Bright lights

The coolest thing I’ve seen in awhile happened Wednesday night. Hillary and I went to my old elementary school super late at night to swing, and our time there just happened to coincide with a meteor shower. Eventually we stopped swinging to actually search for meteors in the sky, and BY GOD THERE WERE LOTS OF THEM.

I used to watch the sky before I finally fell asleep each night. At least once a week I’d see a shooting star, which is totally cool given that people complain all the time about never having seen a shooting star. But this meteor shower? Those meteors left big, long streaks of light after them.

It was tight.

—-

Will officially started high school yesterday. He says it’s just school, lame, sucks, whatever (that scarily sounds like me), but he’s finding the fact that he can leave campus for lunch quite liberating. They only have 25 minutes for lunch, and the only places near the school are fast food, so I’m fully expecting him to gain 24,290 pounds by the end of the year.

Anyway, I’m the one that gets to pick him up after school until my mother hires someone else to, and the two times I’ve gone remind me just how much I loathed seeing that school every day. I can’t believe kids deal with that for three years. Sometimes I wonder what it would’ve been like if I had stayed, and then these haha-yeah-right moments come along where I laugh at myself for even contemplating that possibility. I really am happy with the choice I made.

—-

My two best friends moved into the dorms today, a full two days ahead of the normal incoming freshmen due to rush. I haven’t seen either; I figure they need time to settle and get adjusted. I feel weird that I’m not sharing this time with them, not getting used to freedom and flexibility and living on your own (well, with another person), since I already went through all that.

However, I am ECSTATIC that my (term used loosely) graduating class is finally in college. And I could not be happier that both Len and Erin decided on KU, even if it will take some adjusting to have all three of us together permanently again.

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Katie, August 14th 2009 | Posted in family, friends, photos, rambling, school

Livin’ the good life

Quote of the Day:
“I must have done something really good in my previous life to get such great karma to have you as a best friend!” – Len

—-

I’m here at the beach in North Carolina, after a lovely two-day drive complete with nasty fast food, creepy rest areas for Arabella, and my Mom’s awful incessant singing to her CDs (after she fumbles around with the CDs for a good ten minutes because she refuses to join the 21st century and get an iPod.) We stopped in Louisville overnight, where Arabella lived quite the good life in the Sheraton. I have pictures of her all comfy in the hotel room, but I’m too lazy to upload them tonight so I’ll post them later.

—-

Pretty much nothing stellar exciting has happened to us yet, except for the awesome rain and the fact that our air conditioner went out about two hours ago. My mother called the rental company, who sent out a maintenance man this late at night even though the owners of the house apparently don’t have a maintenance plan with the rental company. And all I have to say to that is, HAHA, you are SCREWED you cheap people! Because this house is booked solid till September and there is something very wrong with the central AC. Very wrong meaning they’re likely going to have to get it replaced. In the meantime, the maintenance man gave us two snazzy window AC units, the two best ones he had in fact, because we are “such nice people”.

Duh, Kansans rock, man.

OH OH! Speaking of Kansans. We were at a restaurant today, and guess what we saw out the window? A guy walking to his car wearing a KU shirt! And getting into a car with a Kansas license plate! A Johnson County license plate (gag), but nevertheless, SOMEONE ELSE FROM KANSAS COMES HERE! This is such a small world.

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Katie, August 3rd 2009 | Posted in family, quotes, vacations

To my baby brother on his 15th birthday.

Dear Will,

I can hardly believe you turn fifteen years old today.

I have fleeting memories of your birth. I was six weeks shy of turning four years old. Mom and Dad left me at Nana & Pop-Pop’s off Lawrence Avenue with Aunt RoRo, who french-braided my hair before taking me to the hospital to see you. I got to sit on the bed next to Mom and hold you. I was so excited to be your big sister.

For years, you were my constant companion and partner-in-crime.
When we lived in England in 1996, I got angry with Mom and decided to run away. Obviously I couldn’t leave you with The Enemy, so I took you with me. We ran away to our backyard. Mom laughed and took pictures.
You made fun of the annoying kids in daycare with me and had my back when I fought (both verbally and physically) with them.
We ‘spied’ on Mom and Dad when we lived in Topeka by sneaking out to the living room, where we watched Mom read and Dad type on his laptop. Sometimes I miss that, the thrill of getting yelled at and then trying to smother our giggles when we got back into our room.
Neither of us wanted to move to Virginia. After two years, you were okay with staying there, but you didn’t put up a fight when I lobbied for coming back to Kansas.

