back from Aspen!

hello everyone, i'm back. all my summer trips have passed, been awesome, and left me more awesome but infinitely more tired (and with less money) in their wake. i got back from my aspen trip last night and realized that i have 18 more days of work until i move. insane! i am also really not into long drives in the car after driving 12 hours yesterday, but i'm sure by aug 15th i'll just be ready to go. i've been getting that stressed/omg is everything done/ahh i'm moving feeling for a while but it just got kicked up to 11 and im not even going for a few weeks! insane. i know that i can never go back to things the way they are right now (living at home, working for my dad, hanging out in spring, etc) so i'm trying to enjoy things but i'm also so ready to have my own, new life...

but enough musing, onto my aspen trip! what really can i say? it was gorgeous and incredible, my cousin jen looked radiant and had a wonderful wedding, i enjoyed seeing my entire extended family (there's only 15 of us, plus 2 new cousins) all together, aspen is incredible and incredibly gorgeous, the weather was perfect, and as i was wandering around the restaurant on top of aspen mountain i literally bumped into Antonio Banderas.

yes, yes i did. no pictures, but he stared at me for a while (the hair must have thrown him off) and his wife, Melanie, was nearby but looked totally busted with too much plastic surgery compared to the gorgeous, perfect Antonio. he was walking with his mother, and as they were trying to pick a table (the restaurant is cafeteria style) he asked her where they should sit, and she didnt answer so he started singing in this operatic voice, "it's a myyyysteryyyy!" SO CUTE. omg.

here are some pictures, for your enjoyment (the rest can be seen on facebook and myspace):

my sisters on their hike around Maroon Bells in aspen

womb buddy and myself at our "romantic" vegan dinner in aspen that was SO EXPENSIVE OMG.

note: drinking at such a high altitude such as aspen means 1 drink= druuunk.

this picture was obviously staged.

on top of aspen mountain

family photo before the wedding!

most gorgeous wedding EVER- the altar was aspen logs that the groom cut himself. so lovely!

a little drunk, very happy at the reception

the PROs and CONs of grad school

dear discounted easter candy,
i love you, even though you are not weight watchers approved.
sincerely,
karen

so schools. still haven't heard from umass Boston, got waitlisted at UT women's studies (thank god its not a no) and i have w&m and purdue. I've gotten many opinions, looked at housing, emailed current grad students at each program, etc. here is the pros and cons list, because it helps me a lot:

PROS

UT: where to begin! best housing, cheap moving costs, cheap living costs, get to live with LIESL YAY, all my friends there, i love the city, i have an austin cell #, internationally known school, i'd get to work with AMS people while in the WS dept., there are a lot of people who would help me do great things, i have a better chance of getting into the AMS program for a PhD. did i mention i love austin the most??

PURDUE: i find out next week if they are offering me a TA position (all tuition paid, i'd start teaching classes by 2nd semester my first year which is GREAT since i want to be a prof.), cheap living, not terribly expensive moving costs, don't have to reapply to get into the Phd, profs are nice, dept. is very accessible and emails me often and with helpful info, they seem like they really want me, grad students very helpful and nice, i have family in indianapolis (>1 hr away), friends in chicago (>2 hrs away, also amazing city)

W&M: really great program, it's the only one thats 1 year so it's less $ than purdue (unless purdue gives me a full ride...), GORGEOUS area, my fav. prof at Skidmore said go there over anywhere if you can, lots of great profs, grad students say it's a great program and the faculty are very accessible and give you their home #s on the syllabi, etc.

CONS:
UT: i want a master's in american studies (but can live with WS), i am really sick of the race/class/gender ws's trifecta, i'm annoyed that UT sucks and are really hard to reach in every dept.

PURDUE: it's indiana, the town is pretty much just the school, not as prestigious as other programs, don't know a soul at the school.

W&M: really expensive apartments, expensive moving costs, the prof i want to work with sort of blew me off, one year intensive program (you finish your thesis during the summer) so i don't know how i'd apply to a PHD program, i'd have to take out 50k in loans.

so basically: i will go to UT if i get in and Purdue doesn't offer me any $, but it's most likely that Purdue will offer me $ so i'm prob. going there. but if Purdue doesn't offer me that much $ and UT lets me in, I'll go to UT. w&m is my last resort at this point.
got it?

IN OTHER NEWS: mikey is moving to brussels for 3 years at the end of may. he and i have a wonderfully insane trip planned (may 7-20th, in nyc, boston, marshfield, cape cod, maine) that involves a lot of fun and possibly a lot of drinking (and lots of amazing friends of course). then i have a family reunion in north carolina for 2 weeks in june, one week in aspen for my cousin's wedding, and then i come home and move to either indiana or austin.

my weekend in pictures

i'm already exhausted and we didn't even do that much this wkend. okay, we drove from houston to austin and back in one day, then to college station, the ren fair and back the next. it's a lot more than my usual lay around weekends, and i'm barely hanging in there. and there is more merriment to be had! the week has just begun! i cant wait for dancing with the stars semi finals tonight!


since i have nothing fun to do today but clean, go to the store, clean, laundry, etc., i will recap this wkend in some pictures.


ENJOY!



First off, it's WB and me in Veggie Heaven in Austin with Lauren and Joe on Sat. around 3 pm.


yay! we are so colorful. well ok im the colorful one. wb was like, "aren't you sick of the pink yet?" and im like NO! BLASPHEMY! etc.etc. (to be honest i am kinda, but then i look at pictures like this and am like i am so BRIGHT! i feel like a crayon-- in a good sense)





next is lauren wearing her bday present from WB (an expertly crafted knit cap) and Joe, our fav. boyfriend.




















On to the east austin studio tour~! we only went to a few studios but it was AWESOME and we very nerdily and awesomely ran into a studio with a TESLA COIL thing! what is that, you ask? i didnt know until after i saw it and wikipedia'ed it. (look it up, very cool). the dude was playing the beat from "sexy back" and the legends of zelda theme. NERDTASTIC! we loved it! (esp. joe)
this is an aerial shot from the balcony above the tesla coil. joe is the green blob on the left.






Sunday we drove to College Station. It's one of my fav drives-- look how gorgeous and flat texas is!! i LOVE it.







Then WB and i met up with dad at the Texas World Speedway. I declined to hop in the car, but WB was into it, so she and dad suited up and drove around the track going 130 mph for about 15 minutes.

this is a picture from the car that WB took. you can see how the track curves, etc. she got a lot of dashboard pictures (the centrifugal force made it hard to take decent pictures)

and finally, on our way to the ren fair (via navasota and plantersville) we saw this amazing car with not only goats in the back but chickens above them!

well you can't see the chickens, but they're in that wooden box.

why no pictures of the ren fair? probably because we were too busy buying stuff. well WB was too busy buying essential oils (dirty hippy scents like patchouli, sandalwood, and Egyptian musk), rings, and other various sundry items. i bought some amazing rhinestone elephant head studs (my mom saw them and said, "i cant believe you bought the fucking republican party's symbol" but when she saw them on said, "i actually love them") and a small jar of lavender oil (very good quality) that i may make candles or soap out of or something. who am i calling a dirty hippy? ;)

more pictures to come! tomorrow it's a day with haley, then my sister and her bf get in town, wed. is more family fun (at PF Chang's; they have a gluten free menu complete with a gluten free beer for WB) and of course, THANKSGIVING! and most importantly, TORI ON SUNDAY!

YAY

to say that i'm looking forward to it would be the grossest of understatements.