August 17th.

Good morning (or afternoon or evening--I'm writing in the morning, who knows when you're reading)

Today is Tuesday, August 17th, 2010.

Today's fun fact: my bat mitzvah was exactly 8 years ago. My invitations said "twenty-oh-two" because I thought it was stupid that we would say "nineteen ninety nine" (not "one thousand nine hundred ninety-nine") but "two thousand two"...anyway, 8 years is a long time and I'm starting to feel more like a grown-up.

So, one of the beautiful things of babysitting over the summer (apart from going to the pool while you're 'clocked-in' and doing art projects everyday) is that I've been able to get a lot of reading done. That, and I've been watching considerably more television. Both on tv and on netflix (what an incredible invention). I'm fully caught up on True Blood and Weeds, and I got my mom hooked on US of Tara (what a brilliant show). And I'm starting season 2 of Dexter! Also, I'm babysitting, so I've been watching some high quality tv--right now they're watching the Nanny (one of the most brutal things to watch first thing in the morning. her voice. yikes) but we also watch Phineas and Ferb and It's Me or the Dog. um...yeah.

But, as we all know, the most epic summer programming takes place during SHARK WEEK! Shark week was great this year. Because it's great every year.

Seriously, this is so epic.

What else has been going on this summer?

I saw an AMAZING concert with the Axe! We went to see Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros at the Newport. UNBELIEVABLE! I have never before seen a group so passionate about their music and electrified by the crowd. In fact, at one point towards the end of the show, the lead singer (Alexander) came off the stage and plopped himself on the [gross, disgusting, beer-covered] ground RIGHT NEXT TO US. Incredible. He performed a song sitting on the ground right next to me.

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros! So great!

It was an amazing amazing show and I'm soooo glad I went.

Oh hey, Alexander. Great beard.

Also, it's that fun part of the summer where most of my friends who studied or vacationed abroad are making their ways back to America. I love to hear about their trips and look at their pictures and I'm glad they're making their ways home.

Speaking of traveling...This past weekend I flew down to hot-lanta to visit Miss Samantha! It was wonderful exploring a new city--in her neighborhood there are tons of golf carts and, for those of you who maybe don't know that I'm secretly a 5 year old, I LOVE GOLF CARTS. So, it was super fun to visit and explore and ride around on golf carts. Score! (photos to follow--I haven't uploaded them yet!)

Also, I'm REALLY psyched for Meshuganotes this year. Just a fact.

Anybody else up to anything fun? I'm about to go play my ukulele (which rules, thanks for asking) and then today we're tie-dying (yessss) which is exciting.

And here are my puppies:

Lulu found the sun on the floor. Her favorite.

Izzy is finally learning to make eye contact!

tradition

Normally, I love traditions.

I love family traditions, Jewish traditions, Buckeye traditions...they're great! They make me feel at home.

There is, however, a popular American tradition, of which I am not a fan.

That tradition: 21st birthday (barfday?) festivities.

I'll spare you the gory alcohol-laden details. But never again will I enjoy 1.5 hours of fun with the tradeoff of a day of agony and hazy dizziness.

Yikes!

But it was fun. Also this post is long overdue. I might have to do back-to-back posts.

a most magnificent rainy day

Yesterday, it finally rained.

It's about time--the humidity has been unbearable.

This summer, I've become pretty dedicated to walking the puppies. One of them, Lulu, loves going for walks. She wags her tail the entire time, keeping her hears up and smelling absolutely everything on our path. The other one, Izzy, is completely disinterested in our walks. He keeps his tail down and refuses to socialize with other dogs/people walking/Lulu. He is hilarious. Too bad for Izzy, because these walks are not optional for the puppies. I personally love our walks.

Lulu on a mission. She's about to herd those ducks.

Lately though, it's been so sticky and hot out that we have to wait until almost 9 to head outside to walk. These means that my entire family has a chance to sit down and watch Jeopardy! together, which rules, because we are all such nerds. Which, if you ask me, is a pretty great way to be.

Halfway point of our walks

Anyway, it's been so hot out that I haven't even really been enjoying being outside. Some evenings I try to take my ukulele out to play in the sunshine, which is fun and summery, but usually I've just been sticking to the (fixed, b"h) air conditioning! But, since it rained today, I convinced the kiddos I babysit to play outside. Everyday, I say, guys, let's go play outside! Or, hey kids let's go do sidewalk chalk/swim/run around/play frisbee/etc but they never really want to. So yesterday when I told them to put on their bathing suits in a torrential downpour, they thought I was being facetious.

They were wrong.

After they looked at me like I was completely and totally insane, I went and put on my bathing suit and collected beach towels to put as close to the door as possible. Rain can be quite chilly, people. I wasn't about to freeze my tuchas off after playing in the rain. Slowly but surely the kiddos decided I was serious, and then we proceeded to have what might have been the most fun hour of the summer we've had together.

look closely, and you'll see a house upside down in those rain drops.

All just by playing outside [in the rain]. It was awesome.

Plus, rain makes everything look prettier. Everyone's grass has been fried looking, and flowers have basically given up lately. So now everything is refreshed and ready for what is supposed to be a 94 degree scorcher.

In other news: it's almost my birthday =)

summertime and life is sweet

proud buckeye family on the beach

I'm the worst blogger.

It turns out, that even with all my "free time" during the summer I'm still not really cranking out blogposts like I had hoped.