I taught you manners and how to chew with your mouth closed. I taught you how to ride a bike. I taught you how to deal with switching schools. I taught you to argue for what you believe in, and how to keep fighting, no matter what.

You start high school, tenth grade, in two weeks. Guess who gets to teach you how to drive!

I have many pseudo-brothers and pseudo-sisters who I’m sincerely concerned for as they enter high school, but I’m not worried about you. You have a good head on your shoulders, and I know you aren’t going to be one of the trashy high school students walking around town. Yeah, you’ll make mistakes. You’re smart, though, and you’re going to be fine.

I love you, baby bro.

-Your Sister


Lawrence KS, Halloween 1995


Cambridge England, 1996… running away


Cambridge England, 1996


Cambridge England, December 1996


Maine??, 1998


Disney World… the first year they started doing Leave a Legacys, 1999


France, summer 2004


Williamsburg VA, 2005


Lawrence KS, Christmas 2005, with Jack the Dog


Sugarloaf ME, February 2006


Disney World, Spring Break 2006, with Brigid


Princeton NJ, October 2006, with Mom


Faribault MN, January 2007


Emerald Isle NC, Spring Break 2007


San Francisco CA, October 2007


Dulles Airport-Washington DC, April 2008


Lawrence KS, Thanksgiving 2008


Lawrence KS, May 2009, with cousin Logan


Old Orchard Beach ME, June 2009, with cousin Jason

and the family portrait…

(Princeton NJ, October 2006)

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Katie, July 31st 2009 | Posted in birthdays, family, letters, photos

Just in case you were wondering…

I decided to go down to Tulsa Saturday morning to see my cousins. The older ones (15 & 13) I lovelovelove, but the younger four drive me BANANAS. They’re cute, but damn is that good birth control.

Amy dragged me, her (boy)friend Lucas, Erin, and Erin’s friend Lana to this pool out in some place called Glenpool Saturday afternoon. Apparently, it’s the biggest public swimming pool around them, which is just plain sad because it was the size of most neighborhood pools around here. So we get there, to this place like 20-30 minutes outside of where my cousins live, AFTER we turn around to pick up Lucas off the side of the road ’cause his car broke down. Erin and Lana jump in, even though it was oh, I don’t know, seventy degrees out??? They had JUST gotten out when all the lifeguards yell at everyone to get out of the pool.

Some fucking kid threw up in the pool. THREW UP. IN THE POOL. WHO DOES THAT?!!??

The lifeguards made everyone leave for the day. Not even ten minutes after we got there. Clearly a wonderful experience in Glenpool fucking Oklahoma.

—-

Blahblahblah, Saturday night, the kids wanted to come to the Doubletree (my hotel down there) to swim. This is a ritual of ours, where Amy, Erin, Jason, Kelsi, and anyone’s friends spend a good two hours in the water. I was already exhausted from a four-hour drive, entertaining people, etc etc. Oh, did I mention I’m the one who gets to watch all the kids while our parents go drink up in the bar?

Jason and Kelsi ALWAYS fight. And it always results in Kelsi screaming her head off. ALWAYS. I ended up falling asleep on one of the chairs by the pool for I don’t even know how long, and I woke up annoyed and pissed off… so I left them all, bitched at our parents, and went up to my room.

So as I’m getting on the elevator, these two old guys (like 50-60 years old old, and possibly drunk) get in with me. We stay on the executive level, and you have to enter your card into the elevator slot to be able to get onto that level, so I did that. A wonderful conversation ensued.

Old Guy #1: “Ooohh, look, she’s on the special floor!”
Old Guy #2: “Yeah, oh what it’s like to be young and beautiful!”
Me: “…Hah.”
Old Guy #1, getting off on the 3rd level: “I’m on the floor right above the lobby… I’m just old and stupid.”
*Old Guy #1 leaves*
Old Guy #2, getting off on the 4th level: “Well, have a good rest of your night! Looks like it isn’t over yet!” (winky face)

Umm… yeah. I WISH I COULD MAKE THIS STUFF UP.

Looking at the cicada shells by you.

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Katie, July 20th 2009 | Posted in family, photos, vacations

Wordless Wednesday (Jason & Erin)

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Katie, July 1st 2009 | Posted in family, wordless wednesdays
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