the last few days (boring, but it's all i got...)

what a great start to the year... besides watching the full third season of sex in the city, i really haven't gotten much done. Uni starts tomorrow. Luckily I don't have class until 11 am! I almost feel like i'm being really slack with having only three actual classes which don't start until about 11 am everyday and no class on thursday. Anyway, the unlucky part about tomorrow is that I'm scheduled to work at 6am tomorrow! gross! Even though the lady that does my scheduling says I don't start until thursday, my schedule says tomorrow morning. Oh well at least i can take a nap after work.:-) Also I have some time to get my shit together for school. Nothing is put together yet! oops! The roomies and I spent the whole night just keeping it real and having some fun by watching a movie and also having dinner together before that. These are a great bunch of girls and we are goign to have so much fun!

Also these past couple of days... there was a toga party last night! So fun! The girls and I got our butts up from the couches in the living room, grabbed our bed sheets and toga-ed it up! It was all great til 11 pm when it got broken up. Kris and I came back to watch some ER and then we all crashed. Well most of us did...

Today was also fantastic because I got to play some ultimate! Heaps of freshman girls and newbies came out to join us which was specatcular! It was such a great feeling. The not so good feeling was how much my body wanted to collapse after. Anyway it was a beautiful afternoon and was so great to spend it playing some disc.

that's it for now! much love

em

back at school...

alright so real quick...

am back to uni! YAY! down at Luther College again and it's awesome. I just moved down today and it's still pretty quiet around the joint. I'm hesitant to actually go on campus amongst the academic buildings! hahaha. No one is around at the house either but it's a pretty awesome place. I don't feel like I should be in a house and stuff ... i don't feel old enough. it's weird but good. Tonight's plans are to unpack a little, and to drink some beers with Justin. Am sooo excited for this! yay! beer, hot chocolate and tea are the only things I own for "food" in the house right now. Anyway... that's it. More later... Love to all!!

em

better day today...

had a much better day today. I didn't let myself think so much and coming home to emails and comments on the blog was very comforting. I somehow made it through the whole day of looking at watches. I don't know how it worked really but I had enough to keep me busy and kept me from thinking too much. So all in all I was in a great mood. Thanks to people who left me comments and all that jazz (specifically Ms. Westbrook! ;-) )

Anyway a good day. An unproductive day when I got home. I thought about dong a lot of stuff after work but what I ended up doing was very little. Didn't do laundry, didn't pack, didn't read, didn't work out, didn't take the new bike out for a ride. Did buy myself some chai and did write a whole 1 email! That's about it though.

Moving back to Uni means packing, which sucks and doesn't put me in high spirits but things that do put me in high spirits about moving to Uni...
-Britta's great idea for dodgeball
-the lovely frisbee team girls
-Living in Baker Village with some very awesome roomies!
-new classes!
- the package I know i will receive not long after i get there (thanks you lovely aussies!)
-fun parties and good times with the roomies and friends and....
-Drinking beers with Justin! ;-) (this is a really exciting thing)

so yeah that's life. not very eventful but that's me.

much love,
em

A.D.D. sort of day...

so I decided to start doing some packing for the move back down to uni next saturday. It's been making me go crazy. I barely ate today and realized that at about 3 or so this afternoon. Pretty much I've been a case of ADD all day not being able to finish any one task. One accomplishment was getting all of my books together. Crap! that reminds me I should have ordered books online! Ugh...getting ready for school can be such a drag man! :-) haha...

to brighten my day Amber called which was excellent! She is back from her Lithuania trip and so we got to do some much needed catching up! It's nice to have that connection every once in awhile and to reminisce (spelling?) about Australia. She's such a good listener too! She was lovely and listened to me talk about how I was sick all week and quite an emotional wreck. Oh she's lovely...

So yeah all day has been pretty uneventful. I've checked my email like ten times, and probably should write some back to people, have made lists of things i need for school and am still quite wired from lack of sleep and food. I am not feeling the idea of going to work tomorrow! BOO to getting up heaps early in the morning! :-P blah! I like my weekends that leave me free to stay up late! oh well... until a later day... much love all!

-em

answered

well the 'how do you...?' has been answered... sort of.

basically Shannon told Jess. Not sure where the three of us will go from here or where any of it will go from here. Don't really want to pour my heart our over this one on the blog, but we'll see how things go...

