And now for the list of my most current favorite songs (just for your information, and in no order):

1. Speeding Cars by Imogen Heap

2. Glittering Clouds by Imogen Heap

3. Get Buck In Here (DJ Felli Fel, featuring Akon, Lil Jon, Ludacris, Diddy)

4. Low by Flo Rida featuring T-Pain

5. Hypnotized by Plies featuring Akon

6. Blood On Our Hands by Aqualung

7. My Drink N My Two Step by Cassidy

8. Pressure Suit by Aqualung

9. Where Did My Baby Go? by John Legend

10. Crystal Ball by Keane

This entire list will be remixed when the new Imogen Heap CD comes out. I seriously CAN NOT wait. I will go to the closest bookstore and pay any price for this highly anticipated album! Also, the new John Legend live in Philly CD came out, but it's a Target exclusive and I haven't made it to Target since last week, when it wasn't out yet.

I gotta say, I'm a pretty happy gal these days. I think this is the beginning of a challenging semester [read: copious amounts of reading and paper-writing], but I think as the semesters come and go, I become much better at developing a work/life/school balance. Maybe when I graduate I will have truly mastered it. Ha! Wouldn't that just be ironic.

I've been enjoying my four day weekend since it began! I went out to a British Pub on Thursday night with Janai [reminder: never let a bartender make me a red-headed-slut, they taste like bubble gum medicine from my childhood!!], Friday night I went to Adams Morgan with Cath, Eric, et al, and I stayed in last night after going out to lunch for restaurant week and to see the movie "Juno", which I thought was great. I give the movie an A++ would see again, and the lunch an A- only because they serve their meet and it didn't look appetizing to me (I just don't roll with the raw). At least it was interesting food, something new to my pallate which is not all that discerning to begin with.

Today I did some homework, went to the gym, and baked some cookies. I can sit here all night and remember that tomorrow is Monday, and I DON'T HAVE TO GO TO WORK. Holla. I am getting a haircut instead. =)

I watched the movie "Once" with Jon, Liz, and the Wemette parents, and now I am in love with the soundtrack. I've basically listened to it non-stop for the past three weeks (well, mixed in with the two Imogen singles I got off of iTunes. Her fourth CD is due out "sometime in 2008", which I think is a crappy timeline, but what do you do? PEOPLE, I NEED MORE INFORMATION.

So my last blog entry stated that Janai was home, but I wasn't completly sure of that until this morning when I woke up and finally got an email from him. You would think a week without emails wouldn't be that bad, but I was going crazy wondering if he made it out of the Middle East safely. To all my pals who have listened to me whine through this entire process, thank you. I never thought I would be in this type of situation in my entire life, so I was probably a bit mental.

Class starts tomorrow. Thus ends the full care-free fun, but hopefully this semester won't be too bad. I think I will like my classes, so stuff should be good.

Life in DC is pretty sweet when there is no class involved. I'm going to enjoy the next four days hardcore!

The best news is that Janai is now out of Iraq. As some of you know, he has been in Iraq for the past three-and-a-half weeks. Can I really complain that he was gone just over three weeks? Not really, when you think of all the families that go for months without a loved one, but I will obviously be glad when he is back here and not in the midst of machine gun fire. Seriously. I guess I haven't ever really had a first-hand account of what really goes on over there on a daily basis, but it was far more violent than I thought. I know you're all thinking that I am so naive for not knowing, but I think it is a shock to think of all the horrifying situations that I've heard about, like Iraqi militia taking an entire hospital full of children hostage. It was funny that Janai was so adamant about me not worrying about him before I left. I mean, I understand why, but what kind of person would be I be if I wasn't worried about someone who means a lot to me (friend, family member, significant other) who was abroad? I think I kept my head on straight throughout the whole thing, so at least I am glad for that. That doesn't deny the fact that I will sleep better tonight.

Abrupt change of subject.

Class is starting soon and I purchased my books off of half.com as usual, but out of the four books I bought that were supposed to be in brand new condition, three had pen and highlighting. Let the half.com dispute process begin! The whole point of me buying new books is to not deal with someone else's annoying highlighting!!

