So Much Better than Katniss

In our effort to rise to the status of ‘mature seniors,’ MG and I decided Friday morning that we would not be going to the Monster Mash. (a costume dance on campus) Deep down, I really did want to dress up like Katniss, but I really don’t like dances, so I agreed with MG that the Monster Mash was a no go. However, midway through my C.S. Lewis class, I had an idea—an idea that counter-acted any dislike I had for dances.  The idea was inspired by a recent event on campus involving a poor raccoon that decided that he was just too tired to be nocturnal off-campus. After curling up for a nap in a tree nearby the women’s dorms, the raccoon was bombarded by campus safety officers determined to prevent its escape. Fearing that the raccoon may have had rabies, campus safety took their job seriously, vehemently quarantining the tree and surrounding area with caution tape. So, in a gesture to applaud their efforts and patronize their bravery, it occurred to me that MG and I could dress up as a rabid raccoon and a campus safety officer. Thankfully, MG loved the idea as much as I did, so the Monster Mash was back on the schedule of events.  At the Mash, our costumes were a hit… at least with students. At one point, we were grabbing a little fresh air and a campus safety officer caught sight of MG in her campus safety costume.  He gave a little smile… at first. When he saw that MG was holding caution tape wrapped around me, the rabid raccoon, his expression changed into a serious glare. As he began to walk toward us, we gave into our instincts and ran back into the mob of people at the dance. At this point I was glad to be wearing a mask. Hopefully the following pictures conjure up more amusement for you than it did for Campus Safety:

We were even joined at the Mash by a Sheep and a Pig in a Blanket

Oh yes, we went there…

Again, I was very happy to be wearing a mask with those security cameras on the prowl… (Sorry MG)

Oops

Not even a week has passed since we have returned from fall break, so I’m going to tell you a little bit about a lesson I learned while it’s still fresh… As fresh as wet paint. My journey home takes me through a variety of small towns (at least 10). The town names range from ‘Enterprise’ to  ‘Dempsytown’ and past signs for a Rainbow Bowman Club and even a street sign with the name ‘Jesus is the Way’.  It’s always an interesting trip and there is no cell phone service. I feel like Sacagawea every time I begin my journey. Anyways, when approaching ‘Cherry Tree’ (quite an average town) I stopped at the stop sign. Typical. To my chagrin, I found myself waiting, and waiting, and waiting for a construction vehicle with a huge line of cars to pass so that I could turn behind them. When it was finally my time, I whipped behind the last car doing a nice little diagonal across the road. When I’m by myself I tend to drive on the wild side… After falling into line, I glanced up to the scrolling words of large sign on the back of the construction vehicle, “Freshly painted lines. Do not cross the yellow line. Keep away from the center Yellow line. Freshly painted lines. Do not cross the yellow line…” Maybe you’ve seen one of these. Well, glancing in my rearview mirror, I realized I had seen it too late. My CRV had decided to make its own fancy, yellow lines right across the road. “Oops”. My guilt at ruining the fresh paint job kept building as I followed the line of cars at a snail’s pace facing the flashing reminder. At this point, I pulled out my sunglasses to hide my identity, just in case someone in the boonies wanted to judge me.  When the fresh lines ended, I was finally released from the weight of my guilt and transferred it to the gas pedal, making up for lost time. When I pulled into my driveway, I had already forgotten about the incident and just enjoyed being home. Later that evening though, when I told my dad about the little mistake, he voiced his concern that I may have not only decorated the road but also the CRV. Honestly, I have yet to examine it. Silver with Yellow speckles doesn’t sound so bad anyways. At least I didn’t do this:

Your Roommate Might Be A Chocolate Addict If…

… even though she’s allergic to it, she eats it every day.

… she has a (not so) secret stash of chocolate in a drawer under her bed at all times.

… on more than one occasion, you have received emails of the following nature:

… you borrow a book from her, and there are small chocolate stains on the pages where shavings fell and were closed inside.

… you look over just in time time to witness her pull a Ghirardelli square out of a SHOE.

… exclamations such as “I NEED PURE, UNADULTERATED CHOCOLATE, RIGHT NOW!” don’t even phase you anymore.

… she suggests trading chocolate types and then tries to give you one of her kind for two of your kind.

… you send her to following picture:
and she responds back that it’s dumb because, ‘every month is chocolate lover’s month.’

… she has told you that ‘ability to supply chocolate river’ is on her list of qualities required for a future husband.

… and followed that comment up with a declaration that she is going to be ‘like a cat lady, but with chocolate.’

… she has expressed legitimate desire to live on a cocoa plantation.  This desire was followed up with an email titled ‘future home’, containing the following:

In the basement of this house will be:

A CHOCOLATE RIVER. It will irrigate the plantation and flow through my house.

… she has complained that M&M’s are ‘tainted’ because of the non-chocolate coating.

… but, if she has to eat M&M’s, they better be regular’s, not mini, because the ratio of coating to chocolate is completely off with the mini’s.

And lastly, your roommate might be a chocolate addict if…

… in the time it took you to write this, she’s talked about chocolate 4 times, including telling you that, “My chocolate stash is dangerously low.  There is only one kiss, and I’m saving it for an emergency.”

Reasons Why Today Was Awesome

Yeah, so today was awesome.  Here’s why…

– I received the cutest little letter from the girl I nannyed this past summer.  Included was also the following picture.  The legs crack me up.

– After announcing that all I wanted was fudge, Gretchen rapidly turned into Seiver’s market while we were driving back to school post a brief trip to the outlets to return something.  After purchasing some unbelievably delicious chocolate and peanut butter fudge, the woman working told us that we should check out the corn/hay mazes.  Considering the fact that running around on those hay bales is something I have wanted to do every single time I’ve driven past this place for the last 4 years, she did not have to tell me twice.  I was in that corn maze faster than the cookie company cookies disappear from our room.  (Which is really, really fast, ha.)