(will try to have something happy on here soon... will probably rant about book shopping tomorrow.)

later

love!

em

how do you...?

so Mel informed me that it had been way too long since i have posted anything on here. My apologies. Although I think that is mostly an apology for Mel and the Aussies + my sister and D who are the ones that usually read this. :-) Anyway I've been sick for the past week and am finally feeling better but for most of the week all I did was go to work, come home, eat dinner, maybe check my email and go to bed.

Mel told me I should write about something that would spark conversation. Boobs apparently has worked well for her ( it really has... check out her blog www.elementsofchaos.blogspot.com )

so here's what I have to say... it's something i've been thinking about and did a lot of thinking about today... here's my question... it's a "how do you?"

how do you...
tell you friend who, you are told loves you and adores you, that you REALLY like their ex?

how do you...
break this news to them when they are across the world from you?

how do you...
feel like you haven't betrayed their friendship when you already feel like you have?

how do you...
not feel like you've made liking him such a sticky situation that could result in bad feelings amongst no only you and the other two involved but amongst other friends?

how do you...
tell your friend you've kept this secret from them for two months and that they are possibly the last person to find out?

how do you...
know when it's the right time to tell them? and will you ever know?

how do you...
cope with the fact that this could all become a HUGE fucking mess and that things just won't be the same?

how do you...
not cry thinking about this and feeling like I have betrayed a friend by keeping this secret but can't help your feelings for the other?

how do you...
not think about the heartache and heartbreak this could cause?

and how do you...
deal with the feelings of your friends that this affects?

Ok so really i realize this is kind of a depressing one but it's what's been on my mind and it's something I could use a little bit of feedback on. I'm scared about this situation it makes my stomach flip thinking about some of the consequences and about the relationships.

cheers everyone.
-em

el fin de semana de mi cumpleano

[first of all there should be a tilde ( ~ ) over the 'n' in the the word cumpleanos, but I don't know how to make one. And I haven't taken any spanish in over five months so it's probably bad grammar.]

Anyway, this weekend was a blast! SO GOOD! Friday night was my 21st birthday and it was a lot of fun. Went to see Flogging Molly, hung out with friends, went to a couple pubs and came home to hang out with Krista and Britta. I didn't get sick or throw up which was a plus, but I must say I was a champ. Jeff bought me my first legal shot in the US, Dan my first legal drink in a pub, and my sister the first HUGEST drink I have ever had!! I had heaps of fun and it was great that Krista and Britta could make it to town for the weekend. The three of us are so good together and I love it! We had a lot of catching up to do! I am sorry to those to whom I promised a drunken phone call and did not get one. But thanks Sunny, Shannon and Mel for calling. Twice! Mel I hope the shoe shopping went well ;-). Oh and by the way I remember barely anything from the conversation I had with Sunny and Shannon. :-P

Saturday I got to hang out with Britta and Krista all day and it was fabulous. Got coffee, had breakfast, shopped for ugly dresses, bought dinner and made it, had some drinks and watched some movies. Overall a wonderful day. Today was spent hanging out. Kris and Britta took off for the day but i met up with Britta and her friend Tom to see a movie. We saw the movie 'Crash'. Was SO good. A bit depressing but so good and done very well. Main theme of the movie: Racism. I thought it did well at showing the shit that can go down because of racism and even though I've never witnessed this stuff happen in real life, I know that kind of stuff still happens and that people think that way. Tom said he thought the racism was maybe overplayed, that it wasn't very realistic but I dunno, I think that the things said in the movie are things people still say. I'm not very good at explaining but it was still a good movie and very interesting no doubt.

that's all for now!
great weekend! so happy!
much love all!

cheers!
em

quick share

today is Justin's birthday! Happy Birthday Justin! (he's now 22! Oldie!) --(My birthday on friday! FLOGGING MOLLY! YES!)

D got in an accident yesterday! :-( She's alive and well but still hurt and on meds and probably can't go our for my birthday on friday :-( bummer! I miss you D and hope you feel better soon! All my love sweetheart! Feel Better!!!!

I can't wait for the week to be over... looking at watches all day at work is getting boring. (Luckily an email in my inbox brightened my day before the work day started :-) )

Britta is staying with me this weekend!

