You know you should go to the doctor when...

...you cuss out a computer because it asks you if you really want to delete that email. I wouldn't have clicked delete if I hadn't wanted to! Meanwhile your boyfriend (who is sitting next to you) stares at you with a look that says "Oh dear God she has finally cracked." He knew it would happen eventually.

Needless to say I went to the doctor yesterday, but only because I woke up with crusty eyes. I think this is my body's survival tactic. It knows I won't take it to the doctor for a cold or a sore throat, but the second I feel pink eye I'm in that waiting room filling out the necessary paperwork. It does this fairly often. The sore throat is a thousand times better and the pink eye was caught early so my eyes never even got very pink and I have been officially non contagious for a few hours now : )

Summer Come Quick!

Can I tell you just how pumped I am for summer?

No, not summer weather, I'm not a heat kind of girl.

Number 1? Work. I'm soo ready to be back at camp. I love all my little kiddies and I miss them! It's tough to come back and see your kids so much older and cooler and so much less interested in you, but still, it's fun to see them grow up! And there are always new little poopers (literally...) to love! 

Number 2? Friends. Camp means I get to see my fellow counselors. I'm so lucky to have a job where I love the people I work with. My first year at the Y I struggled. I came in in the middle of the summer and I didn't know anyone. Last year, my second year, somehow I was cooler and made friends with my friend soul mates, Digger and Bingo. How I wish that I went to school with them, college would be so much more fun. They are some of the few people that get how crazy I am and totally embrace it, just like I embrace their crazy. I love them and I miss them!

Number 3? The BF. Summer means BF visits. Every two weeks I go to his house or he comes to mine. It's tough getting into the schedule of only seeing each other every two weeks, but after awhile we get mostly used to it. Plus when we do get together we have such a blast! 

Number 4? Crafts. I drive past Hobby Lobby every day on my way to and from work. Nuff said. 

High on Drugs

I have had a sore throat for days. It just won't go away. I am on claritin, robitussin, and sudafed. I have cepacol throat drops and ricola cough drops. I even gargled with salt water. My mom has been trying to get me to do that for going on 22 years now. I don't have a temp and to be quite honest, my snot is clear. My body is practically floating with all the water and orange juice I'm shoving in it. 

But my throat hurts and my nose is running and I want to know why it won't stop. 

How Lovely to be a Woman

Ok, I'm a fairly open minded chick. God told me not to judge, so I try my darndest not to. It's not my job to say what's right and what's wrong, it's my job to love my neighbor.

I'm taking Sexuality and Gender in Society this semester, for most people it's out of their comfort zone, not so much for me. There is one girl in there who is transexual. She came to school for the last two years as a guy and started out this past year as a female. Whatev, as the sister would say, "Do what ya feel." I can't say I understand it, but if I did I'd be dressing as a guy right now. It doesn't really bother me though, it'd not my place to judge by any means. 

However.

When we discuss women's issues, (sexism, rape, etc) she drives me nuts. She's a "sigher". You know the ones, every time they hear something they personally identify with they "mmhmm" or "yup" under their breath while shaking their head. These people annoy me under good circumstances. But if you have only been a "woman" for 6 months excuse me if it annoys me when we talk about growing up being scared of rape and you "mmhmm". Excuse me if it annoys me when we talk about periods and you "yup". And excuse me if it annoys me when we talk about dealing with sexism and infertility and you shake your head in agreement. Here's the thing. 

You don't know. 

You don't know what it's like. You weren't raised being warned of rape, you've never had a period and you never will, and Lord knows you will never worry about infertility. Maybe one day you will experience sexism but as of now you do not get it. So drop it. 

This has been bubbling... 

Best Girlfriend Ever Award

The BF came over to East today when he couldn't find any open dryers in Schwalm. I walked down to the basement with him and as he started throwing things in the dryer I asked how many loads he had."Uh, two."

"How are they separated?"

"Separated? Huh?"

I'm amazed his shirts aren't all pink at this point. 

Anyway I just finished folding his clothes. He didn't ask me to, I did it all of my own accord. Laundry is pretty much my only domestic thing. 

And for this I think I deserve to be named best girlfriend of the year. Thank you. 

This picture makes me think of 27 Dresses when the sister says a good fluff and fold is no joking matter. 

Why stop when I'm clearly on a run...

New favorite show? Cupid. Please watch it. All you have to do is devote 60 minutes to a TV near you and you know what you get in return? Guaranteed love story. 

Somebody always falls in love and lives happily ever after. Every single Tuesday. 

And just as a side note, Sarah Paulson who plays Claire McCrae always has the cutest clothes. And Bobby Cannavale plays the most lovable Cupid I've ever seen

Happy Mother's Day from Taylor Swift

I'm going to need you to look at these. 

