Honey Crisp

I went to the grocery store to pick up items that I forgot to bring to my new place (soap, shampoo, stuff like that). But, instead, because the produce section is always at the entrance, I zombied my way through the glorious colors of fruits and vegetables, picking my way between the free samples, and discovered the tastiest variety of apple that I was so inspired to blog about here.

I present to you the Honey Crisp apple. Here's, like, the official website.

Easter

My cousin, Sarah, came over this weekend to spend some time with me until Easter Sunday. We watched many movies, ate lots of good food and enjoyed the beautiful weather all while getting lots of homework done. I even taught Sarah how to throw a pot on the wheel! Here are some photos from our attempts at making rainbow, hard-boiled eggs for the holiday (without any vinegar):

Sarah, finally sinking her teeth into (and wiping away) the burger she was craving...

Look what I found

I found this picture of me and one of my campers on the new and improved Camp Royall website.  I thought it was cute and had to share.

I actually just got back from a few hours of wedding-fun with future bride (and roommate), Alexa.  I got to experience, first-hand, the ravenous spirits of moms and bride-to-be's as I climbed and clawed my way through the clumps and crowds at the wedding show/expo.  And it was all to get in (to my tummy) as many wedding cake samples as possible (that cake does taste as good as it looks).  I also experienced my very first fashion show of any kind and saw many beautiful wedding gowns and cute, colored flower girl dresses.  In retrospect, I do very much regret not being the flower girl at my godfather's wedding.  Come to think of it, I regret not being five years old anymore each and every day.

At the end of the day, I was very overwhelmed and began to quit processing any information, likening my appearance to a zombie's as I continued to accept free pens.  That being said, I can only imagine how Alexa is feeling.  She was accosted by many a hungry spokes/sales/planner person and was sent home carrying a giant men's warehouse bag full of all sorts of information.  I do wish her luck as today was fun, yet eye-opening!  Nevertheless, when the day comes, I know she will make a lovely bride.

Love,

Monica

For Mommy (Fall Break and Update on life)

So, while life has not actually started to slow down, I have gotten some big presentations out of the way.  I spent fall break in Cary, NC this year to show my stuff at a day-long final interview for TFA (Yes, that's me in a suit of sorts to make a good impression).  It felt nice to look all sleek and put-together.  My roommate, Stephanie, is a business major and always knows how to dress up professionally.  I'd say I felt a lot like her. 

Because I spent most of my short fall break preparing for the interview, I spent the rest of it catching up on neglected homework while attempting hibernation.  Some highlights were Indian food, shopping w/David, making dark chocolate chip pancakes from scratch in the late afternoon, taking Gizmo to the dog park, and going to see Michael Moore's Capitalism: A Love Story (I cried).

The break in general, though, was filled with lots of cute animals.  That's Gizmo above wondering what-in-the-world I'm doing, flashing at him like some paparazzi.  I'm basically obsessed with getting him to like me, even when I'm not holding food in my hands.

And here's a very recent picture of Irina (who came to David's home with me).  She's still alive and kicking (not to mention biting).  In just a couple of months I will have had her for one year!  It's exciting, but also a little depressing because I think her breed is only supposed to live for about 16 months (and she hasn't grown that much since I got her).  She, too, was curious about the camera.

And this is a picture taken from my powerpoint presentation (yesterday).  I had to give my "Presentation of Progress" for honors.  I went first and despite my nerves everyone said I did an outstanding job.  It was actually a really nice opportunity to get 15 minutes to tell an audience (some, complete strangers) about a project that I've almost been working a year on now.  The other presenters in my group were wonderful too.  I was lucky to be in a fun, creative, enthusiastic group.  There were eight concurrent presentation sessions spread across two floors and grouped by like-majors so that all of the 37 honors students could present within two hours.  My group had an art major (me), an art history major (my talented and genius friend, Nichole), a Music Technology major (rock n roll Andrew),  a Theatrical Design and Production major (cute and confident Sarah Linn) and a Music Theatre major (Topher, who was wearing his signature vest).

