Ramble.

I can make this. Maybe I will. Mine looks better. ;-) So there, Martha Stewart! (original)

Summer is here! :-D
Of course, the on/off snow, rain, hail, etc. makes it feel more like February than April, but I digress.

I have, of course, made the best of my first three days of summer by laboriously moving out of my apartment (and spending hours scrubbing the bathroom I was in charge of in an alternating fashion with straight bleach and oxalic acid, SO DO NOT EVEN TRY AND CHARGE ME, LIBERTY SQUARE), laboriously moving all my things back into my house (I'm living at home for a month until I leave for Harvard), clearing out the computer room and redecorating it with IKEA finds so I can have some semblance of a bedroom while I'm here (foldable denim couch bed with adorable black-and-white flowered pillows; huge aged-wood wardrobe dresser I assembled myself with only a hammer, assorted screwdrivers, and my naked intellect!; deliciously minimalist side table; dress rack; colored storage boxes, etc.), doing five full loads of laundry, and skating, of course.

I know when to go to the rink so that there's almost no one there, but those who are there are invariably AWESOME, which makes me really self-conscious and inhibits the degree to which I feel comfortable practicing. I slowly work on balancing around a circle and lifting my non-skating foot just above the ice to control my forward crossovers while the others (adult ex-skaters who come to keep up their talent and/or train their little kids, or young competitive skaters who wear little dresses and fine-tune transitions) jump, weave, and spin like experts, periodically offering me really nice advice about stabilizing my upper body and/or bending my knees more. I suck, and I can't hide it, but I still love the feeling of doing something entirely new to me. Every tiny success--and there are very, very few so far!--feels absolutely brilliant. :-) I think I'm going to invest in some skates and ask for private lessons for my birthday (which is in August, after which I will be twenty).

I haven't been home for my birthday in years. I spent my sweet sixteenth on an all-day flight from London; my seventeenth in West Yellowstone or Orlando (I can't remember which); my eighteenth in Dallas?; my nineteenth in Jerusalem and my twentieth I will spend in Boston. Hopefully by the time my birthday rolls around I will have found a favorite restaurant or cupcake place in which to spend it (and some lovely friends with whom to spend it). :-) Which reminds me, I still haven't found an apartment there...augh; sublease an apartment? Am I that old?

To Do:
1) Find a Boston apartment within walking distance to Harvard Square, as I don't think I'm going to live on campus any more, considering I can cut my rent in half if I sublease an apartment...
2) Find a Provo apartment for fall/winter '10/'11, as Foreign Language housing just fell through :-(
3) Learn to complete a backward crossover. I CANNOT DO THEM. THEY CONFUSE MY LEGS.
4) Design (and stick to!) a fun exercise routine--some combination of swimming, biking, skating, weights, core training, and running, preferably outside because in color and consistency I currently resemble a marshmallow
5) Make a hair appointment (I was serious about those purple-red streaks)

"Marshmallow" is spelled wrong. But this is adorable. (original)

AND OMG, I AM MAKING THIS.

Malted Marshmallow White Chocolate Royale!

It's hot chocolate...with whole milk, heavy cream, marshmallow creme, white chocolate, and malted milk. Wow. Food Network, you never cease to amaze me.