My Place

I have opted against updating this lately because there really hasn't been too much going on. No interesting stories (I still haven't found the connection point between the Divinity Library and the Central Library, but I did discover that there are two elevators in the building and they don't go to the same floors, and that has something to do with it?), no crazy adventures really. But I'll show you what's new:

So Babs and I are in Green Hills. Nashville is like a city of suburbs - there's Green Hills, Franklin, who knows what else - but Green Hills is pretty posh, and it's what we're closest too. The mall there has a Tiffany's. 'Nuff said. It's weird actually with the suburbs thing. Today, for instance, I got out of my car to go to the gym (which is AMAZING) and it smelled so amazing... there was that soccer field smell from the bunches of rec fields all around, and kind of a Fall-ish trees and campfires smell and it was so beautiful... then I crossed the street and smelled sewage and could see a giant parking garage over the official soccer stadium, and was reminded that I was in a city.
Anyway, Green Hills. I forget what we were doing there this particular time, but we started driving home and we saw this sign.













Look closely, please. It's a donkey-crossing sign. And it has green trimming. My mind was boggled, in fact so boggled that I made Sarah pull across a few lanes on the main road so that we could take a picture.

So there's that. The next morning, I had a morning coffee meeting with the youth director at the church I'm going to - camp was so great this summer, I want to help with the youth at church now. :) So that's exciting news, that starts this week I think. I loved the youth director/minister, she's really fun. Apparently the church has some incredibly wealthy and powerful people as members, could make my job interesting. Anyway, so we're talking and I was saying how I'm always taking pictures of random things, and I explained the donkey thing and she knew exactly what I was talking about: [this is very unglamorous and anticlimatic, don't get excited] apparently there's a school where the sign is, and they're the Burrs and their colors are yellow and green. Not so exciting, but there's the scoop.

In other news, we went to Sonic! Sonic is a pretty well-recognized name, but Sarah and I had never been to one before... so we Googled it, RandMcnallyed it, and went on a Sonic hunt.

The way Sonic works, in case you don't know, is that you either pull through the drive-through or you pull up into your own little ordering carport. We did the carport option, and this is one side of the menu. Jen had recommended the Cherry Limeade, but once I was there I decided a Strawberry Slush would be clutch. Not so. Then we tried again a few days later and I tried a Strawberry Limeade. I think the best way to tell this story is to show you the conversation I had with Jeanette on the IMer that night:

[Nana, since I know you're reading this, LaPandaSkis is me]
LaPandaSkis: i went to sonic
LaPandaSkis: the first time i got a slush
LaPandaSkis: it had massive, i mean massive, chunks of strawberry in it
LaPandaSkis: so today i thought i'd try a limeade, strawberry limeade.
LaPandaSkis: a) who carbonates a limeade
LaPandaSkis: b) who carbonates a limeade
LaPandaSkis: c) who puts chunks in a smooth drink
LaPandaSkis: i mean come on
LaPandaSkis: it would be amazing, i mean, if i liked chunks in my straw.

Highly disappointing. But Sarah had some good things, so I'm not giving up on Sonic yet. Sonic is kind of like the Sheetz of Nashville, except totally different content. It's just the place everyone goes late at night when they're studying and need a break. I miss Sheetz, and Rutter's, and really any convenience store that's decent.













This is Sarah enjoying her Sonic drink, FYI.
Look, you get a sneak peek of the apartment... I'm standing in our living room, really close to the kitchen and dining room areas, and Babs is sitting next to our fireplace and in the little divider between the living room and the yet-to-be-decorated sunroom.


In related news... I think it's about time you get to see pictures of my place! I finally hung some decorations this week, so you get a partial tour now.
Annnnnnnnd go.













Clearly, every good tour guide starts with the bathroom. This is the shower curtain that I"m so proud of, isn't it gorgeous? :)














I'm not gonna show you everything else now, just my bedroom... the rest isn't ready. This is what you see when you walk into my room. It needs curtains still, but you get the drift. There's a closet door immediately on our left, a wall (really, the bathroom) behind the door on the right. My loftbed is the metal thing protruding on the left, my bookshelf between the windows, and around the right corner my OTHER closet. I get two.


















This is the first closet, the smallest one. Some points of interest:
- Febreeze is amazing.
- Having tons of top shelf space for sweatshirts and sweatpants is amazing.
- Yes, my dresser is in my closet. I actually got that idea from Jeanette.
- Please notice that I color-coordinated the top four shelves of my t-shirts.


















Ok, this is the main portion of the room, and the other, double-door closet. Decorations a la Jeanette (the picture poster) and Bosko (the flower poster). Also, the big ugly bag and a bandana hang from the door handles because why not, and you can see part of my little stack of trash in the lower right corner. Nashville doesn't seem to have a huge recycling program, so I'm saving my recylcing for when I find the recycle center.


















Annnd doors open. Clothes, a fan which I don't need, shoes, a yaffa bin for my socks which don't fit in my dresser anymore. Etc. Etown banner above the mirror, I like that. :)


















This part is like my Zen spot. Clock was on sale for $14.99, it looks pretty stately I think. I needed a clock because if I turned off my cell phone and my computer, all I had was my tiny alarm clock which is up in the little bin I tied to my loftbed so that I can reach it in the morning. Wooden flowers from a Russia-ish place, always good to make my space international. Angels, books, and lots of pictures. :) There's a picture on every shelf, which you can't see because it's below this point but you get the idea. The windows reallllly need curtains.

















And this is where I spend all of my time. Currently, I am sitting in the little black chair there. Sorry the pictures don't line up, I wasn't really trying to make them line up but I realize now it's a little bit annoying.
A few points of interest:
- Zyrtec... allergies are bad here. My boss told me that the Indians loved this area for hunting grounds, but that it was a bad place to live, they couldn't breathe properly. Interesting huh?
- Freshly made bed, which looks poorly-made because it is SO DIFFICULT to put sheets on a loftbed which a) has a matress that basically barely fits within the bed space (so no room to tuckle in the sheets) and b) squeaks every time you move a muscle. It's cool tho, I really like it a lot.
- Bulletin board, which is a perfect spot for cards and letters to be posted. ahem.
- Pictures, of course.
- Bills. Lots of bills I have to pay... not fun.
- Piles and piles of books and binders, and hardly any of it is for this semester, it's all the junk I brought with me in case I needed it. Haha oh well, better to be prepared, right?

So I think that's it. I like it a lot, but I can't get anything done here, I have to go to the library - and we all know what that's like for me. Wayyyy too long of a post, thanks for reading it. :)

Yours 'til Hershey's kiss,
La



ohh p.s. Finally got to hang out with some people last night, had a ton of fun. Only took one picture, though, it's below and it's for someone in particular whose name is never anywhere. It was taken when we were walking back from the bar - very fun times!