Nichole is doing a presentation comparing perceptions between flat, abstracted paintings and their realistic, 3-d (using perspective) counterparts (Flat Can Be Deep: A Perspective on the Valuation and Common Perceptions of Two-Dimensional Artworks).  Andrew is busy writing, directing and composing music for a Rock Opera with a story line comparable to Westside Story (Beautiful Disease: A Rock Tragedy).  Sarah Linn is stage managing the spring musical (State Management for Musical Theatre: An Artistic Presentation of Elon University's 2009 Fall Musical, "Kiss Me, Kate").  I loved learning a lot about what goes on behind the scenes and I will never look at her in the same way now, knowing all the hard work that she is doing.  Lastly, Topher is writing the script and lyrics for an original musical (Finding "i.d.": Developing an Original Musical within the Workshop Process).  I'm really excited to see Topher's musical in the spring because last spring I went with some friends to see a preview and the writing was hilarious as well as the music fantastic and inspiring.  In a sentence, his musical revolves around a young woman with dissociative identity disorder whose father has just died.

Speaking of fathers, my dad is coming on Tuesday.  I can't wait because he's going to take me to a bike store to get a rack which I can use to tie a milk crate to.  Kind of like this:

Love,

Monica

P.S. David and I might venture out to the football game.  That might change, though, as it's Homecoming weekend and crowded like mad.  Our back-up plan is to see the lemurs at Duke.

Moshi Moshi

I just got back from my less than 12 hour stay in Chapel Hill with my lady friends Jean and Elisabeth (from camp).  It was such a blast!  I couldn't have asked for better company.  Here was how our time was spent:

1) When they first came to pick me up from Elon, they called my phone as I was in the middle of cleaning the fish tank.  I left the apartment immediately because I was so excited and forgot to turn off the sink (the sink sprayer was filling up a giant bowl with which I was using to refill the fish tank).  When we got back inside, the entire kitchen floor was flooded with water.  :(  After I cleaned it up, we frantically left Elon to get to Moshi Moshi for Jean's hair cut.  We were only a few minutes late.

2) After the cut, Elisabeth and I spent some time having to convince Jean that it was, indeed, a SUPER cute upgrade before entering into Med Deli for dinner.

3) Then we went to a vintage/thrift shop.  Elisabeth and I got matching sweatband sets while Jean settled for suspenders.

4) The rest of the evening was spent at Elisabeth's stylish, high-ceilinged dorm room watching the movie Boys Don't Cry as we made each other beautiful friendship bracelets.  Just as you can't buy true friendship, you can't find these one-of-a-kind hand-made friendship bracelets in the store.  They're staying on our wrists until they fall off or we die (which ever one comes first).

5) Saturday morning, after having a sleepless sleepover in the common parlor area, we brought our hot and tasty breakfasts from Sunrise Biscuit Kitchen to the upstairs lounge of Chill Bubble Tea.  Jean: Mocha, Elisabeth: Avocado, Monica: Taro

6) Oh, and did I forget to mention that we got cool, retro skip-its?  Well...

Brie and blueberries

I want desperately to make this.

via modcloth

What you need:

• 1 large wheel of brie
• 1/2 jar of high quality, real fruit, blueberry jam (Barbara suggests Chantaine All Natural Wild Blueberry, but your favorite will do!)
• 1 pie crust (the ready-made kind is easiest, but feel free to make it from scratch!)
• 1 egg (just the white)

What you need to do:

• Preheat the oven to 350.
• Using a large, sharp, flat knife, cut the wheel in half horizontally so that you are left with two round halves (do not remove the rind). Set aside.
• On a non-stick cookie sheet, lay out the pie crust. Trim or roll out the crust so that it is in a circular shape, twice the size of the brie wheel.
• Place one half of the brie wheel in the center of the crust, rind down.
• Spread the jam evenly over the brie.
• Place the remaining half of the brie on top, rind up. It should look like a brie and jam sandwich!
• Carefully fold the crust up over the brie, smoothing out any bubbles and wrinkles. The entire wheel should we covered by crust.
• Once the brie is covered, flip it over so that the smooth side of the crust is facing up.
• Brush the crust all over with a light egg white wash. This will make your crust golden brown. If you’re feeling artistic, class up your appetizer by using the crust trimmings to make grapes, leaves, stars, hearts, letters – whatever you choose! Remember to brush your crust creations with egg white, as well.
• Bake for 20 minutes, or until the crust is golden.
• Serve with fancy crackers, and let the compliments commence.

Yummy!

These are just six of the 101 salads that Mark Bittman raves about here.  Thanks, A CUP OF JO.