Yesterday I went to the dentist; this was my 3rd dentist of DC. The first one was primarily a cosmetic dentist, so I left him and went to a lady that did a crappy job at cleaning my teeth. Finally, I went to this new guy yesterday who said I had beautiful teeth and that I do a great job of brushing and flossing JUST BEFORE he proceeded to gauge my gums with his scrapey-poker-thing. I'm not kidding, tears were streaming down my face out of pain and my mouth was disgustingly bloody. Sorry, DC, but your dentists suck, and I am going to my regular dentist in Minnesota when I go home this summer.

In the best news of the day, I went to happy hour where there were 3 for $1 tacos. Are you serious? This was the best happy hour of my life. Then, I came home and bought an Imogen Heap single that I didn't already have. So glad.

I am formulating my thoughts for a "Best of '07" post, so if anyone has ideas for categories, let me know!

It's been a whirlwind last few weeks, but don't worry, I'll cover it all here.


I went home on 12/19/07, back to the land of snow, frigid cold. I was home for a few days and then drove up to Orr, MN to spend Christmas with my dad's side of the family. Well, it was a blizzard when we were driving up, and a semi-blizzard when we were driving home. At least we got to see lots of northern Minnesotan things like: bait at every gas station, the world's largest hockey stick, and the hockey hall of fame. For the first time in three years, I had no service for my cellphone. Here are a few pictorial references of the events (including one of my defending the fact that I am not married, to my Grandpa Laine (it's a classic):

Well, we made it home after a long, snowy ride and a trip to the Gap Outlet (no complaints here!). The next Christmas celebration in the lineup was Christmas Eve at my aunt's house, only 10 miles away. Nice. We ate a lot of delicious food and then I sang O Holy Night at church at the 11:30 service, like every other Christmas. Here is a pic of the pandemoniom at the Mom's side of the family:

Finally, it was Christmas morning and for once, my mom had the day off and my sister and I were not going to be with my dad's side of the family. My mom made Christmas brunch (scratch that, she was working the day before and I made the Christmas brunch). Including Egg Bake and French Toast Casserole-stuff (which I appropriately named Midwestern Delight). We opened our gifts from my mom before my aunt and uncle came over and had a great time. Grandpa especially loved his new slippers and his new winter hat I actually bought all of my Christmas presents, but "Santa" paid me back. I got some shirts for work, a watch, some shoes from my sister, and iTunes gift card, and a Starbucks gift card. Yeah! Note the picture of my mom taking a picture of my sister and I. At Christmas 1.0 (Dad's side) my aunt got us these really ridiculous Christmas socks (hence the documentation).

What would Christmas break be without me yelling at Baby Jesus to move over because "It's my birthday now?". So, after a Christmas night tradition at Sidewinders with Liz, Carey, Abby, Jon, and me...

...we headed over to the Independent in Minneapolis for shark drinks and general birthday/reunion fun. A special shout-out to my DD Val for hooking me up royally. I had a good time and it is great to see friends of the past, present and future. Shark drinks are also an added bonus.

But the trip is not over yet. Carey wasn't going to leave town for another two days, so we ended up at the Happy Gnome in St. Paul for one last bout of comraderie when the entire gang was in town. We even got to catch up with Emily, which was nice. Props to the bartender who gave me my Strongbow (British cider) for free! =)
















Thus ends the pictorial reference of my Christmas break. A few days later, it was New Years Eve, which I spent at a restaurant/wine bar with Abby, Jon, and Gupta. I had a great time and it was good and low key, essential for the fact that I was returning to DC on New Years Day.

So I've been back for a good week, and had my DC birthday celebration last night. Props to my pals that came out. I will post some pictures once my co-birthday gal gets hers online. We ended up at Lucky Bar in Dupont, after I ate dinner at Vapiano just before. I am obsessed with Vapiano, so it was great.

British Akon is still in Iraq, but I have been in email contact with him while he has been away. It has been nice hearing from him, but I will be glad when the super emotionally-charged emails will end and he can get back to his real life. Life as a [Brisith] soldier is much more violent, awful, and draining than I could have ever imagined, and the more I hear, the more ridiculous the war really is.

Class starts in two weeks; I thought it started after MLK day, but much to my dismay, I realized just yesterday that it starts a week sooner. Gross. I like classes but really am enjoying my nice long break.

That's it for now. This was a long one....congrats, you're finished!