summer summer summer.

Here are some gems from this summer.

that is antoinette studying for the MCAT at my desk.

chloe hiding underneath the dresser during a storm.

ian holding "the stepfather."

antoinette's ID card as a child. looking good, anto.

it's been an eventful few days. i leave for boston on wednesday and we're trying to decide if i'm going to extend my flight so that i can visit my sister in new york for about a week or if i should just make that trip later in the summer. i'm SO READY TO GOOOOOO! i'm already planning on going to little italy and the bagel shop we always went to when i was little.
mom and i have been very busy. oh wait, i live like an 80 year old woman. we work on a puzzle (which was completed yesterday), watch criminal minds, and eat pita and hummus or, perhaps i go out to lunch with my father.
antoinette and i had a day of work. i researched hospitals for my dad and she worked on her MCAT, which she's taking in a little under a week. we had lunch at this place near my dad's work, picked up the kids, did more work, and then ate dinner at potbelly's. i held her hostage at my house until about 1:30 in the morning.
yesterday, the day my dad left for boston, she and ian came over at about 1045 to eat brownies and watch a scary movie ian made us watch it in the haunted part of the house. so we did. we watched the stepfather which wasn't too scary or too great but it was entertaining. i enjoyed the cat lady and her obsession with her cats "midniiiight." they left around three in the morning and then i finished an episode of criminal minds. yeah, i'm cool. i slept in until 1:30 in the afternoon somehow. my body really isn't enjoying how crazy my sleep cycle is at home. oh well, i'll regulate it when i get back to school.
today we saw "Letters to Juliet" which really bummed my dad out. he said he was waiting to see it with us because he "loved us that much." It got bad reviews but i thought it was really cute and the setting was so beautiful. i left the theater missing europe so much, especially tuscany. the last time i was there was with my family in 2007 (we spent two weeks in sicily and two weeks in the Perugia region, in a small city on a hill called Castel Rigone). I miss the warmth of the sun there, and the old, old bricks and fountains, how incredibly open the people are, and how ooooohhh-so delicious the food in that region is. my sister will be doing a ceramics class there for a month, and my parents are going out to pick her up and i am so jealous and sad that i'm not going. i miss it so unbelievably much. hopefully hopefulllly fingerscrossed we'll make it to france and possibly vienna for christmas!!!!
annnd that is all. i'm going back onto the elliptical and i'll pretend that i'm running alone dusty mountain roads in Umbria.

I really don't ever want to have to leave Texas for Utah. I'm reaching the depressing realization that, oh yeah, i have to go back for summer term. But i don't HAVE to, i really could stay here. and that idea is becoming more and more appealing as the time draws near... the one thing keeping me from staying here this summer is knowing Athena is so lonely and I promised her I'd be back. And also, its margaret's last time living there before moving to France, so i really want to spend time with her. but i hate leaving my family, more than anything. its a bummer.
This summer has been pretty crazy. I've done a lot of shopping, made a lot of sad realizations (my liver is weeping enzymes, for example), woken up really early to take the kids to school. Oh, and the other day antoinette got back (FINALLY) from ND, so we had a full day celebration saturday to welcome her back. Some were good choices, others. not so much. We watched Holiday in the Sun, ate Mi Cocina for lunch (oh so good), visited starbucks and my good friend Guy that works there... ok we're not good friends, but we have a history together, ever since i met him in that starbucks two years ago. he always draws hearts in caramel on the tops of my drinks. He asked why I hadn't been around in so long... oh Guy. I missed you too. Anto and I also watched an episode of The Secret Life of the American Teenager (DON'T JUDGE ME).
Then Dr. Day came home and asked us if we wanted to eat dinner, so we all went to R+D. This place is so good... (http://www.hillstone.com) I would show more photos, but i'm too lazy to find them. THis place is a branch off of Houston's. It stands for Research and Development, and its the restaurant that experiments certain dishes to see if they'd be successful at Houston's. Everything is very nice inside, very posh and sleek. But also, laid back with a nice Texas attitude. I love it so much. It was fun going out with them, I always love a good conversation with Dr. Day. The food is a bit pricey (I think my salad was 17 dollars or so), but so worth it.
Later, Antoinette and I went to La Duni, for drinks and dessert. Then, we went all over Dallas on a secret quest. Then, we went to Happy Family Karaoke. Best moment in time, "Hi, we need to make a reservation, when is the next opening? Midnight? Ok, Can i put my name down? How many? Just two..." It was so good. This is not the first time Antoinette and I have gone and done karaoke with just the two of us. The hour passed very quickly but we got some really good songs in there.
I got home around 1:30 totally beat. You know, it was just one of those days where i felt so free, and so myself, which i haven't felt in a very long time. When we were leaving starbucks we were singing some trashy teen girl empowerment song and the sunroof was open and i just looked up at the blue, blue sky and all the green trees passing overhead and it was so pretty and i was just SO GLAD to be alive, and there in that moment. I need to find ways to feel like that more. In Provo, I just get through each day just to get through them. I hate it there so much. It's so hard. Oh well, I'll enjoy this summer while i have it.
Mom is back from visiting family and I smell a shopping trip to the wonderful Northpark mall in a few hours.

