Day 84

I want to see the world...all of it. Here are my top five destinations as of late:

1. Vietnam

2. Greece

3. Australia

4. Ghana

5. Ireland

Eighty-fourth Day

Just another day at the Archdiocesan Archives. We have four very large (and cold) rooms with floor to ceiling compact shelving to house parish, parishioner, priest, and diocesan documents. We even found some random relics!  Funny tidbit: The boxes are from the Paige Company and one of my co-worker's daughter's named Paige, so I am easily confused throughout the day.

Eighty-third Day

I just couldn't decide what best captured this beautiful day.

The cool breeze, the lazy day, and the fact that this is my home for the time being, 

made for a very thankful Paige.

Day 83

I love lemons. Especially the fake ones on my table. Maybe one day when I have my own place in North Carolina or somewhere like that I'll be cool enough to have a bowl of real lemons. And maybe one day I'll be home for my little sister's birthday.

Happy 17th Birthday, Hannah! Rock that Chelsea shirt!

Day 82

The gang's back together again (and all sitting in one chair)!

Eighty-second Day

For our One Year Winthrop Anniversary / End of Summer / Return to School Shin-dig, Bags, or Cornhole, if you will, was a most popular activity in the backyard.  

Day 81

Einstein Bros. Bagels has the best coffee ever...and now that they're on campus I have a feeling I'll be stopping by pretty much every day!

Eighty-first Day

A refreshing g&t  on a humid August eve. 

Day 80

The past few days have been perfect for wearing sunglasses, and I have definitely been taking advantage of them!

Eightieth Day

For the past fifty or so days that I have worked this summer, my ipod podcasts have been my saving grace, my life-line, and often the only thing keeping me (awake) sane through files and aisles.  Ira Glass, Terry Gross, Peter Sagal, Carl Kassel, Rachel Maddow, Jad Abumrad, and Robert Krulwich have become dear friends to my ears as the sound of their voices fill my days with thought provoking questions, stories, and insights into the humorous and ever fascinating human condition.  

Day 79

And so the endless nights of duty in Founders Village begin...

Seventy-ninth Day

Dear World: My name is Paige and I am a stress baker. Those around me and with whom I live benefit from such stress, but our waistlines do not. Despite the heat, I just had to break out the cookbook for some stress (Snickerdoodle) cookies tonight.  

Day 78

Getting a little help from a fellow Founders Village RA at our dinner at the president's house.

Seventy-eighth Day

Imaginiff... summer never ended and you could just play Bananagrams all day! What a dream!  

I think my two favorite twelve-year olds will whole-heartedly agree with this sentiment.

Seventy-seventh Day

Today I had the chance to shoot the breeze with some of the wonderful people with whom I worked closely during my time at Monmouth.  It was certainly some much needed catching up.  

Day 77

First night of marching on the football field. However, I was up in the stands kickin' it in my walking cast. Even if I'm out 2-4 weeks, I still want to learn my part.

Day 76

And so it begins -- I dusted off the old trombone to play through our marching band tunes. From now until November, band will rule my weekends. We're doing a Ray Charles show this year!

Seventy-sixth Day

We've got a Ticket to Ride!

Day 75

At 7:30 this morning I boarded this big yellow school bus that drove us out into the woods, where I swung from a rope like Tarzan, got muddy, and received about a million mosquito bites. Then I got back on the big yellow bus and fell asleep.

Seventy-fifth Day

Wedding number six included deliciously sweet cupcakes and fabulous friends!

Seventy-fourth Day

Homemade pizza is sublime.

Day 74

Friday was originally supposed to be my last day of work for the summer, and I arrived to find this basket full of goodies on my chair! Now it looks as if I might be working another week!

Day 73

After heading to a pub with friends to hear a professor play the harmonica and then heading out to the country to watch the meteor shower, a trip to Steak 'n Shake at 1:30 am seemed like the perfect end to a great night.

