Summertime

Wow, I haven't blogged in 4 months. Crazy. I guess I don't have much to say since I don't do much besides go to school, read for school, watch TV (usually online at that), and talk on the phone. I mean, I could write post after post about those things, but who wants to hear about that? As always, I've been motivated to write again by the fact that there is something else way more important that I should be doing: studying for finals, which start tomorrow. I never thought I'd miss W&M where we wrote more papers than took exams, but there you have it. I'm honestly not too worried about it since I've gone through this process before and came out relatively unscathed and since I think I have a pretty good handle on my classes. Of course, I could regret not spending every waking hour re-reading my notes and outline, but I don't see that happening. I've decided instead to take a moment and look ahead to the summer. I have a list of summer goals/projects, and I thought I'd list them here.

*Organize my many, many, many, many photos into albums. I already have a lot of pictures in albums, but I have hundreds, possibly thousands, more just sitting in a box, some of which are worthy of being preserved in a nice little book.

*Touch up some places on my wall with fresh paint. Apparently my landlord didn't think it was necessary to make the place look too nice before I moved in, so I'll do it myself. I wish I could paint my room purple, but that would be way too much work.

*Read at least 15 books. I'd set that goal higher, but I am taking two classes, working as a research assistant, and writing a 45-page paper for a journal at school, so I won't have much more free time than I do now.

*Finally make it to Mt. Vernon and the National Archives. Anyone who wants to come is welcome to join me!

*Try 10 new restaurants in the city. I tend to stick to a few that I really like, and I want to branch out a bit.

*See at least 10 movies in theaters. These will include Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Star Trek, Up, Public Enemies, (500) Days of Summer, Away We Go, and Julie and Julia. May include Land of the Lost, Year One, Bruno, Funny People, and Cold Souls. But definitely won't include The Proposal, Final Destination 4, Dance Flick, or Imagine That. See a summer release calendar here.

*Walk a bunch, wearing comfortable clothes since DC is killer in the summer.

I think that's it for goal and projects. I have a few fun things lined up, too:

*Trip to NYC the weekend right after finals (10 days!). I'm eating at Craft, going to the Museum of Modern Art, walking around the Central Park Zoo, going to a jazz club in the Village. It's going to be spectacular.

*See No Doubt in July (maybe June, can't keep it straight). A middle school dream come true! I've liked them pretty consistently since Tragic Kingdom, even though Rock Steady was not my favorite CD of all time and Gwen Stefani's solo stuff makes me want to rip the stereo out of the car and throw it out the window whenever one of her songs comes on.

*Visit my sister's family in Washington. She'll have a two-month old baby boy by then, so that's very exciting.

And that's it. Maybe I'll be able to update more over the summer.