A chorus of little birdies

Earlier, large amounts of bird noise was coming through the window. It occurred to me that either they're calling out to each other in hopes of one last good night before the snow hits, or they're exclaiming their mutual distaste for the downturn in temperature. I can imagine husbands screaming at wives to pack faster, we have to get out of here NOW, dangit. Kind of lessens the beauty of their melodies.

Then I thought that maybe a similar chorus is going on in my house right now as my parents pile together enough stuff to last them through 24 hrs+ of road tripping over the rest of the week. It makes the birds sound tame.

I love my family, but I like getting to pack in peace.

Speaking of which, I'm off to go clean my nest and pack. Woot.



(photo by Kolleggerium)

They're coming!!!

The parents are coming! The parents are coming! (not the British. I don't think they'd care much about conquering Indiana)

Mark's coming too. They'll be here tomorrow afternoon. Then we will all set off happily together to DO CHICAGO in 2.5 days. Heck yes. My Thanksgiving break is so much cooler than yours. I'll be eating deep-dish pizza instead of turkey.

My mom has been fanatically planning this out, which is good, because the rest of us would just wander around and gawk. Now we're actually going to do things. My only request was that the time of the USC/ND game finds us in a loud sports grill with other ND fans and a big-screen TV. Not sure if that's going to happen, knowing my family and their tendencies towards calm activity, but a girl can ask.

So please say a prayer for a loaded minivan trekking from Georgia to Indiana today and tomorrow, and for everyone who's going out to see the USC game. Let's hope that everyone is safe and has fun!

I know what time of year it is...

...because of all the good food.

Let's recap:

• Friday night- dinner out with the Boy's family at Fiddler's Hearth, an adorable Irish pub in South Bend, where I consumed mass quantities of high-calorie food, namely, Irish stew and a side of cheddar&bacon mash. Yum. I also had a few bites of the Boy's bread pudding, but it was a bit too strong for me. I'm under 21, thank you.
• Saturday: Subway for lunch, cocoa at the game, and candlelight dinner afterwards. The candlelight dinners at the dining halls after games are awesome- basically, they spare no expense to impress the alumni. The best way to handle a candlelight dinner is to eat a little bit of everything, but I still ended up with a tray full of food, including two desserts, apple crisp and cheesecake. Oops.
• Sunday: Brunch out with the Boy's family. I had chocolate chip pancakes, but resisted ordering a side of toast. A step in the right direction? No, because then I ate the rest of the Boy's hashbrowns. I also bought myself Starbucks later in the day. Then at the dining hall last night they served churros and crinkle fries. Of course I had to go back for a second warm fried-dough-covered-in-cinnamon concoction!

This does not bode well for Thanksgiving. I like food too much.

Ack! A week without posting??

Bad Laura.
In my defense, I've been busy. Most of my exams/ paper deadlines tend to fall on Fridays, and when more than one of such events occur in one week, my entire week is consumed with getting ready for Friday. Last week I had two papers due on Friday and an exam. Ick. My weekend has been similarly exhausting, as Joey's whole family has been in town for the game, plus his brother's girlfriend, and we've largely been hanging out with them. Add the fact that on Friday, the only day since last Sunday that I had a breath of free time (in between the pep rally and his family arriving), I was in a terribly unhappy mood, and you get a week without posting.

Excuses, excuses. I will do better.