No day but today!

I went and saw my favorite musical RENT for the first time LIVE the other day and it was great! I went with a friend from Graduate School who is also a huge RENT fan, and we had a blast. Unfortunately cameras were not allowed inside, so the only two pics I got were of the ticket, and the playbill. If you like RENT the movie and have never seen it live i highly recommend seeing it live because it is much better than the movie, and makes a lot more sense.

This week marks the last week of class for me until the end of August, so I'm writing a paper...or going to start writing I should say and then i will be done with my first semester (2 summer sessions = one semester)! It feels like i started just yesterday but also feels like I've been in school forever.

Not going anywhere during my three week break, except maybe visiting my brother in Charlotte but here are a few things I am looking forward to

* Working at my internship just a few days a week without class too
* Cooking (I have only made like 1 meal since school started)
* Watching seasons of The Golden Girls
* Reading the new Charlaine Harris book in the Sookie Stackhouse series
* Working at Wendy's...some (gotta make money) I miss the people.

Can't believe it is almost the end of July, hope everyone is enjoying the summer!

Birthday Birthday

I'm now 23 years old. It's a weird feeling, but I've enjoyed being 23 so far. God has blessed this year by bringing many new friends into my life that helped me celebrate my birthday, and it's been a busy week.

Thursday I went and got pedicure at the Aveda Institute, worth it but not as relaxing as I had hoped because I'm too short to reach the foot bath and had to sit on the edge of the chair to dip my feet in. My toenails are a pretty shade of green (see below). Then one of my friends from UNC took me out to Red Robin (I had a coupon for a free burger) and a movie. The movie was Dirty Dancing which is my absolute favorite movie of all time and it was playing outside at a local amphitheater for only $3.00. This made a great end to a good birthday.

Friday night most of the girls from UNC hung out together at Nicholle's house (she's one of our classmates) for a cookout and we ended the night by hitting the town. This is truly my first time "hitting the town" and it was interesting. I of course stayed sober, alcohol is not my idea of fun, but I still had a great time because I got to watch people make fun of themselves and I will remember the entire night and it was a way to bond with my fellow classmates. My classmates even paid for me to take this thing called the Raleigh Rickshaw (a man driving a bike that has comfy cart behind it) to get into town since I can't walk very far, and it was fun.

A few of us girls enjoying the cookout

me and the girl who is known as "The Life of the Party" aka Josie

Katy and I at the amphitheater waiting for Dirty Dancing to begin

The amphitheater

My pedicure

What you've all been waiting for...Pictures!

Since my birthday is coming up (5 days!!!!) my parents decided that if I could find a good camera at a decent price that they would buy it for me as my one and only birthday gift. I was ok with that considering I've been without a camera for more than a year. I didn't expect to find one so soon because usually I do a lot of research on electronics to make sure I'm getting something really good. But, when I was driving home from Charlotte last weekend I stopped by walmart to get a few groceries. I decided to meander over to the electronics/camera department just to start my research once I was finished getting my groceries, and discovered some great bargains. Walmart had a case of cameras that had red sale tags, but they were still way too expensive, until the sale clerk said that all the cameras in the case were 1/2 off the red tag sale price! I went through pretty much all of the digital cameras in that case before deciding on a sleek blue/gray Olympus digital camera with 12 megapixels. It was on sale for $150.00 according to the red tag and then take 1/2 off and it was only $74.50! It didn't come with a memory card, but I got a $25.00 gift card when I bought the 1 year replacement plan (for only $5.98) so I'll be investing in one soon.

But hopefully now my blogs will be a little less boring and everyone will finally get a glimpse into my life here in North Carolina, especially my life now that I am in graduate school at UNC.

Below are just a few pics of the house I live in because I don't think I've posted pictures of every part of the house, plus it's changed a little bit since my last pictures I posted.

In other news, I received an overall grade of High Pass in my advanced standing bridge course! And I've started my internship at the North Carolina Children's Hospital in pediatric oncology. So far I love it! Granted I haven't done much but observe but I can feel that it's going to be a rewarding experience, and as always I feel right at home at the hospital and comfortable in pediatric oncology. I'm sure I'll have my breaking points, but I will get through them and come out the other side a better person.

Happy 4th everyone!

part of my bedroom, it now has a TV stand, chair, and desk that all came from Michigan

Front porch, I love to sit out here and read when it's not too hot!

View from the front porch It's nice out today only 79 degrees

Kitchen! I love cooking in here, tonight I'm making chicken breasts with italian marinade

My shelves in the entry area . Top shelf has a picture of me, Kara, Amy and Kalen from Christmas Banquet junior year and a picture of me and Lauren G. at Ollies Follies senior year. Middle shelf has a picture of me and my best friend Molly from graduation and a picture of Lauren G. and I at graduation. Bottom shelf has a picture of Courtney E and I from Christmas banquet senior year and a picture of my daddy and I at the social work pinning ceremony.

View of the TV/family room including the shelves with pictures, left shelf is Brandi's right shelf is mine

Cool shelving that Brandi found (before I moved in) that has picture albums and photos of her family and other odds and ends. It is in the entry area/living room. Above the shelving are pictures of Brandi's nephews Jace and Kale. Jace is on the left, Kale is on the right.

My bathroom with the new bathroom curtain and towels Brandi bought after Kelli moved out.