Enchante!

I'm on my porch, and it's another hot, sunny, blue-skied Maryland day. The Japanese beetles are out; I can hear the low whiiiizzzzz sound of their flight Doppler-ing around me as they fly low over the lawn. They're trying to attack my basil, but alas, I'm out here guarding my herb garden and my mom's roses with a swat of my hand. You won't get them today, damn you!

But other than that, I finally figured out the right ratio of milk:espresso:vanilla syrup to make scrumptious iced lattes worthy of my favorite mom-and-pop coffee shop. I'm writing letters to friends and making mix CDs to send off all over the country within the next week. And I just stumbled across this lovely website, Garance Dore. I love the illustrations-- the lines are so clean and the girls themselves are gorgeous. I have half a mind to make my next knitting project a red and white scarf.

And my aviators! I had lots of fun with picnik, if you couldn't tell. Sorry for the low quality-- no Li+ batteries at hand yet for my camera. My hair is gross-- I haven't washed it in a day, mostly due to the fact I've been "training" it to stay un-greasy for longer, which, for the most part is working. I'll thank myself when classes roll around again. :)

Speaking of which, I'm starting to get excited for classes again. I've got two 400-level science courses (biochemistry and cancer biology), which I'm looking forward to despite the fact I know I have resigned myself to six-hour weekend shifts in the library, again. I think I've gotten used to it, though. And then there's my 300-level politics class, which I am reaaallly excited for because I have it with two of my house-mates/best friends (both of whom are also politics minors) and I really like the professor. Finally, there's Japanese, which after more than a dozen years of living in Japan, I am finally getting around to taking. I hope I can take two years of it, if my schedule allows senior year-- definitely would strengthen my application for teaching english in Japan!

Also, I've been contemplating upgrading my razr to an iPhone. For a while, I've been staunchly against it, mostly because
1) I'm really bad at answering my phone, just because and...
a) I don't always want to answer my phone
i) especially when my mom is calling me during organic chemistry lab
1) which she really did.
ii) especially when people forget the time differences and call at 3 AM
b) I find cellphones are a lot like leashes.
c) I always forget to turn my phone to "vibrate" during lecture
i) resulting in humiliation
2) Price
a) After this year, I will have nearly 20k in student loans. UGH.

But I've been overdue for an upgrade for at least a year (not that it'll get me a discount, apparently), and with the older iPhone models being only $99 now, I can cross off reason number 2. Plus, I really like the google maps feature, which could be handy for Seattle escapades or just-plain-lost situations. Plus, it just looks awesome... and I think my dad is tired of me asking to fiddle around with his.

Also, I think most of reason number 1 was just me trying to compensate for the fact that I didn't have the bank to get an iPhone in the first place... :)

For now, I'll leave you with this.