Seventy-third Day

At the library we have to shelf read the entire collection, each individual call number.  It generally takes us one year to get through the whole library because daily tasks distract us, such as re-shelving circulated books. Today, I spent a good couple hours shelf-reading in the Periodicals section. Hooray for easy numbers [and air conditioning!]!  

Seventy-second Day

 We three Uptown Girls traveled to the local watering hole, the Hopleaf, in search of diverse beverages and frites! Nom, nom, nom!

Day 72

Tonight, I got to go bowling and out for ice cream in Roseville with the Head Residents. We had to keep our own score, and I learned that all those tests in P.E. were a waste -- I still can't keep score properly! And I am not ashamed to admit that I am a horrible bowler, but I'm a pro at eating ice cream!

Day 71

"Everyone has oceans to fly as long as you have the heart to do it. Is it reckless? Maybe. But what do dreams know of boundaries?" --A.E.

She's my hero. And now I have a poster of her flying to Hawaii to remind me that courage releases you from fear and that adventure truly is worthwhile.

Seventy-first Day

After a long and humid day, it's nice to come home to some fresh sun tea.

Seventieth Day

From sweet corn and fresh peaches to cucumber sushi and edamame, I try to keep my diet a cultured one. 

Day 70

I love getting mail -- and today I got a letter, a book, and a movie! It definitely helped to improve my mood on this stressful Monday.

Day 69

This is our cat, Zoe. And yes, she is sitting on the dining room table in typical Zoe fashion.

Sixty-ninth Day

Meet Adrian. She will eat anything. Including raw ears of freshly shucked sweet corn. 

Sixty-eighth Day

"The corn is as high as an elephant's eye and it looks like it's climbin' clear up to the sky."

This city gal was thankful to get back to the fields of corn.

Sixty-seventh Day

Though we weren't silly enough to purchase the outrageously expensive tickets to Lollapalooza, we were silly enough to try and hear some of the bands from the other side of the fence.  Unashamedly, we were a bit gaga for Lady Gaga.  

Day 68

At the Decatur Celebration Parade waiting for my sister's marching band.

Day 67

Rocking out to some big band music on our living room record player.

Day 66

Ke nako! That's Sotho for "It's time!" I'm only a month late, but it's time for vuvuzelas! I don't care if people find the South African horn annoying, I think I may have found my true calling as a vuvuzellist.

Sixty-sixth Day

Sailboats: I want.

Sixty-fifth Day

Today was an academic working day.  Huzzah for productivity! 

Yay for school almost starting. 

Yes, I know I'm a nerd. 

Day 65

The library is my favorite place to be. It's amazing how soothing it is just to walk along the shelves -- even in the summer. This picture is my favorite row of books -- the green ones are the Presidential Papers of Lyndon Johnson. I don't care what anyone says, LBJ was the man!

Sixty-fourth Day

Due to the many construction projects happening on campus, detours are aplenty.  One involves making your way around a fountain, shown above.  I feel a bit like Mario avoiding the toadstools in Super Mario Brothers as I try to avoid getting wet, but always seem to fail.  At least it was refreshing on this humid day.

Day 64

Tonight I held firm to my belief that breakfast foods were meant to be eaten at any time of day as I scrambled some eggs for supper -- and yes, I cooked them myself. I also believe that eggs from my grandparents' chickens are far superior to any others.

Sixty-third Day

The art of art, the glory of expression and the sunshine of the light of letters, is simplicity. 

      Walt Whitman

Perhaps it's the 19th century part of me or just my love of old traditions that keeps me writing letters.  Letters also remind me of camp. Today I received two letters from dear camp friends (and a lovely handmade friendship bracelet from my co). It made me want to sing the mail song... 

I'll spare you all.

Day 63

When I first turned sixteen, I hated driving. Now I've come to enjoy hitting the open road with the windows down and the music turned up.

Day 62

This has been hanging in our house for as long as I can remember, and I've always thought using an old window for a picture frame was pretty clever -- props to my mom for being creative. And I love old photographs.

Sixty-second Day

Have I mentioned that I love summer foods? Especially heirloom tomatoes and cucumbers!