September 23rd: A CUPCAKE EXTRAVAGANZA

Guess what! You'll never guess. I'll just tell you.

the main sign

LOOK CUPCAKES!

Holy line and a half. On busy days, the line goes around the block.

I went there today with my parents. They have a daily cupcake menu! Some types are there every day, but others only show up on Mondays or Tuesdays, etc. We ordered six cupcakes...hmmm. A chocolate/peanut butter fudge, a strawberry, a bananas foster, a plain chocolate, a plain vanilla, and an apple caramel. HOLY CUPCAKE OVERLOAD. They have over 25 different kinds.

Before that, we were at the National Book Fair on the mall. All sorts of different authors were there. I only knew a few of them, like R.L Stine or Patricia Polacco, who is one of my all time favourite children's authors. We got our picture taken with her as she signed our book! Twas extremely exciting.

Today was much better than yesterday. Something about books and cupcakes can make anyone feel better :) I wish everyone could try a Georgetown Cupcake with me. That would be glorious.

Love and cupcakes,

Soph

September 22: I Become A Bit Miz

Hello one and all. It is me, your finally mopey, sad sack of a pal.

Today was a bit of a rough one. Up until this point, I've been all positive and happy and eager like an overly enthusiastic Labrador. I figured that at some point I would reach the end of my metaphorical happy leash and become homesick, but I didn't really know when it would hit me. Today it did.

I don't know what triggered it. But woe is me, I am homesick finally. So everyone back home, please know that I miss you. I miss my house, I miss my bed, my friends, my puppy. I have to keep reminding myself that I chose this, that this was what I wanted. No one forced me to do this, I wanted to do this from the very beginning. But the novelty is starting to wear off, and I'm stuck what-iffing. Which is the WORST thing to do.

So now I am sitting in my room all aloney, feeling a bit miz (miserable) because I haven't got any pals with me. It's a tragic existence. Luckily I have the Sheldon Cooper bobblehead that my dad got me. (For anyone who doesn't know who that is, or if you do know who it is and need a good laugh, go on YouTube and watch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AA0VwRVUDU4  THANKS)

What I keep forgetting is that even if I wasn't doing this, it would have happened anyway. I would have gone to college and left my parents and friends and house.
 But sometimes perspective is hard to maintain when you're 18 going on 5 and all you want is to snuggle your dog.

Babay, my friends. Next post will be happier, PWOMISE.

September 18th: 20% Thelma & Louise, 10% Jack Kerouac, 50% Elizabethtown and 20% Making It Up As We Go

Bonjou, my friends! That is Creole for hello. Here are a few other useful Creole phrases. Try them on your friends! Astound your family! Insult your boss!

Keep in mind that this is all phonetic. That pretty much makes this the easiest language ever.

Bonjou: hello!
Ki jan ou ye? (pronounced kee-jhan-oo-yay): How are you doing?
Mwen tre byen: I'm doing very well
E ou menm? (pronounced ay-oo-mem): and you?
Mwen pa pi mal, mesi (pronounced mwen-pah-pee-mal, messy): I'm not too bad thanks!
N a we pita (pronounced nahway peeta): see you later
Babay: bye.

See? Now you are fluent too.

On sunday we left our house, the house we've been in for almost my entire life. We drove away, sunglasses firmly perched on our tear-reddened noses, and we did not look back, no sir.
Driving to Madison was pretty nice, actually. The colours were just starting to peek out of the trees, little fingers of red and orange running up and down the wall of green.
We stopped in Madison for a while to say goodbye to my grandparents, both sets. After plenty of hugs and kisses and promises of food to come, we sat down and chatted a wee bit. That is to say, a lot.
I moseyed on over to the UW Madison campus later to see a few friends who go there, which was lovely. After that, we were on our way to Chicago! We stayed the night with my aunt, who pampered us and stuffed us full of delicious food.
All in all we did about 8 hours of driving the first day. Then the next day it was about the same, driving through Indiana and Ohio (I've never been there. There's not much there. I don't think I'll go there again.) We spent the night in Columbus, OH, and it was not that exciting. Then today we drove through the rest of Ohio and then West Virgina, Maryland and finally Virginia.
 Our total mile count was about 1150. Jeesh.
 I can still feel the hum of the road in my bones. When you're driving cross country, you get in kind of a trance, you're tired but not...sleepy. You're so focused on what you're doing that pretty soon all you know is the grey of the road and the yellow flashing by. It's a nice sort of trance. In reality we've hit Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, Maryland and Virginia. In my mind and in my music we've hit London, Boston, Alabama, New York, Tokyo and a million other places.

Here's a sample of our road-trip playlist!

It'll All Work Out by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Midnight Train to Georgia by Gladys Knight and the Pips
My Father's Gun by Elton John
I and Love and You by the Avett Brothers
Io (This Time Around) by Helen Stellar
Save Me, San Francisco by Train
Seven Bridges Road by The Eagles
Take Me Home, Country Roads by John Denver
Barton Hollow/Falling/Poison & Wine/My Father's Father by The Civil Wars
Where to Begin by My Morning Jacket
Always/Northern Downpour by Panic! At the Disco
Long Ride Home by Patty Griffin
Blowin' In The Wind by Bob Dylan
Georgia On My Mind by Ray Charles
Sugar Blue by Jeff Finlin
In Your Atmosphere by John Mayer
Don't I Hold You by Wheat
Nothing Left to Lose by Mat Kearney
Shut Us Down by Lindsey Buckingham
If It Hadn't Been For Love by The Steeldrivers
Let It Out (Let It All Hang Out) by Los Hombres
Rocky Road To Dublin by The Dubliners
Hard Times by eastmountainsouth
Jesus Was A Crossmaker by The Hollies
Square One by Tom Petty
Same in Any Language by I Nine
Ready For Memphis by Neal & Leandra
Come Pick Me Up/English Girls Approximately/Words by Ryan Adams

Listen to these and others and you'll have an idea of what our trip sounded like! Alright my friends. It is time for me to get some rest. In my new apartment. Which is in Fairfax Virginia. Which is not Minnesota. GOLLY. G'night.

P.S. This is what our car looked like the entire trip

September 12th: I Have An Empty House

 Our trip (can I call it a trip?) to Haiti has been postponed to November sometime, for those of you wondering why I haven't left yet. Here's the current plan: my mom and I are driving out to DC for about 8 weeks to take an online distance learning Creole class. Then Haiti...sometime.

So the movers came here on Monday the 10th, which I didn't love. They came knock-knocking on the door at like 8:15 in the morning when I was still in my pajamas with a wicked case of bedhead. There were two guys, one who definitely had some special needs, so they were there for 13 hours. Seriously. I am not kidding. I was SO dang crabby by the time they left, because we weren't allowed to leave! UGH UGH UGH. I almost cried. Luckily my lovely friend Chris came over and rescued me, so we went out for a few nice walks around the neighbourhood to preserve my sanity. It took some doing, let me tell you.

And now our house is legitimately empty. There are echoes in all the rooms, weird indents in the carpet where the couches used to be, and my dog looks somewhat bewildered at the lack of off-limits furniture to sneak up on at night. We're a little nervous about leaving her as she's a bit old, but apparently the rules for bringing pets are pretty strict. One family had two cats and a dog en route to Thailand or somewhere and the dog died during the trip, which is so sad and another reason to leave the ol' girl here. She knows something is going on, though. Animals can be pretty dang intuitive.

Well I haven't blogged on here for a while, so I apologize for the stilted, awkward post. It'll get better, I promise! Especially once I have stuff to talk about ;) S'laters.