And speaking of good food that's good for you, my friend Elisabeth just discovered this.  If you've ever wondered what would happen to a group of twelve humans locked up in a zoo and forced to eat the diet of an ape, then you should read the article.  A banana does a body good.

What I just devoured:

Ingredients: Organic Sweet Potatoes, Water

Elisabeth and I went to Food Lion to buy some water guns for this year's kickoff of camp's "Assassin" competition.  We're allowed to kill people with plastic knives and/or water gun shots.  So, to increase our odds and abilities to win, we decided to doubly equip ourselves by acquiring both weapons to place on our persons.

While at Food Lion, carefully exploring each aisle for plastic firearms, we openly salivated once having reached the baby food section.  Leaving the store with many a memorable and tasty purchase, the mashed up sweet potatoes were by far the yummiest steal of the night.  For me, they were just the right amount of sweet taste and "abc" (already-been-chewed) texture.  And you can't beat these types of labels:

• Organic
• No Artificial Colors
• No Artificial Flavors
• No Preservatives
• No Added Salt or Sugar
• Vegan
• Wheat Free
• Kosher

Blueberry fields forever

Yesterday night, Jean's bff, Amy, had to dogsit/housewatch in Pittsboro (right near camp!).  Amy decided to make a sleepover out of it.  Lyell from Wilmington was also there and the four of us enjoyed an evening playing with the giant dogs, eating pasta and Amy's salsa, learning/teaching Purple Haze on the guitar, youtubing and playing with each other's hair, below:

The best part about my stay with Jean's friends, however, was the blueberry picking.  They were so naturally sweet and, therefore, divinely delicious.  There's just something so perfect about going out into a garden and gathering fresh fruit for yourself.

Blueberries that are a no no to eat

Plebe Makeover

Before and After shots:

Can I just exclaim here how awful the glasses that they make them wear during boot camp are? Okay, yes.  Those boot camp glasses are just awful!

Erm, it's pretty late (considering I woke up at five this morning) and I need to get ready for bed.  Agenda for tomorrow is breakfast with the grandparents in the morning and then college park for the remainder of the day and night (slumber party with Rachael) and then I'm heading back to camp on Friday.  I promise to write an actual entry about "I Day" as they call it (short for Induction Day, duh) at a later date.  Woo class of 2013!  I am suddenly surging with Naval Academy (soon to be Navy) pride.

Love,

Monica

P.S.  Today a USNA mom turned to me and said, "Do you have a son or a daughter here today?"  I said, plainly, "I have a brother."  The whole thing made me laugh out loud but, honestly now, do I really look like I could pass for a parent?  I mean, the other day I got carded when buying sparklers.  How can I look both too old and too young for myself, people?!

"Good morning, angels"

Last night, David defeated me in a game of scrabble.  In my defense, I was distracted by a Charlie's Angels marathon (in honor of Farrah Fawcett).  We also watched about five or six of Michael Jackson's music videos (and then the Weird Al parodies of those videos).  And just as I was starting to feel a little less depressed about everyone dying, a news reporter announced that Billy Mays had died at the age of fifty.  And I proclaimed to the heavens, "OxiClean!  Noooo!"  My mom and I were such big fans, with all of his products in our cupboards.  

But now, refreshingly, I'm home in Maryland.  My room has been re-arranged and I feel like I'm staying in a hotel (in a good way).  The food in the refrigerator does not even feel like part of my territory, so I've placed a bag of melted whoppers from my car on one of the shelves.  I'm slowly moving back in, you see.

Week 3 and Week 4

My camper from last week, the sudoku wiz

Finally an update...

Week 3 has passed and week 4 (12-17 yrs. old) is just about to.  Today is my day off and, after having a full night's sleep on night duty (the chillens were well-behaved), here I am. 

I really miss my camper from last week, a lethal combination of cute and cuddly, but my camper this week is quickly becoming the love of my life.  He is a slow-walker, non-verbal and functions cognitively at 2 months.  Therefore, he is a big baby and I love helping him around camp.  He is cutest when drinking from his water bottle and when floating awkwardly in the pool (his swirling motions remind me of a sea lion or otter).  The best thing about him, and also the most confusing thing about him, is that he will stare into my eyes for extended periods of time.  He kind of drops is head down, gets in your face and then locks eyes.  It is cute because I know he wants something from me but I also have no real way of knowing what it is.  

