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!