Krista is coming to Minneapolis this weekend too!

I visited with Leah tonight and we threw frisbees! It was so good. she's awesome!

I hung out with Natalie tonight! YAY!

It was GORGEOUS out today!

Traffic was not bad today

I went to Dunn Bros. twice for chai! YUM!

I'm still running out of money but the job will give me money! YAY!

The parcel to be sent to Australia is almost ready to go and...

it was day four at the job and I'm still in love with the bubble wrap! ;-)

much love,
smuder

Happy Birthday Lil' Brudder!

So today is my brother Kyle's 18th birthday! Crazy! He's not little anymore! Anyway we celebrated tonight by going out for food and then having ice cream cake. YUM! Happy Birthday to Kyle! (only four more days til my birthday! YES! -- 2 days til Justin's!)

Other things: This past Sunday I actually went to church. I don't think I have been since the February...7th? The Sunday before I left for Australia. Even though I feel like not much of a Christian and don't really consider myself much of one, I still really like going to church and listening to the sermons and stuff. It was a bit awkward I must say because Deb the pastor had us do a little exercise with the people around us about praying. Not only did I feel awkward because of how I feel about religion right now but, I also did not know the people I was talking to and praying in a group was kind of always a little uncomfortable for me. Anyway I still made it through and overall I enjoyed the service. I still can't sing a hymn to save my life, but whatever. My group was this older couple Marlene and Bill. Bill didn't talk much and neither did I so Marlene kind of kept things going. In fact I don't think Bill talked at all, but they were still a lovely couple. After going through a list of things to pray for in our hymnals we were to pray for eachother. So we could share things about ourselves if we wanted. Marlene was smart and asked me about school and stuff to we used that to pray for me. :-) she really was a lovely lady. She told me about their grand daughter going into her last year of uni also and about housing situations and all of that. She asked me what I was studying and what I wanted to do with my major. It was pleasant. Marlene even shared with me that she battled cancer a few years back and about how much she loved the congregation for all their support and letters and notes and things. That was great to hear, and it's good to know that the congregation cares and that they made a difference in her fight to beat cancer. :-)

Overall things are going well. Was kind of a crap day at work. Forgot my two forms of ID for Matt in HR and also forgot my key card! :-P Made it through the day still. Did more packaging of watches! (got some bubble wrap too! ;-) ...hahaha). Also at work today every possible cliche song was on the radio. The ladies that I work with in the warehouse tend to listen to the lite rock station. :-P Every possible song about love or relationships or about missing someone was on the radio today! It kind of got on my nerves but i ended up letting it go... life is a bunch of cliches sometimes! (ok so a lot of the time)

Anyway I think that's it for now.
much love,
em

I *heart* bubble wrap!

today was the first day of work. Most exciting thing about work... the BUBBLE WRAP! :-) How exciting! seriously bubble wrap thoughts got me through most of my day at work. 8 hours of going through boxes of watches putting them in little bubble wrap bags! ALthough the bags were so cool, the best was to see the HUGE rolls of bubble wrap that were in the warehouse near the mail room and also the roll that was a bit smaller but only 100 feet from my reach! I so badly want some bubble wrap and I was temtped ALL day to just sit and pop it! Oh the joy that is popping bubble wrap!!!SO GOOD!

ok so to add to the excitement that was bubble wrap today... I was up so early and it was a long day, but dad bought me yummy coffee and a bagel this morning too. After work we met up with me big seeeeester AJ and went to the Twins game! The twins usually lose when I go to games but tonight was definitely NOT one of those nights. It had been awhile since I had been to a game so what better way to enjoy it all than with my dad and sister, dome dogs, and a 12-0 shutout! YES! GO TWINS! That's right they beat the World Champs from last year The Boston Red Sox! ('amazing how america wins the WORLD series every year!" -Eddie Izzard!) So yeah it was soooo good. Manda made friends with the guys in front of us and overall it was such a good game. Lew Ford played an awesome game! Go him! (Llllllleeeeewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww) :-)

K I think that's all I have. Excited to see Kari tomorrow,a nd will renew my driver's license! w00t!

