Vegas Baby!

Day 1 - we drove from Lewiston straight through to Corvallis - roughly 9 hours of travel. 

Day 2 - Lincoln, Oliver and I followed Riley and his roommate to the OSU vs. USC game with $10 tickets! It was my first college football game as a college student, very exciting albeit freezing cold. 

 Day 3 - We drove back to Vancouver and stayed with Kristi, Carrie and Lily. We made multi-colored sugar cookies, and read children's stories. It was lots of fun. 

Day 4 - Flew out successfully from PDX, arriving in Las Vegas Nevada at 11 a.m. The shuttle was full so Oliver and I rode in a limo to The Mirage where we met the rest of our group. There was 12 of us!

Day 5 - The strip at night was crazy! Lights everywhere, people everywhere, smoke everywhere. We walked between Mirage, Harrah's, O'Shea's and Caesar's Palace almost 3 times every day. 

 Day 6 - The Stratosphere Tower was intense. I don't have any pictures to upload yet, but you could see the whole strip from the top of the tower, and the boys went on the roller-coasters! I couldn't even look at the roller-coasters without feeling a tingle in the back of my legs, and a sinking feeling in my stomach.

Day 7 - we left Vegas, arriving in PDX at 2 pm. It was smooth sailing back to TD via I-84. We arrived just in time to prepare Lori's garlic mashed potatoes. Sara, Pat, Will, Kelly, and Mamie joined us for Thanksgiving which was a great treat. We all stuffed ourselves to the max, and laid on the floor for a bit. Lincoln contributed sparkling cider to the cheers of all the youth present. After all, what is T-day without some cider? 

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Day 8 - Post-Thanksgiving stretching in the morning followed by a trip to Uncle Steve's house to watch the Duck game. Ducks prevailed. Almost all Strouds present, probably the most people ever to grace Steve's house with their presence. Of course, some of us made time for the Starlight Parade to catch a glimpse of Santa Claus and his missus. Sadly, the parade is growing smaller every year. Signs of a poor economy? or just lackluster and disbelief about the magic of Santa and Christmas time? Regardless, we did our part and cheered loudly at the Claus sleigh. Alas, no candy was thrown our way despite our efforts. Later, some of us went to Harry Potter #7. Much disappointment for those of us who are avid book-readers, but I still hold that it was better than most of the previous movies. 

Day 9 - Dad and I played some tennis at good old TDFCC, and lifted some weights. After our calorie burning we headed straight home for some food! Delicious home-made meals, something I'd really missed up at school. Dad, Mom, Oliver and I visited the Norths (Carrie has new baby) for a bit, and then headed home to meet up with Riley, Lincoln, and Sarah for game night. We laughed our way past midnight playing Bohnanza which involves imaginary bean fields, and a plethora of beans. 

Day 10 - Farewell to TD and a lengthy drive back to Lewiston. Thankfully Mom sent some food along with us so we had some grub for dinner upon arrival. Only 3 more weeks of school until Christmas Break and Cookie Camp! 

Happy holidays to all! 

new YouTube sensation

Thanks to Katie Stroud for sharing this with me via Debbie! My new favorite YouTube video is Marcel the Shell with Shoes On. Enjoy!

Today's Tunes

Skinny Love is a song by the alternative singer Bon Iver. Lincoln (the resident music expert) introduced Bon Iver to me a couple months ago, but it came up on my iTunes today while studying in the dorms. Enjoy!

The dreaded week BEFORE break

I've been pretty bland lately. It's a sad state of affairs. Early senior-itis? Late freshman-itis? NOT AN "ITIS" AT ALL?!?! Not to worry, looking back I had some pretty good moments recently.....

Highlights of the last week: 

1. Found an awesomely hilarious book at the library called "How I Became a Famous Novelist". I have already laughed out loud five times, once to the point of tears, and I'm only 30 pages into it. That's a good sign. It's nothing like Dave Barry's Big Trouble, but the author really has my cynical sarcastic rants down pat. It's a pleasure to read, and definitely not educational, which is probably why I'm enjoying it at this point. 

2. Finally finished setting up my room at the Clarkston house. I lugged all my leftover stuff from the storage unit and re-organized a good 7/8ths of my little bedroom space. It is so nice now! I have a usable desk, I have two bookshelves, I bought a shoe rack for my closet, even bought a Rocky poster for my wall. Amazing. I almost kind of like it :) 

Eh, that's all that is jumping to mind at the moment. I guess I, along with the rest of the college population, am ready for a break. Looking forward to my trip to Corvallis, my trip to Vegas, but most of all, I am excited for Thanksgiving, and some down time at home. 

Kodak Moment? I think so. 

Let's just say the tennis team this year isn't lacking in the creative/random/eccentric/hilarious factor. I'm super excited for the season - can't believe it's already November, we're almost there! We started intervals today, on the treadmill.... basically, I haven't been on a treadmill for a year. I'm more of a biker/ run outside type person; treadmills are boring. But today, I was in luck. Seinfeld re-run on TV3 in the Cardio Room. Score! Plugged in my headphones (sorry Mom and Dad, I'm Generation Y) and sprinted my little legs off while watching as Jerry got caught nose-picking by his model girlfriend, Kramer discoverred his cologne idea has been stolen by Calvin Klein, Elaine sent out a Xmas card with her "little brown circular protuberance", and George sang show tunes about his love for Susan. Quite entertaining. Finished intervals and headed to the weights - getting a little high up on the weight scale for me, but we're down to 8 reps, so I'll manage. 

I feel lazy tonight, despite my afternoon workout, and have been watching Groundhog Day at work.... Brings back fond memories. Plus, I've discovered (shhh don't tell my professors) I'm kind of ahead on my homework.... I know. I can't even read that sentence without doing a double take and re-reading. I must be missing something?!?! Other than the inevitable (for those who've not been reading this blog, I'm reading James Joyce for class), I literally am caught up in all classes.... 

Guess it's time to study up on graduate schools, right Dad? 

I got the bug....

It finally hit - I've been fending it off for weeks. But, realistically, I had no chance. I spend 95% of my time with either Lincoln, Oliver, Tyler, or a combination of the three, and they have ALL been sick. It was bound to come my way. Don't fret - rest easy - I stocked up on DayQuil (ok, I borrowed/stole three tablets from Loreto) and cough drops (3 lozenges found in Oliver's desk drawer), but really, I am taking care of myself. I didn't even run the bridges yesterday, which puts me three behind our ten required runs, and instead I studied, sipped on some soup, and slept. What a lovely alliteration if I do say so myself.... Coach Kai is gloating - his mantra of the last four years is wash your hands, and as per my condition I have obviously been slacking. But honestly, how can I be the "mother"  of the dorm boys (Lincoln included) AND have time to rid myself of their germs? Near impossible I say.

Silver lining: extra time to catch up on my reading of Ulysses by James Joyce (a 700 page novel, virtually incomprehensible to anyone less literately-aware than Joyce... which is everyone) while I lay in bed with Mumford & Sons album on repeat.

Moral of the story: a flu shot would not have prevented this sickness from taking hold. If you know what this moral is referring to then I am talking to you. If my flu shot reference "flu" over your head then: A, consider yourself lucky it didn't stab you in the arm - OW!, B, consider yourself on the same level as me plodding through Joyce's references to everything under the sun (literally) and C, this moral doesn't apply to you, and you may continue to the real moral of the story directly below.

Real moral of the story: wash your hands!