errol discovered this list, and i found it very interesting. i'd just like to boast that j.crew and barnes and noble both give 100% of their political donations to democrats. check the rest of the list out. you'll be surprised.

http://www.buyblue.org/rankedlist.php

so, that party was super-fun. we played apples to apples, catchphrase, and cranium, and some great people showed up too. yay for friends!

tonight at work i unloaded new merchandise for a couple hours then helped rearrange the store and move in the fall line. i don't think people know how much work goes into the look of a clothing store--i certainly didn't.

this afternoon on the way back from panda, errol spotted the teddy bear lady. this time she had all her friends in a grocery cart. genius.

i really haven't done any work for school this week. i think i'm in need of a schedule. yes!

i'm excited for the game party! there is a big bowl of swedish fish in the kitchen calling my name. i hope people have a good time. too bad errol's not here.

i spent last night and today at j.crew. it wasn't too bad. we have a gorgeous fall line. i think i'm going to buy some boots.

yesterday was a really nice day. not weather-wise of course, but a lot of nice things happened. first, a saw one of my old residents from center in the mu bathroom, and we had a nice exchange. it was 30 seconds of genuine interest from both sides, and that was it. perfect. then, i decided to take the flash to the bus stop instead of walking there because i had an extra bag, and it was hot. on the flash, was a girl who lived on my floor freshman year and was an ra with me at center for a semester. we had a nice chat, and then she got out at lot 59. five minutes later, i was standing in the sun waiting for my bus to come on mill across from monti's. all of a sudden i heard my name being called across the street. julie had driven by, seen me, and pulled over to ask if i needed a ride. wasn't that nice? a short bus ride home (also nice) let me take a long shower and relax on the couch reading richard peck's the river between us until errol called. sue and killian were in town, and he was golfing with his brother. sue took us out for a delicious meal at red lobster, and it was really fun.

didn't i have a nice day?

the first days of school have been fine. i'm saving money, gas, and the environment by taking the city bus to campus everyday. it's been ok. yesterday there was a lady with one teddy bear in her lap that she talked to most of the ride and four others lined up right beside her. twas a bit strange. tonight the bus didn't have air-conditioning. boo. however, i think i'll survive, and it will be a lot better once it cools down a bit.

tonight i went to barnes and noble to visit errol and got a copy of the awakening for a dollar. score! i'll pull a kate: "shout out to barnes and noble clearance table!"

ok, i'll try this again. a few days ago i had written about half a post and the stupid computer restarted, and i lost it.

chicago was fabulous. when we arrived on wednesday, we managed to successfully haul all our suitcases and golf clubs across the city to our hostel that was very close to loyola. we wandered around campus a bit then headed on a redline train toward the loop. big cities are wonderful. i know that technically, we live in a big city now, but phoenix just doesn't have that cosmopolitan feel. we walked to millenium park and heard a good bit of a concert. they have this huge outdoor amphitheater set up, and hundred of people were lounging on the lawn with the picnics and families enjoying the music. i really liked it. that night we boarded a free trolley to navy pier to watch some fireworks. the show was the best i had ever seen (kearney county's hard to beat, i know). we did a lot of people-watching there made friends with some Hasidic jews.

we woke up thursday a bit toasty--more like, sticky. our hostel didn't have air-conditioning so we were in for some very warm nights. to cool off, we traveled north to evanston to check out northwestern. not really knowing what stop on the purple line gets us there, we randomly chose davis. we looked at the map in the station and figured we weren't that far--just a short walk a way. hours later, drenched by the rain, we flagged a cta bus down to take us back to a train station where we could start over and take more care in what direction we turned. we finally got to northwestern and spent a lot of time in the bathroom under the hand dryers. our shirts simply would not dry so we made a quick trip to the bookstore and now have some styling northwestern apparel. the rain finally let up while we breaked for a slice of sbarro pizza and got to walk around a gorgeous campus. that night we walked the magnificent mile and enjoyed a delicious ghiradelli's sundae. it was a domingo. yum!

friday involved a long train ride to hyde park where we toured university of chicago. this was definitely a self-guided tour. the place must have something against building signs and readable maps. although we never found a union or the current philosophy department, we had a nice time admiring all the buildings. u of c is pretty much the opposite of asu campus-wise. the buildings there reminded me a lot of the ones at cambridge. after stuffed pizza at edwardo's and a visit to the 59th st bookstore, we headed north to see UIC. public schools just have a different feel to them. everything was well-marked and people were there to give you maps and tell you where to go. thumbs up for uic info desk people. we spent friday night in lincoln park and enjoyed the tastes of la creperie. i had a nutella crepe. it was heaven.

we dreaded saturday because we were having such a good time and did not want to go through dragging around all our stuff again, but it came regardless of our opinion. we spent a good amount of time in the chicago public library. that place is amazing. i would feel so honored if i had a library card there. next, errol really wanted to find a hamburger joint called mister j's. so we walked up state and enjoyed some very scrumptious burgers and shakes. by that time, it was time to go back to the hostel, get our stuff, and ride trains for a long time to get to the airport. crying babies aside, it wasn't that bad, and we made it. at this point, i feel totally confident in saying that i would like to move to chicago, and i think errol feels good about the schools there. we'll see what the future has in store for us.