much love,
em

p.s. love you "sissyka" :-)
p.p.s. 7 DAYS TIL MY BIRTHDAY! THAT'S ONE WEEK! YES! :-)

grumpy bums are no fun

I was such a grumpy person yesterday. I definitely could have been one of the seven dwarves. Luckily I got out of my funk by this afternoon. Pretty much it was all about missing Australia and a certain someone of course! It blows but then you think about happy stuff and are thankful for the experience and the fun that you had and you manage. I don't feel like thinking so much about the future... a year from now I will get to see Shannon and around Christmas time I will get to see Will. (Maybe others will visit around those times too?!) So i have things to look forward to! So stay happy right?! RIGHT!

life has been good to me. I went to the art museum with Jeff on wednesday and it was great. Free admission and free parking! No doubt a good deal and some great art! It was heaps good overall! So badly want to check out more art galleries in the cities! But summer is quickly but slowly coming to an end. I no longer have that much time to dick around because I am finally working for the next three weeks before I head to school. Sucks to work, but some money will be good even though the job isn't super cool! The people seem nice though and I get to ride to work with dad everyday! I'm looking forward to the coffee he promises to buy me! :)

what else? Life has just been good in general! Nat is coming home on Tuesday to visit, my birthday is coming up ! (8 more days!). I heard from Beth today! So great! Had another chat on the phone with Shannon and Sunny... so good!
must go to bed... I had more to talk about but I have to work in the morning and it's late! much love to all!

-em

Nordicfest

This past weekend I spent down in Decorah, Iowa. Why you may ask? Well because Nordicfest was going on and it was the easiest way for me to meet up with heaps and heaps of mates from uni(<--a very Aussie worded sentence there :-) ). Anyway Leah and I made the trip down on Friday night. After getting a bit of a late start because of traffic I ran into on the way to her place, traffic on highway 52 and a freaking detour down in Preston, MN we made it down in three hours and made our way to Rachel and Allison's. We were heaps excited to be going down to Decorah to see everyone but once we got there it was quite anticlimatic. Rachel was home but left to get Chris and Allison was out getting drinks. Finally a group of us congregated and we made our way to the streets of Decorah to check out the Nordicfest goodness. The night was dedicated to the pubs and hanging out outside on the street. So good.

Happily the next morning Leah and I awoke with no hangovers and headed to breakfast at McDonalds and then to get Darci for the parade. The three of us spent most of the day together hanging out at the parade then the festival trying some Norwegian food. Yum! We really enjoyed the small town fun. All day we had issues trying to get a hold of another group of friends but we managed. The three of us took a beautiful little walk/hike at Manaphy Falls ( I think I got the name right, whatever). It was so awesome! the trees so green! The cobwebs I kept running into though not as cool. We made it to the falls and had some fun around there for a bit. It's so great to experience the cool little things in decorah! It really is a beautiful little town! We went to dinner later that night at Sabor Latino , the service took forever! I guess the kitchen lost our order but no worries , a guy sang "Margaritaville" to us and since our dinner took so long we got some free margaritas! ;-) We spent the night checking out some more of Nordicfest and running into friends which was so good! Went to a couple pubs and I got my phone call from Australia again! So good to hear Sarah and Sunny this time! Hadn't talked to them in ages! It really excited me ! I later went to find Suzanne and hung out with her for the rest of evening, walked home only to find no one at Allison and Rachel's and so waited for one of them to arrive home. It was a lovely night out so it really wasn't bad sitting outside on the step!

The next morning we were lazy and took our time to get going. Britta stopped over and we had a chat with her which was lovely. Finally Leah and I made our way back from Decorah and the loveliness that was Nordicfest. Overall--good weekend! Enjoyed every minute of my time there.

Crazy stuff though... I got to learn about all the drama and what not that happened while I was away spring semester! craziness really! I reckon it was good that I was not around for it. It was spectacular to get to see so many people and talk about moving back to school at the end of August! It will be so good! I am so excited to see people and to be living with a great group of girls. It will be even better if I can get Maggie talking to me again before then.

Today is probably my last day of summer freedom during the week. I will most likely start working in the warehouse at Asset Marketing tomorrow or wednesday! It's been a good day althoguh I'm pissed that the art museums are not open today! psh! what is that?! bummer! I did however get to chat with Shannon and Sunny again today which was lovely of course and put some brightness into my day! Well thats it for now I reckon. Not much else to report. much love all!

