o'ryan

I am currently 1 of four roomates; me, Jen, Janie, and O'Ryan. Ryan is hands down the biggest, most beautiful, and bizarre cat I have ever met. He is seriously weird.

Every morning he comes and snuggles with me right before I have to get up. This morning I woke up and somehow he had found his way under my covers and was licking my leg. Why? No idea. I proceeded to pick him up and rub his belly. He laid on his back with all four paws in the air like an upside down armadillo. He looked so uncomfortable but was purring incessantly.

On more than one occasion, I will get out of the shower and find his two front paws under the bathroom door. When I open the door, he is sprawled out on his stomach. Then he will look up at me with a look of utter stupidity, "Heather why in the world would you open that door?" Ryan will then strut away like the divo he is.

16 days, 71 hours

While using my time ever-so-wisely at work, I just calculated that in the past 16 days I have driven 71 hours and put 3,000+ miles on my car. Whew! That is just too much. I have looped the midwest more in 2 weeks than I ever really care to. Tennessee, Illinois, Texas, Kansas, Arkansas, Indiana, Missouri...

I'm so drained from constantly being in the good ol' Honda. I am in desperate need of at least 14 hours of sleep at one time and a hiatus from being in my car.

Unfortunately, on Friday I have to hop in my car for another 2-3 hours and head home for the weekend. I'm kind of dreading it. Wish I had someone to magically chauffeur me home. Or if I could be like I Dream of Jeannie for just one weekend, shake my nose and be wherever I want to be. That would be great.

tk*

Last week (right after the weddings), me along with 4 good friends from college went on a roadtrip circling our homes.

First, we went to my house. Mom made us some amazing food: chicken fried steak, green bean casserole (my fav!), rolls, cookies, and a bunch of other yummy stuff that I can't really remember. Then, Mike, Diane, Erica, Han and I piled into my stepdads truck and headed over to the drive-in. We saw The Other Guys. If you haven't seen it, DON'T. It was truly awful. Worst movie I've seen in a long time. After the movie we went back to my Dad's house, watched friends, played ping-pong, and eventually went to sleep.

The next morning we woke up bright and early, 6:30amish, so we could hit the road. We were moving onward to Mike's house in Texas, so we had a 13-14hr drive ahead of us. Texas was fun and very laidback: movies, sleeping, laying out, lots of food, Chick-Fil-A, book shopping, dessert. The best part of Texas was definitely playing lots of games at ChuckECheese for free! We won about 1500 tickets. I think I have missed my calling in life.

Next, Kansas. Kansas was my favorite part of the trip! Not only do I love Nirk's life in Kansas, but it reminded me of the simple summers that I used to spend in Mahomet. It reminded me so much of Mahomet summers when I was younger, that it made me almost want to cry. My friends and I can't enjoy these summers in the same way anymore since we're all grown-up. But being in Kansas definitely took me back.

Kansas highlights: spaghetti pie, Phoebe and Nelly, Phil and Robbie, trampolines, salt water pools, boating, tubing, church mafia meetings, QuickTrips, California girl dancing, pingpong, bowling, and so much more. In case you were wondering, yes, I was named MVP tuber of the day on the lake.

Being out on the lake was probably the best day. I didn't want to get off the tube. It was just too much fun. Nirk almost tried to kill Phil, Mike, and Robbie while they were on the tube, but as his first mate I stand by the fact that we were only going 20-25ish. They were just being babies. Nirk, Robbie and I were on the tube at one point; Nirk and I were dying of laughter and Robbie yelling, "I want off!! Get me off this tube!!" Too funny.

The roadtrip home was just as fun. We listened through all of my 9 TK mixes, changed California to Illinois, danced a lot esp. the pizza dance, scream/sang to almost every song, and just had lots of fun. Nirk and I had to keep singing over Erica, she has such an awful voice. I mean, really. (In case you don't know Erica, she has a gorgeous voice. Nirk and I were mainly being obnoxious by singing really loud over her with our not-as-good voices.)

Few of my fav quotes:
"Is Texas in the south?" - Erica
"Ask your doctor!" - Diane
"This reminds me of the traveling pants." - Diane

*tk stands for Texas/Kansas, not Tom Kirk.

the weddings

All of my friends are getting married. This may seem like a drastic statement, but it's not. Out of eight of my closest friends from high school, 3 are now married and 1 is getting married July 30th next summer. Two have serious-ish boyfriends, and then there are the lonely two (Suz and I) who are truly enjoying our early 20's as singles.

On June 26th, Lauren and Grant got married. They've been dating for...forever. Since freshman/sophomore year of HS! They are the definition of high school sweethearts. They're wedding was so amazing; they rode off on a motorcycle. Yes, Lauren jumped onto the back of a motorcycle in 5-6inch heels and her wedding dress. She's great.

The rest of the night was the definition of a wedding party. The open bar had a lot to do with this. I won't go into the graphic details of the night, but I'll give you a highlight list: salmoning, Gough, rumors, cupcakes, and lots of crazy dancing. The best part of the night was definitely surrounding Lauren and doing our "Just a Little Bit" dance from high school. Here's the picture that stemmed from the dance:

Deborah and Aaron's wedding was just as fun, but in a different way. They are such a young Godly couple and their wedding reflected their relationship together and with God perfectly. It was amazing to watch Deborah marry the man that she is truly meant to be with, and knowing that they are starting out on a journey together that is obviously going to honor God in all the ways he intended. Needless to say, I cried a lot at their wedding. Then my eyes started to burn as my makeup poured into my eyes, which led to even more crying.

I don't have a good picture of Deb and Aaron, but here's one of the bests. Its so romantic!

I wish all my married friends the happiest, life-long marriages that they deserve. I wish you all the best and am so happy for you =)

nada

I don't really have much to report on as of now, except that the next few weeks are going to be amazing in the life of Heather. Things I'm looking forward to:

1. Drive-in with my sister tonight
2. Roadtrip with the bests to Nashville
3. Deb's wedding in Nashville on Saturday!
4. Staying in a cabin the entire weekend, aka trashy fun
5. On Monday, leave for a roadtrip with college friends
6. Spending a few days in Texas, then Kansas (hopefully being outside and getting some sun)

For now, I'm just counting the minutes until 3p. I'm at work in my cubicle bouncing off the walls, waiting for all this end-of-summer fun to commence.

double finger rings

My newest obsession is double finger rings. I want one so bad, but my current finances are relentless towards my need for new and pretty things.