Today he is with a floating counselor, but as is with any day off, I can't help but think about my camper.  To distract me from longing for him, I'm thinking of running some errands of the Target variety*.  I also might find it in myself to drive to Elon and clean my fish tank.  The drive isn't that long and if I do decide to go, I will probably get to see Jenna (who was abroad Spring semester).  It's been a very long time and she'll have lots of London stories to tell.  Jenna would also be able to catch me up on the episodes of True Blood that I have missed (no cable, not even TV, at camp).  

In the afternoon, I will probably meet up with David.  He taped an episode of Chopped, which is our guilty pleasure on food network (among many other guilty pleasures on food network).  It's basically like three short Iron Chef competitions (one for appetizer, main dish and dessert) and involves four competitors instead of just two.

I should probably get going now.  I need to shower and plan my day.  

Love,

Monica

P.S. My week off is next week (starting on Friday) and I will be going home to MD for the first time since March!  Can I just say, I miss seeing (and smelling) cows each and every day.

*My "water-proof" watch filled up with water yesterday evening while in the pool.  It stopped working completely minutes later (though I'm not sure of how many minutes).  I'll need to get a new one as soon as possible because you can't live at camp without knowing what time it is and I need to cover up this horrendous watch-tan.  Speaking of tans, take a look at this ring tan I've developed:

Hello Kitty Thief

On Friday, Jean, Jordan, Elisabeth and I went to Carrboro to eat dinner.  We went to Elmo's Diner and had everything from salmon cakes to pecan pancakes.  It was very delicious, but something happened that will bother me forever...

Before we went to dinner, we browsed a comic shop.  I did more than just browse, however.  I bought a hello kitty cellphone charm.  It was one that Elisabeth had lost long ago, and since she didn't want it, I got it to remind me of her whenever I saw it.  I also bought some kiwi gummies.  Our friend, Andy, had tried to buy this variety of gummy candy in the kiwi flavor the night prior, and since he wasn't with us, we decided it was a good idea to surprise him with the kiwi gummies.  So, comic book shop purchase: hello kitty phone charm and kiwi gummies.  Remember that.

I distinctly remember going into the booth at Elmo's Diner with the comic book shop bag containing my purchases.  I also remember putting it on the right side of my body, resting it on the booth.  When I had finished my meal, I told everyone that I was going to the bathroom to wash up (then I used both of my hands to mimic the act of washing one's hands).  Telling them that I would meet up with them outside, I left (without my bag of stuff).

Then, as we were singing songs from camp on the streets of Carrboro (I was using both of my hands wildly to carry out the motions in "boddidly man" and "the moose from canada" song), I suddenly remembered that I left something at Elmo's!  We ran back (it was annoyingly close but far away) and I talked to the host.  I told him "Hi, I ate there and left a paper bag filled with a hello kitty phone charm and some japanese kiwi gummies that are just deee-vine.  Could you check your lost and found?"  The guy looked peeved, but I saw him go over to the booth and look under it and then talk to a few people.  While he was gone, a hostess came by and asked me if I needed help.  Since I figured it could only help things, I told her the entire story too.  She was sad for me and looked more thoroughly than the host had and at the end when she couldn't find it, offered to have me write down my name and phone number incase she found it later that night.  I gave her my email address too.

After all that, I felt good.  I had asked them to look for it, but I also ended up looking for it too (I went over to the booth myself and also checked the bathroom).  The case had gone seemingly cold until I remembered that I didn't have my cell phone with me.  We went back a third time to give Elmo's Diner Elisabeth's number.  However, we didn't get to talk to the nice hostess, we had to talk to the evil host man.  I knew something was fishy the moment he took down Elisabeth's number; he illegibly scribbled it down at the bottom of the reservations list (he might as well have drawn a hand puppet on himself).  When we got outside I theorized that due to his quiet demeanor and blatant unwillingness to be friendly and helpful like his hostess counterpart, that he was the hello kitty thief.  What was even more suspicious was that Elisabeth never got a call from them on her phone and that when I got back to the cabin, I had a message from the hostess on my phone.  It's elementary my dear Watson:  the host did not give the number to the hostess like we asked him to and for this he is the number one suspect in the Hello Kitty murder!

