Long Overdue

Hi everybody! Sorry I've been so bad about keeping this up. What can I say, somethings never change...

Anyway, I thought I'd do a little bit of an update and try to get pictures up another time when I get my camera battery back from a friend.

Wow, a lot has happened in the last couple months! First some really good news, I got accepted to Grad School at West Dean for next year!! I am so excited to know for sure that it's going to happen! It's going to be an amazing year (I mean, just look at the pictures below), but I'm also glad that I have a year to prepare. I'm loving my job and not quite ready to leave just yet. The one thing I'm not quite looking forward to is taking a Chemistry class this year in prep. I'm a little nervous, but I think it will be ok.

More awesome news, my sister had her second child just a few short weeks ago! Grayden is so cute and I'm so excited to be an aunt again. I can't wait until I get to hold him!

And luckily I won't have to wait long! I'm really excited because I'm going to Utah next week because my little brother Mikie is getting off his mission this Friday! I will get to see my entire family and I can't even wait! I've actually been super homesick in the last couple months and was bummed that I'd have to wait until Christmas to see everyone in my family again. As much as I love Boston it's just too far away sometimes. But thank goodness for sale tickets! I got the sweetest deal ever and am going to have so much fun, I just wish I could stay longer!

Anyway, that's the big stuff that's been going on. Other fun stuff that I've been up to includes:

• reading Breaking Dawn (and winning the costume contest at the midnight release party... I'll have to post pictures) in one weekend and continuing to talk about it almost nonstop since, plus getting other people reading the series
• trivia night every Monday at the Sunset Cantina with groups big and small - last night we finally won!
• taking a workshop at North Bennett Street School - 18th Century French Leather Bindings that was really fun (except for the days that I got sick, lame)
• seeing lots of movies including American Teen (highly recommended), Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants 2 (ditto), Mamma Mia, Batman: the Dark Knight, and gearing up for the Twilight movie!! (btw, if you didn't know, since Harry Potter moved back to 2009 - boo- Twilight is now coming out Nov 12th! Yay!)
• Watching tons of Olympics and cheering on my secret boyfriend, Michael Phelps (guess it's not so much of a secret anymore...)
• Spending a Saturday soaking up the sun at Walden Pond
• Getting caught in a major thunderstorm while giving a tour of the Freedom Trail downtown
• Watching free Shakespeare on the Boston Commons ("As You Like It" - pretty good, but still can't compare to my first year here)
• Seeing a great little production of "The Importance of Being Earnest" (one of my favorite plays)
• Probably a lot of other stuff that I can't remember right now
• Talking with my niece, Kirsten, on the phone, who's just 15 months old. She somehow is able to randomly call me and proceeds to talk my ear off, it's the cutest thing ever!

Anyway, I guess that's what you get when I forget to update for so long! Sorry again! I'll definitely try to post some pics this week, and for sure will have lots to report on when I get back from Utah! I can't wait for the cuteness of all the babies I'll get to hold! My head just might explode from all the family fun!

Beating the Heat

So, it's finally cooled down here in Boston a bit, but the last week and half has been so hot! It got up to 99 two weekends ago! And with the humidity it was pretty miserable. So what better way to beat the heat than to go to the beach? The breeze off the water was nice (if a little smelly) and we had fun soaking up some rays and playing in the sand. Check out the awesome sand turtle Bryce, Ben, Nicole and Abby made! People kept stopping to look at it, it was very impressive!

It's Myrtle the Turtle!

Nicole, Bryce, Ben and Abby

Also, I haven't reported on J.K. Rowling's Commencement Speech, which of course was amazing! You HAVE to go read it, or better yet watch it, here! I was almost in tears at one point during the speech. Our seats weren't too bad either, we could see the stage, but were a little far away for pictures, but we planted ourselves right behind the big screen so I got some good pics of her on that. Anyway, she is one of my heroes and it was so great to hear her speak live.

This weekend was a little cooler, like I said, so I didn't do too much outside other than walking to the Library with my roommate. I was able to go see Prince Caspian finally and loved it! Seriously, go see it! And if you haven't read the books you have to! They are some of my favorite stories and I think Prince Caspian is one of the best.

Plus, so exciting, but I got to see a trailer for Twilight before the movie!! Oh my gosh, I was freaking out! There are some things that turn me into a total "tween" and Twilight is one of them. So in honor of my excitement I thought I'd share the trailer with you too! Enjoy!

And look! Another post!