-em

It's August 1st!!!! 12 days til my birthday!!!!!! YES!

in the news...

Today I have acquired a job and so I will be paid money for the next month to work in a warehouse at my dad's place of employment Asset Marketing! score! money is something I could use lately! It's a bit of a drive and I had to take a drug test but whatever I have a job for the next month before school! yes!

randomness for the day: I was reading the paper today and read that the awesome Minneapolis based rock band the Olympic Hopefuls, have to change their band name because of some copyright law for the word "olympic" how crazy?!!?! so stupid. The band THe Postal Service ran into trouble with the US Postal Service at one time too but they are allowed to keep their name for some reason. So sad though that the Olympic Hopefuls are now just the "Hopefuls". Stupid copyright law and people being silly about the word olympic. Psh... I don't see how anyone should be allowed to own a word! crazy stuff.

so... this just in: my buddy Joe (Schwan as I like to call him) just informed me that he got engaged! shit! not another one! Davina and I were just discussing weddings this evening and decided that we don't need anymore weddings or baby showers to go to! fuck! YAY for them though! wow! just so random and crazy! geez! I think I will put this kind of thing off for quite awhile. (Davina I am NOT getting married anytime soon! I do NOT have a future husband like you do! ;-) By the way D hope the conversation with him went well ;-) )

and now...THIS just in: went to tell Dad about joe's good news and well Dad gave me some bad news:-( Grandpa Wes called and said that him and Grandma Elaine are going to sell the farm! I am seriously bummed out now :-( I LOVE the farm! it is SO good! shit. really. so sad right now. I am NOT happy with this news. What will the 4th be like now??!?!? no more farm!?!?! sad!

I can't decide if I should continue with the post and write more things or just go wallow in my sadness over the farm. Or chat it up about Joe getting engaged. Sigh... decisions decisions!... think I'm out... but if anyone wants to check out a great post about religion do direct your attention to Shannon Schwarz's blog: http://cheesebandits.net/schwarzblog/?p=87

Happy!

Happy! So happy! It's come to my attention that really it is so much better to think happy thoughts and look for the good in things rather than get pissed off and upset. I don't have much to really be mad or sad about. I've been coming to the realization that you can find good things in heaps of stuff. I find so much joy in the simiple things lately like children's books! How lovely are they?! SO lovely! spending the day looking at books with Justin was so much fun the other day. I am so happy to be able to find the time to appreciate things lately. Really I am so lucky to have all that I do have. I got to go to Australia with my parents unwavering support! Shannon mentioned to me how lucky we are to be a part of a middle class that is well off. Not that Ihave heaps of money in my family but we are always doing fine with money and never have had many if any problems with it. So greatful for this! It's so great to have someone to remind you about these kinds of things in life. It's so true that "Life is Beautiful" (also a great movie). I may be sounding a bit sappy but hey, I'm allowed to be happy. People should try it more often. Of course you can't completely ignore the bad but I choose happiness. I choose not to get sad over not seeing friends.

Other things to be happy about: Have an interview for some summer work tomorrow! YES!
Nat called back tonight and said she'll be in f-town for my birthday! YAY!
Krista will be in town the night of my birthday too! It's been almost 15 months since I've seen her! She might not be able to go out with us that night but so excited that she'll be around for part of the summer before going back to school!
What else?!
how cool is it that Lance Armstrong won the Tour de France again!? it was his 7th time? His story is pretty awesome.
Oh yeah... still stay happy over the fact that I met some of the coolest friends in Australia and that we have done well in keeping in touch since I've left! They're amazing.
This coming weekend--> going down to Decorah to visit with Luther friends! Leah and I will make the trip together and are staying with Rachel and Allison. So many people will be down there I can't wait! The frisbee kids and others from Luther! will be SO wonderful!

Happy! :-)

-em

birthdays, frisbee, and stillwater fun.

Well what can I say? what a great past few days and an awesome awesome weekend! Friday night was Em's birthday and even though I couldn't go out to the bars after and was the only one under 21 i still had fun hanging out with the group of people and going to dinner. The next morning was a wonderful day. Although it stormed later that morning I was still so very excited because after driving over to Lauren's where I met up with not only her but also, Britta, Rachel and Sarah we all headed off to Maple Plain to play frisbee in the Aquatennial Frisbee tournament! We were playing with a bunch of Luther friends! SO good! Guys and gals from the mens and womens teams down at Luther for a co-ed team! It was sooo good to see everyone and to play some fun fun frisbee. We had a first round by and our first game was at 10:30 which is when it started to pour!!! So needless to say our first game was postponed for awhile.