Now to end this entry with a happier, funnier story.  Saturday night, Andy, Elisabeth and I went to the movies (I will not tell you which movie we saw for fear of embarrassment).  The movie was at 9:45 pm and we decided to enter Subway at 9:43 pm.  Andy assured us that we would be able to bring the subs into the movies because he had done it all the time.  So, when we got into the movie theatre, approaching the ticket booth with our tickets and our subs, slightly hidden behind our thighs, a man shouted across the room "SORRY YOU CANNOT BRING FOREIGN FOODS INTO THE MOVIE!"  This teenage boy, rather, was acting very odd and Andy pointed out that it was because his manager was standing right there.  

Okay.  So that was fine.  I didn't really expect to get in with a footlong by my side.  I did, however, ask the manager if he could hold them for us, instead of confiscating them with no promise of return.  For a split second I felt like I was in middle school again.  But the manager was nice enough to save them for us and he even put my soda in the fridge.  

Now I have to go learn some more sign language.  My second camper comes today.  He is nonverbal and I need to brush up on my nonverbal skills.

Love,

Monica

Good food, Hemlock Bluffs and Zen navigation

I spent this weekend going back and forth between Elon and Cary.  On Friday I glazed some platters and made my way over to Cary for delicious Lebanese food at Neomonde.  Dinner with David included a falafel sandwich, beef kabob with tabouleh and fattoush, and two namoura for dessert.  The evening was spent watching Curb Your Enthusiasm while playing scrabble a little too competitively.  

You should know that my days are scheduled around good food.  Waking up around noon on Saturday, we finished our scrabble game and headed over to Bosphorus for Turkish food.  A late lunch with David included an Adana Kabob, Yogurt Kebab, two Turkish teas (refilled many, many times) and baklava and Krem Karamel Custard for dessert.  Leaving around three o'clock, we were able to make it to Elon by four to see Topher's play*.  In a change of pace, late night cravings for steak led us to Outback Steakhouse.  Almost-midnight gluttony with David included 14oz ribeye and 14oz prime rib courtesy of server Bo (who failed to bring us the pumpernickel bread we wanted).

On Sunday**, I woke up and went to work where it was babies, babies and more babies.  Snack time with babies included butter cookies, animal crackers, honey-nut cheerios and apple juice (for the lucky ones).  Then, David and I headed back to Cary around mid-afternoon and discovered that an Indian restaurant, in celebration of mother's day, was putting on their buffet special all day long.  Another late lunch with David included Alu Gobi, Butter Chicken, Tandoori Chicken, Palak Paneer, something goat, various curries, samosas, lemon rice and rice pudding w/ mango puree, Gulab Jamuns and Rasmalai for dessert.  

Afterward, we went to a nature park, Hemlock Bluffs, to ease digestion.  It was nice and shady and bug-bite free.  If I had had my camera, I would have a picture of a really intense spider web to show off.  But instead, I have a story to tell...

In front of David and me, on the creek side trail, was a couple.  They were moving very quickly and we soon lost sight of them.  For the remainder of the trail we referenced them in jokes about walking too fast.  Then, once we had reached the car, we saw them pulling out of the parking lot.  Since we had no good ideas about how to spend the rest of the day, I suggested that we follow them in the fashion of the Zen Method of Navigation, as detailed by Dirk Gently in DNA's book The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul.  Before you begin to judge me, you should understand what exactly this method of navigation is:

... he had a tremendous propensity for getting lost when driving. This was largely because of his "Zen" method of navigation, which was simply to find any car that looked as if it knew where it was going and follow it. The results were more often surprising than successful, but he felt it was worth it for the sake of the few occasions when it was both.

"... my methods of navigation have their advantages. I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be."

-- Douglas Adams. The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soulpp.35, 156  

And, so, we followed them with an allowance of 3-4 cars in between( a precautionary measure modeled after the type of espionage I've seen on the once-popular spy drama, Alias).  In the beginning, I threw out ideas about where they might be going.  I reasoned that because it was 5:30 pm on a Sunday that they were probably going home to spend the rest of their night in.  Because: who would get all sweaty in a park for an hour and then grab dinner someplace?  Also, a lot of places are closed on Sunday or close early.  

If you're still disturbed (but not disturbed enough to have stopped reading by now) you should take comfort in the fact that we were only following them because they seemed to know where they were going.  We, however, never knew where we were going/have gone/are going, etc.  So, by the Zen, we thought that this couple might lead us past someplace exciting or cause us to think of a better place to be.  

