.leaving.on.a.jet.plane.

today is a good day.  besides the fact that i am spending most of the day at doctors appointments. YUCK

i just booked my flight to visit AMC and my bathing suit is coming in the mail (i just love that my j.crew orders come two day… they should magical appear for how much i pay in shipping tho!)!!!

i also just got some awesome towels from bed bath and beyond that i am going to turn into work out towels once i can find a monogramer. (how do you spell that word?)

in additional news i believe mr. match and i are going out tonight.  wahoo!

i have a MOUND of school work so todays post is short and sweet.  i will have a good post soon.  promise!

.hate.you.gluten.

as some of you may know i am gluten intolerant.  i try and forget this fact every so often (read 80% of the time) and boy do i pay for it. (like right now)  while i have made some big changes, no more beer only cider, i cannot seem to give up bagels, granola, pasta and other things.

I have tried to switch to brown rice pasta which i LOVE but i am not religious about it.   Also, my severe food issues come into play when switching to most gluten free foods.  the gluten free granola looks so gross compared to my muesli and trader joes vanilla almond granola.  i also found out today that oatmeal does have gluten and i have been eating it like crazy lately (hence the current problem)

while i really should not be complaining because there are so many people out there who have it so much worse (those with celiacs disease) than me but my poor tummy is acting up so bad right now.

in my search to see how others are coping with this issue i found Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef who just today posted about my new obsession GREEK YOGURT!  i actually just ate the Pomegranate Greek Gods Yogurt monday morning and it was so good!  Also found on the website where they sell it in VA.  I will be getting tons of it tomorrow!

she also has lists of no no foods (most are on my short list of things i will actually eat) and a list of totally gluten free foods (some/most i will not touch).

so for now i will curse myself for being so disrespectful to my body and suffer through the pain.  looks to be a gluten free tomorrow for me…

.winner.winner.

today i finally won a tennis match!  we went 6-2, 2-6, 10-7 in the tie breaker.

i firmly believe that i do not want to win as badly as many of my opponents.  while i love winning i would never be mean to someone about it.  i would much rather lose and not have my opponents be mean to me.  that said i am so happy we won as it was my partners last game of the season.

in other news i am peved at delta STILL and am on hold with them to discuss my non-stop flight with a layover in detroit.  you would think the airlines would stop screwing over customers but then again they really are the only travel choice in the US.  I feel like the airlines and the cable company are in some scheme with the devil to screw everyone over.

.back.home.

i am a little peved at the moment.  i spent a long time looking for the perfect one way/nonstop ticket back from dayton and found it.  it was non-stop from dayton to norfolk.  AMAZ.  until my flight stopped in detroit…

at first i thought it was one of those when the plane lands but you stay on… OH NO I HAD A LAY OVER.  even though i only had one ticket that mentioned NOTHING about detroit or a lay over or anything and i only got sky miles for a nonstop ticket.

look for youself… nothing about a lay over:

perhaps i should have known that no direct flight would leave at 11:45 to 3:25.  but i feel like delta should have done more to inform me.

ok rant over.  on to work for school.  hopefully the sun is out tomorrow for tennis.

.sunday.funday.

while i am loving living the “college” lifestyle i fly back to reality tomorrow.  in honor of this i will share a few things i am LOVING right now.

1. The Help by Kathryn Stockett.  i cannot get enough of this.  i am listening to it on CD and have, on multiple occasions, just sat in the car not able to turn the book off.  I am NOT a fan of books on tape but the oration of this book is magical.

2. lazy weekends with AJH.  there is nothing more special then curling up on the couch with the only person who knows you as well as you know yourself, your sister.  the special bond we share is something i cherish more then life its self and i feel so blessed to have learned this at the age of 20 and been able to form such a great relationship with her.

3. warm weather.  even in ohio the weather has been great.  as i type this its starting to spit outside but for the past 2 days it has been warm without being stifling.  yesterday was perfect beach weather if only i was not in land locked dayton.

