okay Obama, i believe in you. and that is why i'm suggesting you focus on the following to-do list:

1. need more toothpaste.
2. pick up some flowers for Michelle, just because.
3. read the girls a bedtime story.
4. PLUG THE DAMN OIL HOLE IN THE GULF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
5. suit tailored.
6. don't forget dog food.
7. catch last half of game 2. go Celtics!

i die.

The weird games we played when we were little kids that absolutely must reveal some deep-seeded suppressed problem about our psyche later in life: I used to be the jungle caregiver/research scientist to two sloths named Sloth Coco (Meg) and Sloth Nilla (Casey). Turns out, such things exist!

mold-a-rama.

I've never been much of a zoo person, mostly because trips to the zoo always remind me of hours in extreme heat equivalent to the Bataan Death March, being run over by strollers, acne-faced teen boys from Hugo, Oklahoma taunting poor animals in their thick accents and nightmares of being trapped in the dark, stuffy herpetarium.

But boy was I wrong. The zoo is a wonderful place.

I'd forgotten about Mold-A-Rama! Such joy in something so completely elementary and waxy and weird. How can this still exist!? Or, more to the point, how did this ever exist!?

I'm now the proud owner of an orange giraffe - my favorite animal at the zoo.

Walker bought me an ICEE! My parents never ever bought me anything at concession stands as a cardinal rule of my upbringing, so this felt like a real indulgence - even if it was a little foamy.

There was a hippo wallowing in mud.

A peacock with its beautiful feathers completely fanned out.

Hilarious seahorse and badger narration by Walker.

The black bear playing with the log.

The totally content lifestyles of otters and sea lions. Enviable really.

Tiny tigers with pretty eyes.

Flamingos stomping on one of their own to death - not kidding, it was traumatic.

And the gorillas going absolutely nuts over the incoming weather. One of them pressed itself against the window after a couple of somersaults and gave me the "Rock On" sign - not even kidding.

...it was about this time that we decided to take the hint and head home - we beat the apocalyptic hail storm by three minutes. Just enough time to slide my car in the garage, pop popcorn and experience one of the craziest things I've ever seen. It was literally raining golf balls, leaving a trail of ruined cars and broken windows in its wake.

So, in conclusion, nature is spellbinding.

when in dallas: we gotta eat at mark salvie's taco place.

This weekend Walker and I headed to the Dallas area for Casey Jarma's wedding - which was absolutely gorgeous and so Casey, whom I luckily got to live with for a joy filled semester in the Theta house, Room 303 to be exact, sharing bunk beds and all.

Beautiful Casey with her Texas drawl, winks, laugh and huge heart was too cute for words in her lace wedding dress and cowboy boots.

I also ended up utterly confused about what exactly goes into a Seabreeze.

So on our way there, Walker and I decided to "explore Dallas."

The only real highlight of this attempt were the tacos (and corn cart) found at a large gas station just off a highway - Fuel City - that Walker remembered Mark Salvie loving more than life. And he's just the kind of guy you should trust recommendations from.

They were really, really good. The vivid pictures above should help you fully realize the experience. Especially Walker's my-mouth-is-full-of-spicy-corn-and-I hate-the-idea-of-taking-pictures-of-food-for-your-blog-stop-bugging-me-you're-weird-I-will-not-participate look.

summer.

fox lake pool marathon day when i return!?!!! break for iced tea and pita/hummus
- Text via Meg. Can't wait.



p.s. the other sister got into ACT II (showchoir, duh)! Hello, Glee!

i found this hilarious and so true. but this may only be because i've read and loved Anna Karenina and am, to this day, terrified of freak dancing.

Anna-logue
There’s a section in Anna Karenina which describes a landowner observing some peasants whooping with joy. The landowner is envious of their fun but knows that he can’t join in. Watching the peasants he feels “a heavy feeling of anguish at his loneliness, his bodily idleness, his hostility to this world.”

Naturally, this scene could apply to a lot of situations in which a person feels alienated from an ecstatic group. On my account, here is the memory that emerged while reading: a vision of high school dances in which everyone vigorously freak-danced while I, who did not know how to freak-dance, watched with aching desire from the sidelines, found excuses to go to the bathroom, and played Snake on my phone.







Via MagicMolly which is genius.

the way to get things accomplished.

Make overwhelming to-do lists less whelming by interspersing it with the mundane. For example:

Coffee with Beth.
Call mom.
Buy postage stamps and paper clips for office.
Make/Save enough money to go to Costa Rica or Bangladesh in two months.
Return library books.
Write 10,000 words.
Find sunglasses.
Run three miles.
Hulu Modern Family & 30 Rock while house sitting.
World peace.





...I wonder if Obama has a similar formula?