After the first great day of playing frisbee we all went to Old Chicago together to eat. Later I went to Lauren's again and some of us girls watched the fireworks for the Aquatennial. They were soo good and there was sucha good view from Lauren's place! The next day was just as hot again but still heaps of fun! We only played two games but still i had a great time. After some of us went to Taco Bell as we tend to do after tournaments and spent quite some time there just chatting and eating. It was lovely. We then dispersed and most of us went to Lauren's in hopes of going in the hot tub. Sad to say we found the hot tub out of comission. It was actually gone. They are re-doing the apartment building she is living and making them into condos so heaps of things are being fixed or changed. Instead we went in the swimming pool and had a blast. I had quite the headache and stopped after awhile. Too much sun i think for me. After we said our goodbyes and dispersed I came home and crashed. Was soooo tired! Had a good 12 hours of sleep and woke up this morning at 9 feeling well rested but still sore.

I spent today not doing much at first except I did catch up with Blair, Bec and Shannon. Later I went out to Stillwater to spend some time with Justin since he doesn't work during the day. So we spent the afternoon chilling in stillwater and it was great. Got coffee and food, shared drunk stories. Spent time in downtown Stillwater walking around and going into some book stores where I found some great children's books. The second bookstore we went to was great and full of old books that all seemed very interesting! IT started to rain and so we headed to get more coffee, chatted with some of his mates for awhile and then headed back to his place. I left for home right after. it was pouring! But I made it home safe and sound and it actually didn't take too long! Came home to an empty house so I had time to myself. Wrote an email or two and later started to watch Garden State only to learn that my dvd is messed up! :-( so sad! oh well...

Overall...great day! can't complain. Hoping that tomorrow will be good and can find some work with the temp agency in town. Here's hoping!

much love,
em

the other side of the world called to say 'hello'!!!

Today had to be one of the most exciting days for me since I've been home. The other side of the world called to say hello!(BIG SMILE :-) ). Yep, i got to talk to Mel, Jess, Bec and Shannon today over the phone which was fabulous! Chatting on the phone is just a bit more personal than emails and im-ing people. I was so excited about them calling that I felt like it was Christmas when I went to bed last night! Mel told me a crazy story that did NOT happen :-), Jess told me about the tim tams she sent to Amber (twice), Bec and I talked mostly about her trip home that would begin in a few hours time, and Shannon and I chatted about music and much more! Overall I really really enjoyed my time on the phone with everyone. I felt like I was back in Adelaide chilling with everyone in Shannon's room again. Oh it was SOOOO good! I really really miss them all so much. Even when we had some random silences on the phone I was content because I knew they were on the other line and it just felt good. Needless to say I was ALL smiles today! :-)

I was actually somewhat productive with my day in that, I washed the dishes, washed my sheets, made my bed, and cleaned up my room a bit. Not bad...:-)

I also made a trip to get coffee with Davina again, and looked at books at the bookstore. Oh i love this. I hit up the art books again tonight and then the children's books. It was great to find the books that I grew up with like Harold and the Purple crayon and also the book Where the Wilde Things are. (sooo good ;-) )Davina was so much fun in the bookstore. She is a great listener and listened to me talk about Australia again, and listened to me read. There were some childrens books that I wanted to find but couldn't remember the authors (Shannon... who are the authors' of the goldfish story and some of your other fave children books?). I read some Shel Silverstein to Davina and I think she rather enjoyed it! :-) He is so good. I love his books. Simple poetry and illustrations but soooo good! I really really wanted to buy some of his books but I kept myself from doing so. I really wanted to buy so many children's books while I was there. But the fact that I have about $200 to my name keeps me from doing so.

other things ...
Yesterday was Amber's birthday and I got to chat with her on the phone too! YAY for phone's!
read in the paper today that Canada legalized gay marriage. I guess it is only civil unions but hey still something to be happy about. knowing tha tthe world is becoming more open minded and giving people the rights they deserve is great! I think it is now Canada, Spain, Netherlands, and Belgium that all allow gay marriage. There are three states in the US too that grant at least civil marriages. YAY!
also some joy was to find some pictures that Darci gave me from frisbee which made me very happy!