The first one is just another piece of arsenal that proves Taylor Swift has the best music videos ever. Isn't this exactly what every glasses wearing good girl in high school dreams of? I know I did. That that one guy who was always just friends would just somehow see me at prom all decked out and totally fall for me and leave the slutty short skirt wearing chick. However, I have to say that when I got my contacts before senior year and suddenly a lot more guys were paying attention to me, I was fairly offended... 

The second is just slightly emotionally gut wrenching. Happy Mother's Day indeed. Oh and check out that blonde afro Taylor is sporting, sooo cute. 

The Best Day from Big Machine Records on Vimeo.

One Blog Woman

So just a moment ago I was cursing my new favorite blog for not updating when I realized maybe I wasn't in any position to be criticizing... 

I have mentioned before that I am very much a one blog kinda woman. I just don't have the creative reserves necessary to handle more than one, I tried to start a super secret blog back in November- it still only has 6 posts. 

Well for my state and local politics class we were doing a city simulation. We created our own city and we each got roles. Dear old Dr. Williams unknowingly placed me with the post of Editor and Publisher of the Camelot Daily News, a blog. He had noooo idea what he was getting himself into (freak tornados, illegitimate children, it's been a ball). Anyway, this is why I have been clearly absent from Pennies. That and I don't have a camera. Can I just tell you how emotionally wrenching that has been? A year ago I wouldn't have even noticed and now just the sight of a perfectly formed tulip is enough to send my fingers itching to be holding that cold hard metal... 

Actually excited to go home at this point...

Boys are trouble. And quite frankly, sometimes I question their intelligence as a sex. 

I got sloppy joes on my new white button up. 

This is not a good day. 

What Flu?

Note > I work for a professor on campus grading papers and helping out with odds and ends  

Dr. So and So: Char, can you believe this flu?  

Char: Oh have you been having a lot of absences?  

Dr. So and So: Pause. No, the swine flu, it's killing people in Mexico.  

Lesson? When you work for a prof you should probably keep up on your current events...

Olympus Love

All I can see are photography opportunities. And I don't have a camera. I emailed the kind people of Olympus for a price quote but so far no response. 

When it first broke I was hopeless.

Now I'm taking it as an opportunity to look at new cameras. I think I'll stick with Olympus, I really love my current camera and can do a heck of a lot more with it than I should really be able to. I can coax some fancy  pictures out of that baby. 

I've considered saving long term for an SLR, but I just don't have the time to figure out how to use one right now. I mean, I don't like manual cars, I don't figure I'll like manual cameras. However, there's no denying the quality difference... There's also no denying toe price difference... Ouch. 

This is killing me. I just want my camera. 

Cameras and Weddings

My cousin is married, my camera is broken, and I have to talk to my grandma about sex. 

The most important part of that sentence? My camera is broken. 

Like there was any doubt of it's importance...

This past weekend my cousin, Dena, got married. The ceremony took place in the chapel at Valparaiso University. I wish I could show you how gorgeous it was. It was filled with beautiful modern stained glass windows but somehow achieved the lightness and airiness that is so hard to keep in heavily glassed churches. Beyond gorgeous. The aisle was ridiculously long... Eric (the happy groom) beamed at Dena as she made the treacherous journey to the alter (it was stone slab, not easy in heels). 27 Dresses' Katherine Heigl would have approved. 

Poor Eric has had to work at fitting in our family. I do not deny that I have sometimes doubted him. But seeing how happy he makes Dena, and just how much he loves her makes me think that perhaps we are just a hard bunch to fit in with sometimes. I am quite happy to bring him into our family and I'm going to assume that the few boys will enjoy a little more testosterone. 

My favorite part of the wedding? That would be dancing and music. I love to dance. I'm no good at your average booty shaking, shimmying around on various guys, but give me a good song and I will make my own little dance. Two years ago, the BF would not have danced with me like a crazy person in front of my family. Heck, even a year ago he would have refused. However, after a few songs he joined me on the dance floor and we rocked out for the rest of the night to tunes like "Give You Hell", "Build Me Up Buttercup", and "Go Cubs Go." I think you know which song was my favorite. We even reenacted a bit of Dirty Dancing's, "The Time of My Life" with a somewhat less graceful lift. 

I didn't think he would dance with me like that, all wild and crazy, but one of the best thing about relationships is that they do change you. You change each other constantly and slowly and permanently, but in good ways. Changing people gets a bad rap. I know that the BF has certainly changed me. He is by far the more serious of us (voted most serious, class of 2006 I believe), I have a terrible time being straight faced and serious, but I've gotten a lot better. He also makes me do things. I'm notorious for saying I'll do something someday and then just never getting to it (voted laziest, class of 06...). I am now forced to do things, in a good way of course : ) 

Well I like to think maybe I've pulled him out of his shell a little bit, or drug him out more like.