Oh, as for the rest of the weekend... Sunday we had church at 9. After we got home, we all curled up in my parents bed and watched the Lovely Bones which was very sad. I mean, i read the book when i was 13, but I just hate death. Unless its in Criminal Minds, in which case, I love Dr. Spencer Reid, so i don't pay attention to anything else. However, the cinematography in the movie was so great, I really really did love that aspect. Still not sure what i think about it.
other movies i've seen over break: The Break-Up Plan, Oceans (SO GOOD I LOVE MOVIES ABOUT THE OCEAN), and we're supposed to go see Babies soon. Oh, also, we're supposed to see Letters to Juliet soon, because my dad is obsessed.
Yesterday, I was a single parent. Dad was at work and mom wasn't getting in until the evening, and antoinette was too busy studying for her MCAT to come over and build forts (BOOOO), so i worked out on the elliptical, watched E: TRUE HOLLYWOOD STORY: ELLEN DEGENERES and also TOP 25 HOLLYWOOD MELTDOWNS, and cleaned the house. Then I went to lunch with my dad (Mi cocina again, don't judge me). Then i found out kelsey wouldn't be able to visit me in Boston like i thought she would and i was super bummed out.
Oh yeah, I'm going to Boston! only for a few days, but i leave in about a week. I haven't been back since we moved away from there, so i'm really really excited about it.
Well, that's all. I have to get ready for the day. And by that i mean brush my teeth and watch Criminal Minds. And get ready for lunch at Cadot with dad!!! this place is incredible, the guy that works there is from St-Germain near Paris, which happens to be the exact neighborhood I lived in on Paris study abroad. (he's the one on the left)

So i love visiting him. Plus, his food isn't bad, either... haha. i'm laughing because the food there is delicious.

I am typing this entire blog post on my phone. Technology!!!!!
So a lot has been happening. I've been home for a little over a week now. It's been really busy. I drive jordan and zach to school in the mornings and pick them up after school is out. I've had some pretty fun days. She and I went shopping at anthropology after jordan's national honors society reception. We ate at snappy salads (in northpark of course!) And then drove home. I've been watching a lot of criminal minds and working out on the elliptical. Here's the thing: I want to take accutane so I won't have to deal with acne anymore. I was going to start it last week, but my liver is fatty (go figure) so I've been instructed to lose weight and be healthier.
Other weird slash crazy things happened. Mary came into town for a few days for a school reunion and it was so much fun to see her!!!!! I also can't wait to go to boston with my family. Its going to be so much fun and its happening in just a few weeks.
Also, now I'm thinking about going on a mission. Oy vey!!
Most all of my guy friends get back from their missions in exactly two months! How weird is that? I feel like I just graduated from high school.
Anyway, since I'm still in church I should probs go. But life is pretty good. I love dallas. So so so much more than provo.