This weekend should be pretty good. Tomorrow is Emily B's birthday. I get to hang out with my sister again which is cool! Saturday is the frisbee tournament which means I get to see Luther friends! YAY! Think that's all i've got. --I'm out.

much love,
em

Charlie... = good movie!

what to say....hmmm
well... monday was good. At least the evening was really good. Playing frisbee and then jogging with Mikhal and Lauren. We then had pizza and beer after that and just chatted for quite awhile and they made fun of me, but I loved it. I got to be my stupid silly self and laughed with them! it was SO good!:-)

What else... so today (Tuesday) I felt productive by writing a letter and writing out two cards to friends! I'm still trying to think of things to send to my mates in Australia. Want to send a big package to a few of them but I can't think of something to send some of them. Hopefully something will come to mind.

Oh! Today I saw the movie 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'. Was so good! Loved it! I am a big fan of Johnny Depp (not just cuz he's good looking but because he can act) and the story! I was reminded just how fun the story is and now I want to read the book! I don't know if I ever did as a kid so I think I should now. I guess this movie version was much more like the book inclduing the same words to the songs that the oompa loompas sing! The design and sets for the chocolate factory also were really amazing and fun to look at. I got reall excited during previews too for Harry Potter and for Corpse Bride (Another Tim Burton film coming out soon which is more like his Nightmare Before Christmas movie--cartoon-ish). Anyway that was the excitement for my day. I was in a pretty good mood all day which was pleasant! After the movie I made some yummy ham salad, and was astonished and maybe a bit mortified when I realized my dad was using my Cooper's glass to drink his beer at dinner! So not fair! :-) hahah. Davina and I went for some coffee again and I had two Chai's. YUM. But only because I found five dollars in my wallet randomly! YES! That was a great find! Davina and I had a nice chat on the way to get coffee and on the way home about how much we love Minneapolis. Great sky line for one, and there's just always so much to do. I love to look at the posters and flyers in Pandora's to see what concerts are coming or what plays or productions might be going on. Plus the city pages always have heaps of stuff in them too!

That's all I've got for today i guess. Besides the fact that watching Conan tonight with D was also heaps good! He's a funny guy!

later all,
much love,
em

missing the other side of the world like MAD!

the weekend was great. If you read this you probably already know how great friday was so I don't need to touch on that again.

What else did i do this weekend? Spent saturday sitting at Caribou with D having a chat and also doing some reading in my book 'God's Politics' (so good. some great reading) I went over to Leah's Saturday night and it was wonderful. It was great to feel so loved by Leah and all her questions about Australia which were mainly focused on a certain Australian she wanted to know about ;-) We were girls and watched Love Actually and just hung out. Had some daquiris, ate popcorn and then some ice cream out of the carton! ;-) with hot fudge of course! We ended up watching Chocolat after the ice cream and then fell asleep. Her mom was ever so cute and made up a yummy breakfast this morning! we had bowls of fruit, so yummy and then biscuits and gravy! Mmmmm my favorite! ;-) Ok so I LOVE all breakfast food.

Today I spent at home after getting back from Leah's and we had a bbq! Threw some snags on the barbie and had some mates over for a good time! It was a bit depressing going through Australia pictures over and over again telling people how much fun I had there. It's hard. People are more interested it seems in the places I went, but really the people I met are what mattered more to me. I so badly want to share every story possible i can with people back here about what we did over in Australia. Everyone cracked heaps of jokes at me about drinking today, which though are very funny, i got a little sick of. Sucks to not be legal. less than a month! -- Anyway I think I was most happy that I got to see Ruthie and Nate! Gave Ruthie her wedding gift (Tim Tams!) and also seeing Justin was wonderful. have missed the crazy kid like mad! Once people left I just stayed home and have been watching movies that haven't really kept my attention. Am thinking about going to bed a bit earlier than usual. It would be good for me.

