Hi there everyone! Sorry that my blogs are going to be so few and far between this summer. I'll try to keep them coming for as long as I can before I'm stranded so far from civilization.;)

Speaking of civilization, however, I did have a great week of remembering how to be a barista (with parts of the menu and computer systems changed on me...) but, realized I still had it in me when a man asked me about a half hour before closing the other night..."So, I want something hot to drink, with no fat, that's sweet with no sugar, and no caffiene. But I want it with coffee." After thinking about two seconds (remember, this is my FIRST day back on the job,) I reply calmly "How about a Grande (upgrade! whoo hoo!) latte with decaf shots, skim milk, and sugar free french vanilla syrup?) About four dollars in sales later, I was rather pleased with myself.;)

Other than my tiny triumph in the coffee world, I went downtown for Matt's birthday! It was sooooooooooo much fun..I got to get a new top to wear (it's amazing how hard it is to find something cute for summer that's psuedo-fancy and still covers you) that we found on sale, and with a coupon for ten dollars off managed to buy it for a little over THREE dollars, and with that and my new haircut which got rid of my atrocious split ends, rode the train downtown. The conductor asked if I was going to go party...um...well, yeah, but not the way HE was thinking of... and got to pretend I was all special and chic sitting there on the train with my sister's iPod and pretending I knew what I was doing. I then got to hail my first cab all by myself, and found Matt at the John Hancock tower, where we then dashed off and got to act like we were from the big city and prowl around for deals in the shops. He forced me to be a girl and try on a pair of $320 dollar pair of shoes at Filene's Basement...they were *kinda* cute, except for the pointy-toe part. I still can't find the beauty in that fashion. It looks cool on other people (aka Giles,) and Matt told me I could pull it off, but looking down from above, my size 10 feet, with an extra three inches of wicked point just didn't seem right. Instead, I managed to find a pair of Teva flip flops and paraded around in them. 20 dollars, and comfortable. AND cute. Much more my speed.;)

Ok, enough about the shoes...seriously. We went to dinner at Bistro 110 - a fancy place where the food is great but you don't understand half the words on the menu...:) and THEN...dun dun dun...the highlight of the evening (besides being with a friend in downtown Chicago, of course) - THE BLUE MAN GROUP. holy cow, these guys are crazy good, and so funny!! What a show. They really know how to entertain. I've got pics from the trip - including two of the Blue men, which I will post on here soon. Just not now.:)

Hmm...so, today wasn't as eventful, for sure, but I did managed to turn the household chore of cutting the grass into an art form. :) (What else do you expect from an art girl?) Did you realize you can make really pretty designs in the grass if you just think about how you are going to cut it before you do? :) It was a good two hours of fun (and sweating and getting thirsty and getting tired.) ;)

Other than that, life is good. STILL trying to unpack and straighten up everything from college. It's so hard to have stuff from two living place combine and actually have room and a place for everything.

That's it from here. Oh, reading "Passion and Purity." A good read, and fast too. Should be done in a couple days. I encourage all girls who read this blog to read it too. I can promise you you'll get a lot more wisdom and spiritual insight from it instead of here.:)

Love and miss you all from the Dale!! Take care of yourselves!