Day 92

I finally fixed my clock of clocks that I made last year from photographs of my travels. And of course I went for the yellow clock this time.

And while at Target to pick up my replacement clock, I bought my first CD in over a year...Mumford & Sons is an amazing West London band. I'm pretty much in love.

Ninety-second Day

Best non-academic thing about being a full-time student in Chicago: CTA U-PASS! I finally got mine today and will once again happily be riding without regard to cost until December.  

The end of a journey... or is it?

Dear Readers/Followers/Viewers -

As August comes to an end, we are debating whether or not we should continue this photo a day blog.  Perhaps this time with a theme (Autumn? just food (because we were pretty good at that)? mornings? evenings? anything? none at all/keep it the same?).  Do you have any suggestions/thoughts/opinions?  Will your lives just not be the same without daily peaks into our little worlds and you'll terribly miss us? Or are you tired of keeping up with us?  We'd love to hear from you! We are grateful for your comments and we hope that you've enjoyed following our exciting summers.  We have had a lot of fun sharing the world through our eyes, I mean, camera lenses.  I think we've both learned to appreciate the little blessings in our lives, including each of you.  Thank you for being our faithful followers.

Happy Autumn!

Paige & Hope

Day 91

I've been a poetry mood lately. My favorite lines of e.e. cummings:

dive for dreams 

or a slogan may topple you 

(trees are their roots

 and wind is wind)  

trust your heart 

if the seas catch fire 

(and live by love 

though the stars walk backward)  

honour the past 

but welcome the future

That's how I want to live my life.  Oh, and Longfellow and Whitman are pretty good too.

Ninety-first Day

Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam

For the Greater Glory of God

First day of classes.

What a difference a year makes.

Ninetieth Day

A morning at the beach,

an afternoon making cards,

and an evening watching the Emmys (my favorite, Jane Lynch, won!). Great day. 

Day 90

Beach towels on the clothes line after a lazy afternoon in the pool...and yes, I have a Scrabble towel -- biggest nerd ever!

Driving back to Monmouth as the sun starts to set on the interstate...

Eighty-ninth Day

Recipe for a relaxing and wonderful Saturday morning: asiago bagel with shmear (such a funny word!), newspapers, coupons, crosswords, and a newly purchased vase from a yard sale which inspired a fresh flower purchase.  

Day 89

Tree frogs on the porch!

Eighty-eighth Day

A birthday bash even the Captain and his bar maids can enjoy. 

Happy Birthday, Brittany! Chicago will dearly miss you and Seattle won't know what hit it!

Day 88

Postcards (from Italia) and pianos...

Eighty-seventh Day

Elizabeth M. Cudahy Library has the most beautiful aqua door.  It's not actually usable, but I do love walking past it everyday on my way to work and study.

Day 87

Today I finally put my Washington D.C. poster up on the wall -- with pant hangers. After last semester, part of me will always call DC home.

Eighty-sixth Day

I've been thinking about this dish for a while now. I would have made it days ago, but I failed to find the ricotta cheese in the store (Silly me, I searched the cheese section high and low.  Little did I know they stocked ricotta in the Dairy section.  Thanks to Meg for enlightening me after I foolishly ranted about my grocery store's poor selection - oh well, at least I eventually found it!).  Vegetable and ricotta stuffed tomatoes. Delicious!

Day 86

When I see irrigation I know that I'm close to home...

I went home for the afternoon...back to the house that built me. If you look hard enough you can see my little hand prints in our driveway...circa 1991.

Eighty-fifth Day

As I was walking back from lunch today, I noticed a small egg shell and some fluffy white feathers on the ground around my feet. Before I took another step, I looked up, and to my delight saw a momma bird in a thick nest just above my head.  I couldn't hear any chirping; perhaps they too had just finished lunch and were taking a nap, as I so wished I could.  This mother was quite aware of my presence, so I simply nodded, smiled, and returned to work with a spring in my step at the beauty of new life. Corny, I know, but so true.

Day 85

The first day of school is my favorite day of the whole year! Seriously, if anyone wants to win me over, just get me a bouquet of freshly sharpened pencils (like on You've Got Mail.)

I was so excited that I decided to bake chocolate chip cookies for my residents after class!

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.