HOME!!!!! (warning: boring post)

It's great to be home!!! I've been home for less than 24 hours, but I've done so much already! Went to Superbowl with Allen straight from the aeroport. Ran into my sister there. How random. Went to see B-ev. She made us eat cookies. They were yum. Good to sit around with friends, feeling comfortable, talking about nothing and everything, planning future hangouts! Dinner with the fam. Beautiful flowers from Jason(!) . Went to Christmas in the Park (!!) with some of Allen's friends. Went and looked at the ice skating rink at Downtown Ice. It was nice..but super crowded. Maybe I'll get to iceskate in January or something! Watched White Chicks. It was funny. super random. I was so tired, though, that I don't remember much of it.

I can't explain what it's like...this sense of home. Of belonging. Of knowing. Of loving.

Off to italy! YUM! Have a Merry Christmas and a very Hapy New Year!

It's going to SNOW! Just in time for me to see it and then escape to sunny California for a month! YAY!

ten random things about me:
10. I love Italian food.
09. I want to take piano lessons again and learn how to play the harp
08. I love changing weather: fall, spring…0
07. I ran into some friends from Cal at the top of the Eiffel tower
06. I love a little verbal sparring
05. My voice goes up in pitch when I talk to strangers
04. I own too much stuff (read: junk)
03. I’m a crazy multi-tasker. Cooking, phone, email, work, IM, read (ok, not ALL at once)
02. My favorite ice cream is Ben and Jerry’s Chubby Hubby
01. I use food/cooking to show people that I love them

nine places i've visited:
09. Troy, Michigan (where I was born)
08. Troy, France (pronounced like twa)
07. Paris…and Paris…and Paris….
06. Washington, DC
05. Banff and Lake Louise. The most beautiful piece of nature I have ever laid my eyes upon
04. A lot of national parks as a kid with my family: Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Bryce, Zion, Jasper, Yellowstone…I’m sure there are more. I heart national parks
03. Park City, Utah
02. Baltimore (am I just visiting? Maybe)
01. Tiburon

eight things i want to do before i die:
08. Raise a family
07. Get married
06. Take a big risk
05. Make sure the people I love know that they are loved
04. Learn to sing better
03. Drive across the country
02. Go to Greece
01. See my sister be so successful

seven ways to win my heart:
07. Be a good listener
06. Love your mother
05. Be a loyal friend
04. Verbal spar with me
03. Give great hugs
02. Know that love is a scary thing, but be willing to take those chances
01. Be yourself, no frontin’

six things i believe in:
06. old friends are the best friends
05. no regrets. You are where you’re at..and that’s that.
04. it’s never too late. Just do it.
03. it’s all about heart..intentions..motivation…
02. cheap-ass weddings (ha!)
01. God

five things i'm afraid of:
05. Earthquakes
04. Losing control while driving in the snow
03. Losing control
02. Being left
01. Giving my heart to someone

four of my favorite items in my bedroom:
04. My reading chair and the associated pink/red napping blanket
03. Photo of my family
02. Henry, my teddy bear
01. Down comfoter

three things i do every day:
03. Talk to Jason
02. Eat
01. Think about my mom

two things i'm trying not to do right now:
02. my clinical epidemiology reading
01. my epidemiology of HIV work

one person i want to see right now:
01. y'all know who...

We are a house of true Bears.

Well, Eva and I are. I have not watched a Cal football game with O since the Cal-UCLA game. Eva is awesome. Eric should be so proud.

During the game today:
"Those Texas people [fans who drove to the Cal-S. Miss game] make me so mad! They’re not as good. They should just suck it up!" - Eva.

SO AWESOME.

Where was Olivia? not home. Haha. I'm so busted for ratting her out. But, Karen, this is for you!

Discrimination

I went to the yarn store up the street today. I have these great plans to knit some really cool scarves. Well, I found out about this really awesome yarn, but I guess it's kinda hard to come by. So, I walk into the yarn store. It's this little room with yarn tucked into every nook and cranny. There's a small counter behind which stood a 50ish white woman. There were three other caucasian women there, all in there 50s and 60s. Two of them just looked like they were guests, hanging out, knitting, and talking. So, I walk in. And it's kind of hard to not be noticed in this cute, but tiny store. I wait for a hello from the lady who works there, and I get ignored. So, I start browsing around. After about 5 minutes, I hear one of the ladies whisper, "Patty, you should help." And she nods her head in my direction.

"What are you looking for?" she asks me tersely.
"Do you have any Inca cotton?" I respond in the slightly higher pitched voice I use when I talk to strangers.
"Umm..NO," comes another short reply.
One of the other ladies jumps in at this point, "Is it that organic cotton?" she asks sweetly. We have a nice little exchange.
At this point, the owner lady jumps in again, "No. We don't have any of that. And I won't order any for you."

At which point I turned around and left.

Olivia reminded me that Maryland is funny like that...part of the mid-Atlantic that still has Southern roots.

Mean people suck.

Oh, and all you guys out there, never disrespect the ladies. It is not cool.