i've gotten a little sicker the past few days so the franklin plans were dashed for today. hopefully, the golf trip to gothenburg will happen. i feel bad for errol that he doesn't seem to do much. i think the cats are keeping him entertained for the most part.

speaking of cats, tonight errol said, "look! that one has a mouse in its mouth!" after closer examination, we realized that it was a newborn kitten. ah, the circle of life. socks dead but another alive today. i hope the mama cat doesn't do a great job of hiding them. i want to see them before we leave on tuesday.

apparently, i killed a kitten today. i backed over it on the way to a dentist appointment. i'm very sad. it had little white feet, and, fittingly, we called it socks.

yesterday we went to lincoln to have lunch with katie or, for kate's enjoyment, katie elizabeth kerr. we went to lazlo's on abby's recommendation, and besides having trouble finding the place (blasted lincoln one-ways), i give it two enthusiastic thumbs up.

i took errol to one of my favorite bookstores, a novel idea. it's incredibly neat and has cats randomly lying about the books. when we checked out, the lady asked where we were from. i thought it to be an interesting question. i wonder why she didn't suspect we were lincolnites.

i got a little gift for shea's little one. i'm excited to show it to ian.

bad news: i have a cold.

today was my bridal shower. it was neat. i got a lot of nice stuff and more dish towels than one could ever want. the trip to the dentist was not as successful. i'm thinking of taking a british stance on dental hygiene.

we had a little extended family bbq with our relatives from minnesota. the food was delicious, but the overall effect was rather depressing. i hope being helpless and old is not in the cards for me.

today's my half birthday. it doesn't seem like it's been six months since my very uneventful 21st bash. i guess life does really fly by when you get older. does anyone else remember months barely creeping by when they were little? half birthdays were major events: "i'm 8 and a half!" i don't know how many times "a half" was included in kids' answers to an age inquiry.

tomorrow's my mindy bridal shower. i wish errol could come. i'm planning (with kate's approval of course) to have the arizona shower be coed. also, instead of kitchen equipment, i want books as gifts--preferrably adolescent lit. :)

just got back from a fun outing with errol and chris and had another golf lesson at craneview links course on the way to kearney. this time, we focused on putting. it's kind of tricky, but i might practice more at pitch 'n putt later this week.

we went to perkins for supper because chris wanted to get dad's birthday present a few days late. our food was also late so we got 20% off, and chris and i had a great time remembering high school and the fun classes. actually, we had such a good time at the restaurant and the ride back; when we got home, we realized chris had forgotten to get dad's present. whoops.

i'm in nebraska using my brother's laptop, and i realize i've been sitting in front of it checking email and such with headphones on but nothing coming out of them. i go to itunes to listen to some of chris's neil diamond but soon find out that little beaver has his music under a password. i proceed to rilokiley.com and listen to their free music.

yes, nebraska is this exciting.

seriously, it's so nice to be here and not have much to worry about. errol and i just came in from looking at the stars and playing with the cats on the deck. this afternoon errol gave me my first golf lesson at minden country club's driving range. after my little hands finished a severe beating, we drove down to the square and bought some pretty delicious sno-cones. also, watched the sequel to sarah, plain and tall. it made me glad that we have irrigation now, but it really blows my mind how hard my dad works. he's so tired and the work never ends. the corn needs more and more water and it never rains.

my life is just so exciting i can hardly stand it.

chris, kate, ian, and i had a great time dining at fuddruckers tonight. chris and i realized that neither of us had been there since our respective trips to nebraska's state geography bee, but that's not the exciting part. after supper, we opened the restaurant door and felt the horrific wind and rain. it was really bad. i'd like to think it was similar to the storm of july 8, 1993. well, i'm sure that is a bit of an exagerration, but it was awfully stormy. chris and i were able to make our way on the flooded freeways, trying to stay close behind ian's little volkswagon. although we lost ian in about the first fifteen minutes, we managed to creep home at a very fast 35 mph forty minutes later.

another piece of excitement is that i got my haircut. my "stylist" made it super straight with a flat-iron. it looked fabulous. of course, all the rain and wind returned it to its natural state of medusa-esque curls, but it was good while it lasted.

i woke up about twenty minutes ago feeling really sick. it's strange to be ill again after such a long stint over wellness. i was just commending my health a few days ago since i've been basically ailment-free since my kidney infection this winter. meh, hopefully it's just a touch of the flu.

errol took me to see must love dogs--he has a thing for john cusack. :) we had a good time, and the movie was funny in a lot of parts, but we decided that it wasn't very plot-driven. it fit more in the "we should rent that sometime" category. we saw a lot of previews that looked good though. hello, holiday season. will be here soon!

after the drama with my college best friend this summer, i've concluded that for the most part (ian excluded), old friends really are the best friends. katie kerr, who i went to preschool with, is doing me a huge favor and picking up errol, chris, and me at the omaha airport at 11.40 thursday night, and she's letting all of us stay in her apartment too. isn't that incredibly sweet? i only get to see her twice a year, and she shows me unbelievable kindness.

making this post in the middle of the night reminds me of horrible desk shifts that would screw up my circadian rhythm, leaving me nothing to do but make random blog postings instead of getting much-needed sleep. man, am i glad it's not then. the desk pays less than j.crew. hanna, i really hope you haven't decided to take any night shifts next year. they're deadly.