feels like home.

know how i get obsessive about a song and listen to it until i absolutely can't stand it anymore? [e.g. travelin soldier....which btw i've not heard in YEARS, if you can believe that]...well this summer i've had a whole playlist that i can't get enough of. i can't decide if this is progress or regression. and yet. i ask you, how did i make it this long without having discovered nickel creek? i don't know either.

my move from my apartment went stellar. a huge THANK YOU to kathy q for bringing her parents' truck down from lafayette and helping me move one HOT wednesday evening. we totally girl-powered it and should probably consider starting our own moving company if our careers in education are a bust. it's going to be called two girls, a truck, and an suv. i still have to vacuum out the old place and turn in the keys today. but i'm mostly settled in my new house and i LOVE it. love the neighborhood as well. i have already identified several houses that would be perfectly acceptable abodes once i graduate and begin making tons of money.

ok, that last part was a joke. i know that you THOUGHT i'd be really rich as a school counselor. but alas, probably not. unless i marry well. WHICH btw, is still part of the master plan. anyway, the moral of the story is that my new neighborhood is so cool. (i can't think of a better adjective right now, but know that "cool" doesn't do it justice)...lots of old homes, corner coffeeshops, sidewalks, ahhh. i feel like i've lived here much longer than the 2 weeks i really have. life is so good.

i started my internship at an indianapolis public elementary school last tuesday. i love it. i had no idea that i'd missed being a part of a school so badly. my first week alone was a huge blessing and confirmation of this as my career choice. i'm excited to go back tomorrow, and keep getting to know the kids and teachers. it will be a huge challenge, as the kids come from one of the worst sections of the city. 93% of their parents are unemployed. it is like another world sometimes, but they are sweet kids who ache to be loved.
...they are also germy kids who passed on some cold/flu bug that i got for the better part of last week/weekend. which shocked me, since i thought my immune system was fail-proof.

overall though, i feel like i have just had one good experience after another this summer. and looking back, some have been icky situations where, only after i've looked back on them, did i see their value. it's been a growing summer--a growing year, really.

i went to the indiana state fair a few nights ago, and DID NOT try the chocolate-covered bacon. but i was standing near the booth as some people were eating it, and actually heard one girl say, "actually, it's not very good,"
well now. isn't that a shock? chocolate covered bacon? not very good? GET OUT.

going to traverse city with john "the great american" murphy, girlkq, and joe "i've been to space" jewell. good times will be had by all. it will be jam packed with euchre, wine tasting, and northern michigan cabin-living. it will be an admittedly quick trip (partially my fault for needing to cut it a little short), but hopefully just the thing we all need to jump start the fall craziness that will quickly ensue. yay for quality friends from high school.