Rhythm & Booms

We went to Madison this weekend for Adam and Andrea's annual 4th of July get together!! It was my first time seeing Rhythm and Booms, and it was definitely worth the hype!!! I'd have to count the show as the best fireworks I've seen in my (almost) 22 years on this Earth. Adam and Andrea made delicious shish kabobs (sp?) and PEANUT BUTTER PIE. delish. It was great to see everybody, and to meet precious little Noah too! Thanks for your hospitality A team!

It sprinkled a little bit before the show started..

Hanging out at the Hampton Inn..Tim's old stomping ground!

Little baby Noah and Grandma!! and an admiring bystander :) haha and mom

In the big blue van

insomnia

If you know me, you know I'm a planner. Or a dreamer. Perhaps a combination?? Well, I get on these kicks of trying to figure out what I'm going to do with the rest of my life. Or what I'm going to major in. And what I'm going to minor in. Or what I'm going to do next May when I graduate. You get the idea. Seeing that it is 1:00 am on a Friday, it should be obvious that I am on one of these kicks. I can't fall asleep, so I figured instead of trying I would share my musings and silent anxiety-driven mental rants with all of you.

I am approaching my senior year of college. Here are the majors I have been through:
1. Interior Design (freshman year)
2. Family Social Science (sophomore year)
3. Spanish Studies (current)

And the minors...
1. Economics
2. Family Social Science
3. Teaching English as a Second Language

#3 on the minor list is what I am currently contemplating. You see, my problem is that I LOVE to contemplate this stuff. It's what I do. Which makes me think I want to be some type of career counselor/high school guidance counselor someday. But that's another topic.

HOW MUCH DOES A MINOR MATTER???? I think it doesn't. I also think that if anyone ever looks at my college transcript, they will think, "This girl cannot make up her mind and is spastic". I have courses in Design, Spanish, Economics, Self-Defense, Family Social Science, Music Therapy, and a whole bunch of other random stuff. Maybe they'll consider me well-rounded. So ANYWAYS, I had been planning on minoring in Family Social Science, since I have a fair amount of credits in the department already. However, I really don't want to take the remaining 2 classes that I need for the minor. SO, I had signed up for 2 Chicano Studies classes this fall about Immigration and border issues that just sounded interesting. Now, I'm thinking about dropping the Family Social Science minor and adding a Teaching English as a Second Language minor. I figured it out, and I can do the whole minor in my remaining 2 semesters. Are you confused yet???? Luckily, there is a hold on my record from the advising department so I can't drop and add classes right now. I think that was probably wise of them to block me from changing my registration, because I get click-happy and change my entire schedule all the time.

So, what do you think? If you followed any of that. I'm starting to feel nauseous, I think I'll try to count sheep now or something.

Free Rice

Random Fact about me: I have several websites that I routinely check several times a day. CNN.com, Time.com, People.com, facebook, email, etc. I was on the Time website today and read an article titled something like "50 cool websites". I had some downtime and was sufficiently fried from my 10 hour day working with kids, so I clicked through all 50. Among them I came across a few worth passing along:

www.freerice.com: You should really go to this site. It features a vocabulary game, through which 20 grains of rice are donated for every correct answer. The site partners with the UN World Food Program to donate rice. In it's first 5 months as a site, FreeRice generated enough rice to feed 1 million people--so that's pretty sweet. The game gives you a vocab word and possible definitions, from which you have to choose. A good way to spend a few minutes, very educational and helping a worthy cause!

digitalvaults.org: This site is called "National Archives Experience", and has digital records of all kinds of documents that you probably wouldn't normally get to see. For example, I looked at the memo sent after the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, describing the success of the bombing and the conditions of the attack. There's all kinds of stuff...Supreme Court decrees, memos, photos, etc.

www.carbonrally.com: This is a site dedicated to cutting carbon emissions and challenging people to live more environmentally friendly lives. It features "challenges", such as "Use the clothesline for a few loads of laundry this month. By line-drying 1 load per week, you will reduce your CO2 emissions by 18.8 lbs after one month." It puts people in competition from different parts of the country and offers a lot of tips. Another challenge: "De-cup your decaf- Challenge: Are coffee cups part of your daily routine? If so, go one week without using any disposable coffee cups. By using your own coffee cup, you will your total CO2 emissions by 1.25 lbs this week." This stuff probably makes a miniscule difference, but I'm sure it all adds up and works toward maintaining an environmentally friendly lifestyle! Wow, I'm not usually such an advocate for this, but it's a site worth browsing!!

Obama Rally

Emily and I got in line outside of the Xcel Center at 3:00 in the afternoon. We promptly bought 7 Obama buttons for 10$. What a steal!

We did a lot to pass the time... including a few games of SkipBo. One game we played with a 6 year-old named Ella. She rode her bike for several hours (with her mom) to see Obama. Pretty devoted for someone who can't vote for another 12 years...

"Change"

Obama onstage. 9:00 pm... after 6 hours of waiting. This is without zoom, so you can tell we were fairly close.

If only the teleprompter wasn't there....

Barack Obama and his beautiful wife Michelle

check out the video bar to the right...

Back!

Well I'm back!! And making the decision that I won't abandon my blog... I know you were all worried at the possibility of it coming to an end. But have no fear, I have lots of time on my hands (aka I haven't started my job yet and am BORED) and can keep on!! First, I'm going to see Barack Obama today with Emily! It's the last day of primaries (did anyone ever think this day would come?), and Obama chose to do his last rally of the primary season in none other than St. Paul! Doors open at 7pm, and we're planning on getting in line in early afternoon. HOPING that will be early enough..you never know, this is a historic day! I'll fill you in on that experience tomorrow.

So it's good to be back in the good ol' US of A. We had an amazing trip as a family and saw lots of great sights. Machu Picchu is absolutely beautiful. You know, I had pondered about the possibility of being disappointed with the site, since it's such a tourist attraction...could be overrun by world travelers and therefore lose it's sense of awe. I was wrong. Granted, there are a ton of people there, but the pathways and route around the ruins seems to contain people so that when you get that first postcard view of the site, it doesn't appear that there are many people inside. A highlight for me was when Tim, Dad and I hiked up to Wyna Picchu, which is the peak you see in all of the pictures of Machu Picchu. It was an incredible view, and we felt like we were literally at the top of the world. For tons of great pictures of the trip and hilarious stories of what we did, check out Adam and Andrea's blog (feel free to blog stalk, people). Andrea has done some great posting!

Heading home

I´m at the bus terminal in Guayaquil, Ecuador-- just got in after a few days at the beach. The fam comes tomorrow and I´m meeting them in Peru which just seems unreal and incredible to me. I will be in the U.S. in less than 2 weeks.... and I have very mixed feelings about it. I can´t wait to see my grandparents, friends and family, but there is a lot I´m going to miss about Ecuador. This is an amazing country, with an incredible amount of diversity. Time moves slower here- interactions oftentimes have more meaning and people value relationships more than anything else. I´ve learned to just live in the moment (sorry if this is getting incredibly cliche) and stop planning my future so much. People live with more passion for life here, and I´ve learned a lot from this culture. I don´t have a lot of time to write more, but I´ll definitely keep posting after I get back. This has been an incredible experience, and I´m really disappointed to see it end. But, I´m super excited to see all of you!!!! I head to Peru tomorrow, and home on the 25th. See you then!!!

love from chels