4. greek yogurt.  if you have not tried this you MUST.  i have been holding out for so long.  i am a very picky eater and texture is everything for me.  AMC and mr. match have been telling me i have to try greek yogurt and i have been afraid.  i am very loyal to the trader joes brand low fat vanilla.  while i will not switch completely to greek yorgut it is a great change up for my yogurt addiction and can be bought places where there is no trader joes (i.e when i visit amc!).  i also love the variety of flavors and putting the honey on it.  i love honey!!

5. fresh berries.  while i do not like for my fruit to touch (another weird food issue)  i do like to have mixed berries.  black berries, blue berries, raspberries and strawberries YUM.  at the grocery i got an amazing mix of them fresh!  mr. match has told me he is going to take me berry picking and i cannot wait!  also when i go down to the g-rents for memorial day we will be able to get fresh SC peaches!  YUM YUM YUM!

what are you loving right now?

.smbd.

smbd introduced me to a new college tradition.  the drive of shame.  she called ajh this morning to have her drive over 1 street and pick her shamefilled bum up and take her to mc donalds.

while in college i was a big fan of the walk of shame; however, no one was ever nice enough to come and pick me up and take me for food after a shame filled night.  a good morning was when my “friend” from the night before would drive me back to 110!

I am a fan of this new drive of shame and the fact that at 12pm when she should have been obviously over dressed (read: night from before, louis vuitton bag jewelry, smeared makeup and high heals) for the mcdonals, there were a few locals who had her bested.

the city of dayton mcdonals (in the hood) was a unique minority experience for me.  the workers got into a tiff over who should be serving the food and who should be on break… surprise everyone thought they should be on break.  i was excited that i was able to get ajh and i’s food for under $6 and a few sweet tea as they FORGOT to make my iced coffee.

smbd is also my new bbm buddy.  get excited!

as she sleeps off her shame i and the rest of the girls are watching say yes to the dress.

more information about smbd:

when she was seven she would stuff her bra and wear a jacket revealing her “new” bust at the mall.
the happiest day of her life was when she got her boobs
second best was 10/4/02 the day she became a woman
she was the bad kid that other parents would not let their children play with.
she was homecoming queen, without stuffing her bra

.college.

as I type this i am sitting with little AJH at her new college house. last night was filled with typical college debauchery and i spent the morning cleaning up hundreds of natti cans off the front porch. yes schools other than Miami hand out citations for dirty front lawns.

last night was crazy fun but now i, along with all 8 girls that live here, am in shambles.

.dayton.

tomorrow i leave for a little visit to my baby sister, AJH, in dayton.  i think she will be doing a gust blog on saturday or sunday so get super excited for that!!

as for today… babysitting and more babysitting.

hopefully i will become inspired and have a wonderful post for you later on so check back!

.books.

this summer i plan on getting back into the habit of reading 1 or more books a month.  So far this month i have read 2 and am hoping to get at least 2 more in.  My summer course loads are going to be heavy in reading as i am take 3 classes all having to do with research and children’s lit but i hope to still do my own reading on the side.

my recent reads have been

Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger
are you there vodka? it’s me chelsea by chelsea handler
la candy by lauren conrad
as you can see i have moved fully in to beach reading mode.

as for my to read list:

1. girl with the dragon tattoo by stieg larsson
both amc and mr. match are reading this and i feel left out/was going to steal mr. matches but he is going to slow

2. tipping point by malcom gladwell
i have been “reading” this for 3 years now.  i just go a chapter or so at a time.  it’s intresting but i get sidetracked from it easily.

3. the carrie diaries by Candace Bushnell
AMC pre-ordered this and we are going to have book club about it.  EVERYONE is welcome maybe i will blog as i read it!!

4.the help by kathryn stockett
i am actually going to listen to this on tape when i drive to see ajh on thursday!  it will make the 10 hour trip SOOO much better!

5. the devil in the white city by erik larson
its about my fav place chicago and a murder at the worlds fair.  i hope to read it over fourth of july when i am in for a wedding and a week of play at the lake!

6./7. my horizontal life and chelsea chelsea bang bang by chelsea handler
do i even need to tell you why these made my list… i think i will wait to read then so i can just steal AMCs copies and read them both while at her house this summer…

what are you reading?  do you have any suggestions for me?

.lisa.

today i will post about lisa, my mother.  i have written an ode to her and hope you enjoy it.

i hope all of you are having a great mothers day!