And since I'm on a roll with the posting, here's a look at the BBQ we had on Sat. for my roommates big achievements: Abby and Nicole both graduated with their Masters, Nicole is starting a new job and Lisa was promoted to "the floor" at work! My roommies are the best and the smartest. Can you believe I'm the only one in the house without a Masters Degree now? Smarties, that's what they are!

So we had about half the ward over to celebrate. David, our neighbor, brought his sweet new grill over and we cooked up burgers and good times. I made more of what is quickly becoming my famous Banoffee Cream Pie and we had a good 'ol time! Check it out:

This is what the pie looks like before the whip cream, just so you can get an idea... That's the toffee under the bananas.

Trisha looking fabulous as always!

My roomie Nicole really getting into a burger... Mmmrughh, yummy!

Marci and Erica, who came back for a visit.

Matchy-Matchy, me and Molly!

The Grill Master, David

With the Famous Banoffee Cream Pie

My roommie Abby and her BFF, Barbara

Laura, Alice and Leah chillin'

A good gathering

Picnic BBQ next to the square foot gardens

I'd say the party was a good success! The rain held off until most of us were done eating. We brought it inside at the very end and ended up watching a movie with a few people still hanging around. For me it's the first BBQ of the season, and I say, Bring It On!!

Oh, and I just have to plug The Cuteness... It was my niece and nephews One Year Birthday Party Picnic at the same time in Salt Lake! Wish I could have been there, but it looks like it was fun, check out the pictures here.

Jack and Kirsten are one year old! Such cuties!!

Remember to stay tuned for a post about J.K. Rowling! I get to hear her speak, live, tomorrow afternoon!! Can't wait!!

England Trip Part 3 - West Dean

Ok, so here's the last bit! West Dean College!

Wow, is all I can say. This place is Beautiful! I mean check out the front door!

So I got here on Monday night and didn't see anyone really at that point, but the next morning when I went in to breakfast I met Lili, who is my email friend at the school. It's kind of funny actually, her brother is in my ward in Boston and we've been emailing each other for the last year and half because she was applying for a job at Harvard, plus she went to BYU, knows everyone I know, and so it's just funny that this was the first time we'd actually met in person! She is really lovely, I wish I'd gotten a picture with her, oh well!

After breakfast (which was delicious by the way, all the food there was, they have meals "cafeteria style") I met up with the instructor of the book course for my Practical Test and Interview. He gave me a tour of the facility and set me to work on making some things. It went well, in fact I wasn't nervous at all, until they started asking me questions in the interview and portfolio part... But overall I think it went well.

This took pretty much all day, but I was done at 4 and after having a tour of the accommodations and talk about financing options, I went to bother Lili a bit in her room. She was trying to finish a huge research paper, so I tried not to distract her for too long. Luckily though, she had an adaptor that I could use to recharge my camera battery, so yay! Pictures! After dinner she took me on a lovely walk through the Arboretum where most of the pictures were taken...

A view of the school from the top of a nearby hill.

The beautiful green fields next to the school (these don't really do it justice... it was raining most of Monday and Tuesday)

Lambies!! All the lambs here have twins because they are artificially inseminated. Baby lambs are the cutest!

These are fields of white daisies. Pretty!

Coming back to the school (we did a big loop), isn't it just so picturesque?

This is the hallway on the way to my room in the main house! Crazy! There are like hundred-year-old tapestries hanging on the walls, antique marble pillars, urns, armor and dead animal heads all over the school!

The view from my window in my room, showing the back-side garden. You can see a quaint little cottage behind the shrub wall there...

A better view of the cottage.

Another view of the front of the school.

So anyway! That is pretty much the end of my trip! I went to bed on Tuesday, got up early Wednesday morning for breakfast and then drove back up to the airport. My plane left in the afternoon, so I had plenty of time to return the car and do a bit of airport shopping before it was back to Boston, this time through Toronto!

All in all, it was an amazing trip! I'm so glad I was able to go! I'm still not sure what to do about school, in fact I'm almost more confused than I was before, but I'm glad I got a feel for both of them, and that I was able to meet up with some friends! It was so great to be back in England after 7 years. It's still the same as I remembered, which I'm glad of, and I really hope that I'll be back again very soon!

Next up are some pictures of what I've been up to since getting back. Yes, my life never stops.... Seriously though, it's usually really boring, but maybe since it's summer it's getting a little more exciting. Anyway, I'll be sure to be better about posting what I'm up to this summer, so keep checking back!