gone for three minutes, I come back to find that my door is open and my roommate has started to play music. No more nap right now.
3:30 hunger wins out. I go to Lisa's to use up the rest of my points and munch money for a snack.
3:43 back in my room. My roommate is packing so instead of my stuff taking up the whole room, her stuff does.
4:10 svu
5:05 I love watching svu's with people from other shows. Zach Gilford as a child molester? Awesome.
6:09 I've gotten two hours of sleep in the past 24. I am a winner.
6:36 Leave for dinner
8:32 get back to the dorm after Lulu's, Red Mango (for the friends) and Starbucks (for me). I need to call home. And call a cab for tomorrow. And pack the rest of my crap. hmm.
9:18 There seems to be a proposal to watch a movie. I don't want to watch dumb and dumber though
9:34 The decision is X-Men 3. Excellent
9:40 finally remembered to change the address on my netflix. good job me.
11:22 Time to get ready for bed. I fell asleep for about 25 minutes while the movie was on. I'm packing some more stuff and going to bed.

I'm Done!!!

It's a miracle! I'm done with my freshman year of college and I'm still (barely) alive. Sure, I'm kind of sick and completely exhausted but I'm done. And in three days, I'll be home with my family and friends. I feel like an enormous weight has been lifted off of my shoulders now that my exams are done. Now all that's left is packing!

Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can't Lose

In the past couple weeks I've been watching a lot of Friday Night Lights (finally got through the third season from beginning to end) and that's a sentiment I'll be taking from the show into my exams tomorrow. I'm extremely worried and feeling overwhelmed more than anything, but I think things will turn out okay. I'm looking forward to 2:00 tomorrow afternoon when I can breathe a sigh of relief. I'll be done with my freshman year! And then I get to sell the books that cost me $600 back to the bookstore for around $52. Ah, college. I'm going to get in bed early tonight, since my first exam is at 9 (boo). I'm really looking forward to being done. Then I can focus all my energies on packing and getting the most out of my time left with my wonderful friends who I will miss very very much over the summer.

Almost...

I'm almost done with my freshman year as crazy as that seems. I'm so excited to be done and go home, but it's hard right now because I'm back to being happy. It;s easy to think about going home when I'm upset, but I've been so happy recently that it's a little difficult. Not to say that I don't want to go home - cause I do. Tonight I started putting things in my giant boxes I had to lug on and off the shuttle and then up the stairs with the help of a dear friend. I think it'll be easier to think about what I need to pack after some things are already packed. I'm looking forward to clearing out my room. There's so much stuff though. Really, so much. I've started to divide my clothes into what to store and what to send home, which is part of the battle. But then there's everything under my bed...my books...things that need to be washed. It's a bit overwhelming. I'm super excited to see my parents in less than a week. And to sleep in my own bed and have my own bathroom. But I'm going to miss E4 and miss my friends a lot.