Finish school application
Finish docs And send to kinkos
Finish grant proposal
Work on different proposal with Cathryn
Maje dinner

but i haven’t gotten them ready yet! my house is empty with beth and hilary back to seattle. we had a blast. went to the aquarium, eastern state penitentiary, imax movie Pulse by Stomp, and cooked lots of yummy food.

what did i do yesterday after they left? taught pork chop to ride next to my bike. she loves it! pictures to follow…

beth and i rode the trolley to the philadelphia zoo. it was both my first trolley ride and my first visit to the philadelphia zoo. it started out as a lovely cool, summer day. until after we arrived at the zoo and then it started raining. i think that it would be good to point out that when it is raining the animals go inside. what did we see? some cows, a miniature donkey and a gorilla. it was still fun and almost worth soaking wet. i really really liked the shrew.

the shrew!

i got really excited about seeing a rhino and then beth had to spend 5 minutes convincing me that it was a statue of a rhino.

getting ready for a dinner party tonight too!

it’s been fun having the last few days open. we are working on the house a little. going through stuff, trying to get rid of it.

things i’ve accomplished in the last couple of days:

1. i’ve also gotten addicted to playing scrabble on my phone.
2. signed nat up for twitter. he said he may tweet!
3. bought new dishes that are pretty.
4. spent more on pork chop’s haircut than on my own in over a year.
5. kittie sat for a friend who when to puerto rico.
6. ate some chocolate. it makes me sneeze by i nibble bit by bit.
7. woke up early every day.
8. discussed 2012 with kids at my work and now we’re all freaked out.
9. ate soup that nat made.
10. tried to play fetch with nat and pork chop in the backyard and neither was interested.

what else is on my mind?

PA hasn’t passed the philadelphia budget yet and has yet to pass other childcare initiative spending. my work is about 50% state funded, city contract and the money isn’t flowing until the budget gets passed. rumors are that the funding might be less than it is promised to be. please cross your fingers that the funding will go through. (we were supposed to get payment at the beginning of july.)

look ——-> you can see our twitter posts! that’s pretty exciting. if only i could get nat to twit. or tweet.

UPDATE: doesn’t seem to be real time. oh well!

here are some pictures describing my life lately. of course focusing on pork chop and her hair cut. summer camp is over- we plan for it for 7 months, have it for 2 months, and recover from it for 3 months. it doesn’t leave much room for error.

i’m working mostly from home and doing fun projects, like a newsletter and website stuff. getting ready for a lot of visitors! hilary, nat’s cousin, today! beth, one of my good good friends, on thursday! then i have my mom, mother-in-law, nat’s stepbrother and hopefully my dad in september. i also found out that one of my arts admin buddies took a job in harrisburg, pa, so hopefully i’ll see her soon too! and in october, autumn’s coming from san diego! AND in november, another one of my besties, anna is coming from pdx! i am sppppppoiled.

i had a bump ticket from when i went to puerto rico this april and i’m seattle bound in october-november. west coast, watch out! i’ve missed you so!

my brick wall and some plants! my dining room area

kitchen ceiling

plants from san diego. not as colorful here

fig tree at beginning of summer. huge now

giant ant papermache from summer camp bug parade. also known as poo with eyes.

tent camping with over 60 people in the rain!

campsite had a pavillion where we took cover from the rain

pork chop and tofu -- pre-dog shaving

pork chop- streamlined!

a friend from work, cathryn, admiring pork chop's haircut but wondering why the tail fluff remained.

bike pics!

more bike pics

i road cathryn back and forth on the street where i live on the handle bars. plenty o' room

cathryn ordering chinese food while nat works fevershly on a rock sculpture at our friend eugenio's apartamento.

nat's proud of his balancing act.

my beautiful basil bike basket and pork chop DOES fit!

hehehhe

thanks parents and nat for my birthday presents!

Pork chop got her first haircut and she looks adorable and half the size!

More pictures soon!!

i finally got my birthday bike! thanks nat! i had been looking for a bike, because i had to leave my pink bike in eugene and it would cost too much to ship it out here. i finally found one that i liked and was leaving hints to nat that it would be the perfect birthday present.

well, hints might not be accurate- “nat, this is what i want for my birthday.”

My new bike!

so nat was waiting until he got paid to go to the bike store down on the corner, jay’s pedal power, to order the bike. he ended up working late for the last few days, so pork chop and i decided to walk the two blocks to palmer and girard.

i walked in (first asking if pork chop could come inside- he said yes, if she didn’t pee on the floor), and told him the exact bike that i wanted to order.

“Eh, so you want a custom Electra cruiser, white wheels, olive green?”

I said, “Yes.”

He replied, “We have one in stock. I’ll go get it.”

How fortuitous! He brought out the exact bike that I had wanted and all I had to do was buy fenders for it. Pork Chop and i waited while someone put on fenders. In the mean time, we entertained ourselves in the 90 degree weather by sniffing plants and drinking water out of puddles. okay, she did, i just followed her around on a leash. i was entertained by a woman who had gotten a beautiful bike (the amsterdam) and was speaking atrocious (but enthusiastic!) french to a worker who was fluent in french and had lived there for two years. she was hrumphing stupid americans who don’t even try to speak another language and who are just plain ignorant. it was particularly ironic when the fishtown native standing next to the two personnes de conversation was exactly as she was describing ignorant americans to be. i was cringing over her lovingly bad french, thinking ” je parle meilleur français qu’elle,” but at least it was passing the time while we were waiting.

UNTIL she left and the francophile worker returned inside. pork chop and i walked past the open work room door to discover that he was the one that was supposed to be putting my fenders on! Quel rat! But he was very nice, so we continued to wait and finally had my new bike! it was a difficult walk home with pork chop on one side and my bike on the other, but we survived. i couldn’t wait to take it for a ride. i was going to drop pork chop off and cruise around. until my plans were foiled again! Huge thunderstorm with torrential downpour. when it was time to pick up nat, we walked outside and pork chop tried to run back in. we got to the car looking like two wet rats!

it’s been raining ever since- so maybe this afternoon i will cruise around my neighborhood on my new bike! if you are looking to buy a bike in philly- go there to this bike store. overall an A rating!

Does this mean that my mom can get updates more often if I have the ability to post a blog from my phone? I will have to go back on my temporary “get me away from technology”- boo! O guess a happy mom is worth it.

Just laying in “bed” or really a mattress on the floor with the pups!

Wait! No way to upload pictures??? Bootleg!

Oops! Maybe I should read directions first!

it has been far too long since we’ve talked, o blogosphere. i’m finishing up summer camp right now, which is great for kids but very taxing to work for 12 hours per day for 7 weeks. this week is the last week and we are going overnight camping for 4 days. i’m really excited, but the total count is 64 people and that is just crazy!

jim and heather are coming back to philly from viola’s wedding in montreal this weekend. we weren’t able to go for a number of annoying reasons, one being my stolen passport. i’ll have a couple of days to spend with them and then i’m off to parvin state park.

nat’s amusing himself with playing with pork chop, tofu and snert face. it’s pretty regular. i’m going to go out to eat with a friend and catch up later.