Oh well, you get what you get.

So it's July (YES I LOVE JULY) and I'm babysitting all summer.

But what, pray tell, have I been doing since treacherous finals week, besides not blogging?

Thanks for asking, inquisitive readers!

First I went on an epic family vacation. I have the funniest family on the face of the planet. Thank g-d I don't get embarrassed easily and instead am part of the hilarity, because otherwise these epic vacations would be epically humiliating instead of fun.

shoot, look at that super cute family.

After we got home from vacation, I continued with my awesome summer job.

Think about all of the things you like to do. Maybe you like to read, or watch movies, or go to the pool.

Now imagine getting paid to do those things.

Ka-chiiiiiing.

So I also bought a ukulele, which has been an incredibly fun and ridiculous new thing that I've been spending time on. I've really increased my repertoire lately--so far I'm up to nine or ten great songs that I can play almost from memory! Ukuleles are so easy to play and so summery and great!

just chillin' with the new uke...nbd.

Now that the siblings' baseball and softball seasons are winding down, it's just about time for me to stop wasting time and start studying for the GRE. Womp. But really I'd rather just read...so far this summer I've read 13 books! The Sookie Stackhouse novels were first--great beach read, btw, and now I'm finishing the third of the Millennium trilogy by Stieg Larsson. Great books! Once I'm finished I'm planning on watching the Swedish versions of the movies.

What else...

OH I went to see fireworks (duh) and got some pretty cool shots with the D90. Win!

USA! USA! USA!

That's all I can think of right now but I'll try to keep this updated more regularly.

it's officially summer

Well readers, good news: it's officially SUMMER!!!

it's about time--this year flew by but this particular week dragged on miserably slowly.

I'm thrilled that it's summer! Now I can read whatever I want whenever I want! Yes!

Right now though my brain is totally fried. I just cleaned my whole apartment--the bathroom is spick and span, the kitchen is shining, and the carpets are freshly vacuumed (a real rarity around here) so everything is feeling nice and clean. What a great feeling to the end of a stressful and educational school year =)

Since everything's been so crazy this week, I don't really have photos.

Well that's not true. You see, Geoff and I are good at procrastinating together.

Luckily now I don't have to procrastinate because it's summer!!! Wahoooo!!!

The Buckeye Grove

I'm proud to be a Buckeye.

There are a lot of reasons why, but the point is, I'm proud to be a Buckeye.

Here at THE Ohio State University, we have something called "The Buckeye Grove," and it's a unique college football tradition. Every tree planted in the grove was planted to honor football players from our amazing university who have gone on to be football All-Americans.

There's something new this year on the Ohio State website (osu.edu) called "image of the day". This is really cool, because it's a place where students, staff, and alumni can upload images of their favorite spots on campus, or any cool Ohio State events...basically if it's somehow OSU-related, it can be posted.

Throughout this year, I've submitted several images, and they've been posted for the whole Buckeye community to enjoy.

Last night, I ventured to Buckeye Grove. I say ventured because it's by Ohio Stadium, which is kind of a trek. I can't believe I used to live on West Campus.

Anyway, so I was at Buckeye Grove, because I had been over at the Olentangy trying to capture some of the beautiful sunset that was happening.

One of my favorite sunset pictures from my time at the Olentangy

I never expected to get anything like this picture, but I guess I was just in the right place (Buckeye Grove) at the right time (sunset).

Buckeye Grove for the win:

Procrastination!

It's just after midnight Saturday night before finals week, and so naturally I'm not studying like I should be. Instead, I'm sitting at my kitchen table with two of my best friends, just jamming to some awesome tunes (what's up Elton John? Elephant Love Medley anyone? Maybe a little of Glee's Vogue?) and procrastinating. Tomorrow the roomsicle, Sam, is leaving for camp, which is sad. But to celebrate a pretty awesome year (and quarter and month and week and day) we made havdallah tonight. Havdallah helps us separate shabbat from the rest of the week, and tonight we kind of used it for that, and to symbolically separate the school year from summer (even though I've still got finals and such to take care of, classes are officially over, so it still counts). It was lovely! Havdallah is one of my absolutely favorite parts about being Jewish. I think it really helps to refresh me for what's coming up, and to help make what's already happened a special memory.

As I'm writing this the playlist just keeps getting better and better. Wow, the singalong is just out of control.

I've been spending a considerable amount of time at Thompson and the Ohio Union getting

work done and meeting up with people for a few more minutes of fun before we part for the summer. Sometimes, though, it's important to get off campus for a hot second. Today we visited Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams, one of my favorite favorite favorite places.

Also, despite the random storming and horrific humidity, the sky has been pretty ridiculously beautiful lately.

The other day, I got to hear an incredible story about one of my favorite people, Kasa. She's got an incredible personal history, and I feel so blessed to know her--sadly, she's

leaving after the summer to go home to Israel, but I know I'll see her soon anyway =) Here's her grandfather's bible, written in the Ethiopic language Ge'ez (SO COOL). This book is so old; it literally feels like holding a piece of ancient history. I love it. What a cool experience!

If anyone is looking for a particularly epic way to procrastinate, we watched King of Kong last night. Holy guacamole, that movie is so incredibly epic. You should watch it. Right now. No, seriously, go watch it.

In fact, to encourage you to watch that movie, that's how I'm ending this post.

Good luck on finals everyone!