Basically, I relish any opportunity to act like a 6 year old.  These pictures should prove that point:

Gretchen was there too… she just chose to proceed in a far less ridiculous and childish manner, ha.

Oh… I also got the most perfect little baby pumpkin, which I love.

– We had the absolute honor of sitting next to the fan of the match at the women’s soccer game.  This means we’re cool by association, right Connor?

…and last but not least,

– Break official starts for both of us in 15 hours!!

If that doesn’t make for an awesome day, I don’t know what does, haha.

The Pumpkins

As an addition to Gretchen’s fall party post, I would like to present to you a photograph of us holding each others’ carved pumpkins:

Okay, just kidding.  If you know us at all then you’re well aware that I would never be able to carve a lion in a pumpkin.  Oh well… I’m proud of my 3 toothed run of the mill jack-o-lantern anyway.

Friends, Fall, and Fire

Goodmorning to the smell of smoke in West 392 A. Campfire smoke- No worries. After our horrendous (don’t even get us started thinking about it) genetics test yesterday, MG and I needed some therapy. Our treatment of choice? Outlets, outrageous laughter, and the outdoors. To begin with the outlets, let me just mention that retail therapy, while immensely satisfying in the moment, compounded the hit on the GPA with a hit to the bank account. Note that I do not regret my purchases; far from it. My two nephews (coming in December courtesy of my sister Linnea and sister-in-law Stephanie) are just going to be some of the best-dressed babies around. Seriously. Who doesn’t want a flannel onesie? If they made those for ‘adults’ I would have one pronto. This brings me to part two of exam therapy: outrageous laughter. Now, the daily dose of this treatment that we normally receive had to be increased to neutralize our symptoms, but thankfully friends, fall, and fire came to the rescue in the roundabout way to Edgewood Ave. Both MG and I found new and creative ways to arrive at Edgewood and the party had definitely started before we walked in. No big deal, we just joined in the fall frivolity with pumpkin carving, apple cider, and candy corn. It was at this moment that this dear blog also became known to the greater public. Now, this was the plan eventually after I had some blogging experience under my belt, but it had to happen sometime, so welcome to those who have recently discovered, if you didn’t already see physically, the ridiculous adventures of Gretchen and Mary Grace. This brings me to the outdoors, part three of our therapy. With our North Face jackets, how could MG and I not find the outdoors an adventure? Highlights of this particular fire included star gazing, live coal catching, and most popular of all; leaf and grass ball burning. We also enriched conversation by ‘talking with our eyes’ and enjoyed each other’s company by throwing grass. #classicjesse With our treatment complete, MG and I returned here content and hung out our smelly clothes and shut the windows. On this morning after, I am enjoying procrastination midst the smoky surroundings, but after saying that, I must return to/actually just start my work for the weekend. *Insert sigh* It was fun while it lasted.

What To Do When…

…you accidentally spill water on the handwritten card for your suitemate from her boyfriend.

So, this evening Gretchen received a call from Michael, our suitemate Beth’s boyfriend, requesting her presence in North Lobby. Several minutes later she returned to our room with one giant vase of red roses and a handwritten card… which was 12 roses, a vase, and a card more than she left with.  Per Michael’s request she attempted to better arrange the flowers.  FAIL. After deciding she was just making things worse, she decided to just go put the flowers on Beth’s desk.  It was at this moment that she realized she had accidentally dripped water on, and effectively ruined, Michael’s card.

Okay, so maybe ruined is a bit of an exaggeration, but we felt bad about the whole thing.  We tried to put it in the flowers to hide the mark, but that just looked stupid.  It was at this point that we decided fraud was our only option.

So… here’s a step by step break down of how to best cover up a mistake such as this:

1. Gather materials; similar paper (cut to size), red sharpie, desk lamp, medium sized piece of glass

2. Rig up a tracing station:

3. Trace new card:

4. Take picture with both cards, proving striking similarity, and thus your uncanny ability to commit fraud.  Comment that you could probably “make counterfeit money really well” after this experience.

(Notice the missing picture from the wall behind Gretchen… that was the source of the glass.)

5. Place card with flowers on suitemate’s desk and pretend like nothing happened when she gets back:

6. Don’t post entire story on blog that your suitemate will later read.  Sorry Beth!  (Don’t tell Michael…)

And that’s what you do when you accidentally spill water on the handwritten card for your suitemate from her boyfriend. (:

Just Thought the World Should Know

Gretchen just started cry laughing watching a gif of a cat eating a banana.

For your viewing pleasure:

“I can’t stop crying. I just love smash faced cats!” – G

Day 1 of the blogging experience: Not only is this the first blog that MG and I have done together, it is my first blog entirely. With a Genetics test coming up on Friday, it’s the perfect time to try something new and time consuming. So, as I continue to apathetically study a Lathyrus odoratus (sweet pea) test cross, I’ll give you a little more detail about the daily biological processes in West 392 A. The biological process of the day is a cold virus (probably Rhinovirus) infection. With a new-found interest in microbiology, I’ve been analyzing my symptoms as they occur. Although making myself my own personal science experiment is fun (I even took a ‘How much do you know about colds?’ quiz on WebMD), I’ve done quite a lot of damage on the tissue count… and MG is hoping her immune system is up to the challenge. We’ll have to see what her white blood cells bring to the table in the coming days… Good luck to them.

Back and Better Than Ever.

It’s our senior year at the Grove… we’re BACK AND BETTER THAN EVER.  (and blogging, apparently.)  Get ready, because it’s going to be awesome.