So i miss the other side of the world like MAD and long to hear an Australian voice on the phone! I know it's afternoon over there now and I so badly just want to call Mel or Shannon's room to see if they are there cuz i know they're around for break. sigh... I think sleep wins over my craziness. I long to hear Amber's jersey accent over the phone too! I miss my life from the past five months. Like Amber said... we did not have long enough! we needed more time. I could have definitely used heaps more time! Heaps...for so many things! (BIG SIGH)

i'm out--
em

Birthdays and concerts!

Hey all! Such an exciting day today.
1) today was AJ, Blair, Nick and Aunt Lori's birthdays!
2) Blair called me and so I got to wish her Happy Birthday! I Miss her and love her!
3) Went to lunch with my sister and her friends Mike and Jen. Yum food was good!
4) AJ let me have a beer at her house! ;-)
5) We were watching tv at my sister's place and I saw FOOTY on tv in America!!! So exciting to me... not so exciting to the others! I really wanted to watch it but yeah. (oh and funniness...we also watched some 90210 on tv and Sesame St...it was good fun)
6) We went to the Aquatennial Block Party in Minneapolis and I saw Missy Higgins (she's aussie) and it made me think of the lovelies that I left back in Adelaide! Especially Sarah. I think the others liked Missy's sound which was cool. It was nice to hear an Aussie accent again! Oh andI bought her cd, got some good pics taken of her and also got her to sign my cd and a flyer! Woo hoo!
7) Ben Lee, Mike Doughty and Howie Day were all awesome too! It was fun going to a free concert with four great artists! YAY!
8) got to chat with Jon and Jo this evening and haven't talked to them in awhile! YAY!
Alright.. i Think that covers most of it. So in general it was a spectacular day! w00t! The rest of the weekend is going to be great too! Will relax tomorrow and then going to Leah's and sunday is the bbq! yum! well I better get outta here... love you all.

cheers!
em

"God must be Australian"

Still no job... but my parents helped me figure out ways to keep busy. Basically by cleaning the house and doing odd jobs around here. They suggested I repaint my room. First I have to finish unpacking and then clean before I do any of that.! Apparently it doesn't bother my parents too much that I don't have a job. I guess we'll get by. I just have to stop spending my money! eek! Went to lunch with Lauren today and then we both ended up buying cds at Best Buy! Shoot!

quick note: I hate not being 21 yet! Some of my closest friends are 21 already and what do they do at night for fun?! go to the pubs, which I can't do! :-P

So tonight I was nice and made dinner for mom and dad. Yumm spaghetti! I broke a glass in the sink though and cut myself on it and cut my thumb. BLEH! It's really not bad at all but dang could that sucker bleed! Other cool thing... my friend Kelly called. I was thinking about her the other day. See what we like to do is go to Barnes and Noble and look at books while we drink our Starbuck's Frappucinos. We also always make a trip to buy planners (diaries as an Aussie would call it) from Barnes and Noble. This was the meaning for the trip. I ended leaving with not only a planner, but also two books: The Bell Jar (because Shannon mentioned it in his last email) and a Spanish Dictionary (because I left the other one in the care of Shannon when I left Australia.) Anyway.. Barnes and Noble is dangerous... I wanted to buy HEAPS of books! I have a list started of books I want to read that I feel i should really shoot for. I don't have a job! i should read more! but I have to finish the book I am currently reading! SO anyway it was a good night hanging with Kelly and telling her about Australia. I love the book store so much! I love to look at all the art books. I really want to take an art class now at school for the heck of it. It'd be good. I should just start drawing again! I do have a sketch book.

Well tomorrow is my sister AJ's birthday, it's Blair's and Nick's Birthdays and it is also myAunt Lori's Birthday! Crazy day for birthdays i guess! Tomorrow is also the Aquatennial Block Party which I'm going to with my sister and her friends to see Howie Day, Ben Lee, Mike Doughty and Missy Higgins! SO excited! Should be heaps good!

oh on a random note... the title.. it's a quote from Davina...funny girl. When we were at Caribou Coffee the other day chilling ... she said that God must be Australian when she read the word 'heaps' in the Bible. :-) I asked her though how it was used in the sentence. The Bible was refering to someone 'heaping' something into a mound or a pile. So although it was not used as how Aussies tend to use the term 'heaps' it was still really funny. Love you D! haha.

Anyway i think that's all i have for now. Nothing special just whatever. I'm going to go write in my planner now for fun! I'm a dork!

much love,
em