best of 2006...

[2006]
best not-a-planet: Pluto
best live musical: Into the Woods
best coast: West Coast
best leadership team: Team Poseidon Pete
best previously undiscovered talent: Go-Kart Racing
best cousin: Joel Maynard
best short-term roomies: Dani, Lily, and Rach
best birthday: Twenty-One
best book: Reading Lolita in Tehran [azar nafisi]
best end: The End [lemony snicket]
best memory: Summer Adventure Day
best city visited: New York City
best school: Summer School
best house: The Blue House
best new tradition: Monday Morning Campfire Breakfasts
best summer flick: Scoop
best other flick: Stranger Than Fiction
best bond: Casino Royale
best tv: The Office
best drink: Portland Water
best new tv: Heroes
best dance: Modern Dance
best coffee drink: Albina Press Latte
best shoes: Moccasins
best lost tradition: Bread Bowls at DJ's
best ballroom: Crystal Ballroom
best betsy: Betsy Maynard
best "the wake" activity: Bluegrass Night
best voice: Patrick
best non-awkward hug: Andrew
best awkward hug: JohnDavid
best waste of time: Myspace
best indulgence: Splash
best hall: Lower West
best new sport: Snowshoeing
best not-an-olympic-sport: Guitar Hero
best hat: Blue Anchor Hat
best falls: Bridal Veil Falls
best singing: Singing Harmony
best purchase: Plane Tickets to Europe
best pirating adventure: Night Kayaking
best hair: Abbie Maynard
best lake: Lake Ontario
best new title: Head RA
best laugh: Katie Holley
best couch: The Statehouse Couch
best stylist: Justin at Salon in Vogue
best foreign food: Indian
best style: Audree Heath
best new career given up: Dancer
best way: Hemingway
best jeans: The Magic Free Levi's
best technological indulgence: Skypecam
best ring: The Spoon Ring
best stationary: Korean Stationary with Bad English Translations
best museum: Cloisters
best class: Short Story Genre Study with Dr Somerville
best village: Greenwich Village
best life metaphor: A Sandwich
best game: Apples to Apples
best thursday: Last Thursday
best addiction: Books
best challenge: The Poetry Challenge
best starbucks: Fifteenth and Freemont
best farm: The Heath Ranch
best roadtrip: Memorial Day Trip with Joel [and our feet out the window]
best skirt: The ZaZen Birthday Skirt
best family: Mine
best theme song: Taking the Long Way - Dixie Chicks
best pet: Hermes the Lucky Bamboo
best shirt: The Rain Shirt
best trend: Hair Ribbons
best smile: A Cheesy Smile
best poet: Emily Dickinson
best brush: A Toothbrush
best reminder: Love is Different than You Think
best reunion: Intern Reunions [both of them]
best airport: PDX
best blues: Adam

That was my favorite year.

barely ever...

I rarely blog. It makes me sad.

My Christmas Break Reading List [check the updated list. two more should be completed soon!] has been taking up a lot of the time I don't spend doing exciting things like working ["temp! temp! temp! temp!"], having the flu and staying in bed for five days, sleeping, hanging with my family, swing dancing, or making new friends [i have not spent nearly enough time with the old ones, either].

Writing takes a lot of time; I feel like I'm out of practice and form. Do I seriously just not have as much creative energy or is it the lack of emo thoughts about life and school?

I am content.

I should also probably take more pictures. Those always give me something to say. I only have 16 days left. I plan on making the most of my Portland time.

The blog isn't dead. I still enjoy writing. Updates might not be quite as frequent, but they shall appear. If you ever need insights into my daily foolishness, you can always try my white board blog.

But hopefully, we can sit down soon [over a cup of coffee] and ponder aloud the wonders of the city, the world, and our Savior.

holiday reading...

The Ambitious List
italics indicate completion
* indicates in-progress

East of Eden [john steinbeck] - 601
A Wild Sheep Chase [haruki murakami] - 353
Peace Like a River [leif enger] - 305
Crime and Punishment [fyodor dosoevesky] - 576
My Antonia [willa cather] - 266
*A Soldier of the Great War [mark helprin]
Gilead [marilyn robinson]
The Crossing [cormac mccarthy]
The Innocents Abroad [mark twain]
Daisy Miller [henry james]
Juneteenth [ralph ellison]
*The Short Stories [ernest hemingway]
*Collection of Stories [edgar allen poe]
*Eight American Poets [various]

time is confused...

I've been home since Thursday afternoon [surprise!], yet still strangely unsure of what timezone I'm in. Maybe Christmas break is in its own, floating universe without a set timezone. So far, I've been waking up at around 8 am, but I'm tired long before 10 pm. Right now, a nasty battle with somethingerother [which i sincerely hope isn't the flu, but the fever, cough, headache, sudden symptoms, and muscle pain seems to suggest otherwise] has me awake since 4 am. I'm tired after only five hours, but not enough to sleep. I think the fact that I spent about 7 hours in bed yesterday might have something to do with it. [there are a lot of numbers in this post, have you noticed?]

School finished up normally well. I was sad not to have a gap day to goof off and catch up with people before we left for break. All of my finals were on the last three days, so I had just enough time to panic. They all went well except for Mythology [the last one], but that class was simply insane anyway. The professor was nearly an hour late to the exam, so he gave us a few extra points [on a section which didn't help me much, unfortunantly]. Maybe his 300 lb cat [named Zeus, naturally] will spill coffee on my exam again and he'll have to give me an a...there's a thought!

As much as we've all changed, it's good to have friends here at home. My sisters are graciously bringing me along to many of their social gatherings, so I'm spreading the charm and far from lonely. It's also good to see my family. I feel much more settled here than this summer; the separation is perhaps a little more defined.

Projects this break include: the ambitious book list, sorting through the remaining junk [debate trophies from 2001?] I have stashed in my room [now occupied by amygrace], house sitting, starting a knitting project, memorizing at least a couple more sections of Psalm 119, improving my swing dancing, finding a short-term job so I can afford europe for spring break, and entertaining the fabulous Mary Twist when she arrives for a couple of days in January.

Give me a call. I'm here til the 14th and cannot wait to spend time with you. As soon as I beat this illness, that is...

watch your back, bond...

Congrats to us for finishing classes! Finals are Friday, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Tonight, when Mary, Hannah, and I found ourselves with two hours to kill and not really wanting to take yet another nap, Hannah says, "let's play dress up!"
So we did.