We can change our own flats thank you.

My roommate's tire was flat this morning...so she changed it and I helped:

Wait, did you get that?  In case you didn't:

In other car news...I bought one today! (Or, the credit union on campus is helping me buy one to be more specific.)

Ice cream-mmm!

Action shot of roommate-ice-cream night:

:)

Now this is the story all about how...

I moved to San Diego. (But pretend it fits in with the Bel-Air song anyway.)

I flew via Salt Lake, and this is gorgeous:

Since I've arrived I've been car shopping, taking pictures of our roommate after-church-visit-the-beach outing:

...exploring the desert shrubbery near my housing complex:

...and exploring campus.  This one is for you Mama. Do you know why? :)

So far so-lovely-San-Diego good!

It's almost California time!

I'm pretty much packed for Cali. (Can I call it that?)

I'm mailing some boxes: 

And I'm taking the rest of my stuff on the plane. (Yes I'm taking the guitar. No, I'm not taking the speaker.)

In other news, this is what my Sunday night looked like:

Peanut butter M&Ms courtesy of Rite Aid, Saturday night.  Harry Potter puzzle, free on the side of the road, courtesy of our couple-of-doors-down neighbors, on our drive back from church. 

And finally, my To-Do list before I leave wonderful Chicago:

1. Finish this Harry Potter puzzle, and maybe play a rousing game of "Mystery at Hogwarts, the Game." (Also from the neighbors.) Family Night anyone? 

2. Eat at Portillo's.

3. Sew up / hopefully finish my sweatshirt quilt.

4.  Meet up with friends!

5. Not sure what else.  This list's just off the top of my head.  

I have until Tuesday evening to get it all done!

Sailing? Don't mind if I do.

Oh you know, today was just another typical Monday-in-Chicago.

(On my brother's last full day at home) we ate breakfast at Walker Brothers Pancake House with Maria+her baby boy. Walker Brothers needs a cooler website to convey just how cute the place is and how amazing all their food is.  If you've gone, you know.

We went sailing with a few friends at Northwestern's Sailing Center.  (Thank you rented Hobie Wave for a lovely time.)

Not much wind, but really, we're on a lake in gorgeous weather on a weekday. A little wind is enough.

And to end the day, Family Night (the four of us) with lively conversation and too many fries at 5 Guys! (No pics of this, sorry. My phone/camera's recovering from sailing in a bag of rice.)

Anybody want some Chicago-home-baked pie?

I'm in Chicago visiting my parents for a few weeks.  I took the train from upstate-NY to Chicago.  It's an overnight train ride and I woke up to this:

My brother's also visiting Chicago and he decided to try his hand at making an amazing apple pie.  I emailed my friend Lily for her favorite recipe.  We ended up using a different crust recipe (What can I say?  Lily's directions called for overnight-crust-making and we wanted pie stat.) and an additional strawberry pie filling recipe.

Here are the results:

And here are results after 24 hours:

  Also of note are Lowell's apple peeling skills:

Mmm, pie! Thanks Lily!  I'd definitely bake with that recipe again. (And actually try the cream cheese crust next time.)

30-Day Goal #2: Run 30 miles

I've been running on and off the past few years - sometimes the "off" times are a lot longer than the "on" times.  I've run a 10K and a half-marathon (lets be honest, that last one kicked my butt.)  I took most of June and July off.  My goal for this month is to run 30 miles by running 3-4 times a week.  I want to build a good base of running a little bit but often so that I can improve from there.  Sometime down the road I'd like to do another 13.1 miles and finish well.

Here are a couple of the sights from my upstate jog this morning:

(narrow-ish bridge)

(pretty church)

This week I've done 5 miles.

City Girl's Back in the Country

Or is it country girl's back in the country? I don't know anymore!

Well I'm done with the 30-day goal!  I blogged a picture 20 out of 30 days.  I'm glad I got a little into the habit of blogging - I'm about 19 posts more than my other few attempts at starting a blog.  After 30 days I still don't have the ready-with-a-camera mindset. Going forward I'd like to take better pictures (duh) and more pictures of my friends and family.

August 1st was my last day in NYC - and I don't even have any pictures of it!  Now I'm upstate with my grandparents for 4 days and I've spent a lot of time reading:

(The corner bedroom - one of my favorite spots in the house. I always end up reading at least one Nancy Drew.)

And of course, berry picking:

Woke up early and went with my grandpa. We picked these for blueberry syrup and french toast for dinner:

Ahh, sweet upstate NY.  My home away from wherever else I happen to be living.