They took a very scenic route and they drove for a long time.  This puzzled us because we figured they would have lived close by to the park.  They also drove very quickly and we lost them many times.  David was not too keen on the idea in the first place, but by the middle of our journey he started saying things like "This is exciting!", "Man, we lost them!", "I feel like Sydney Bristow!" and "There they are!  Up ahead.  You're not getting away that easily!"

Basically, we drove for 40 minutes (in a square-ish route, which seemed illogical) until I said "This is going to end at the next red light or if we lose them...whichever comes second".  So, we lost them accidentally (they were just too fast) and then we were stopped at a red light.  Nothing really happened after that.  We drove by the mall and thought about going in, but then we realized that we were just really, really tired.  So, we got on the highway and went back home.  In the end, then, I guess that's where we needed to be.

Love,

Monica

*Topher is writing an original play for his honors thesis.  At this event, we got a preview of three of the songs he had written and composed with his partner.  They were absolutely amazing.  I knew Topher was talented, but I had no idea that he was at such a superb level.  Now I know why we haven't seen him at all this semester.  He's been working so hard!

**As for Mother's Day, my Mother had lunch at Roy Rogers (I just wanted to add this in to go along with all my food mentioning).

Procrastination - drapery

I got this Drawing II assignment last Tuesday and have been avoiding it ever since.  This includes today, the day before its due date.  During these past seven days I simply have not been inspired to draw clothing (who ever has been?).  I'm okay with, and maybe even enjoy, drawing clothing folds and ruffles when they are being worn by people.  I don't, however, get a kick out of drawing heaps of blankets or curtains or dresses pinned up on walls.  Because of all this, even though I had set aside a good four or five hour chunk for the project this afternoon/evening, when Stephanie called asking if I wanted to get Japanese I quickly said "hai!" and offered to drive. 

Little known fact: I don't actually like Japanese food.

After about an hour or two picking at Miso soup and a plate of rolls (seaweed wrapping tampura, apples and salmon) we decided to get tissues, makeup, toothpaste and floss from Target.  At checkout, DVDs were being advertised for $4.75 and I picked up Milo and Otis. When we got home we watched Milo and Otis and wondered how difficult it must have been for the makers to make the movie.  Did they film these animals endlessly until their movements coincided with the narrative?

Anyway, this went on until about 11:00 pm, at which point I panicked and began my homework.  This is the result, which I am happy about given the amount of time I did it in (I just hope my professor won't be able to tell that it was a last minute thing.  I mean, it's not great, but it's not terrible either):

This is a dress, that I ordered from the delias catalogue online, pinned to our living room wall.

That's it for now.  I think I'm starting to feel the effects of that raw salmon...

An urge for فتوش

Deliciousness

I am so hungry for Lebanese food right now.  I wish falafel and tabouleh would magically apparate (yes I just used a harry potter verb) into my living room.  Specifically, I would eat this first:

Fattoush

No model

Drawing II today.  So far we've been exposed to (or exposed by, depending on how you think of it) two models.  One is a trim older woman who I adore.  She's always in a good mood and very friendly, talking to the students during break.  The other is a woman who is probably a little older than the average Elon student.  She's a dancer and when I found this out at the beginning of the year, I thought that she was going to be able to pose in very elegant ways and with the strength of an ox or something.  However, she doesn't really seem to know how to model.  Not to be mean or anything, but she can't hold her poses for very long and needs inspiration/direction about what types of poses are appropriate.  She's probably trying her hardest, though, and that's what matters.  I actually haven't had that much of a problem with her until recently.  

Recently she started arriving very late to class.  My professor likes to start the class right on time with the model (I've walked into class before with the model already posing naked on the podium!).  But my professor can't always start class because this model is late.  One time she was twenty minutes late until she called to tell us that she was sick and wasn't going to make it.  Today, though, she was scheduled to come again and was late (or so we thought) as usual.  We're learning how to really exaggerate foreshortening so we started using our own images in the mirror to do this while we waited for her (we put our arms and hands out infront of ourselves so that our hands looked bigger than our heads for an effect like this, this or even this).  

As you can probably guess, she never showed up.  No phone call, no nothing.  She was a no-show.  Because of this, my classmates became the models (clothed of course)!  Four of my classmates got to take a nap while laying down in the center of the class on a podium covered with eggshell foam padding.  I'd be lying if I said I wasn't jealous.  My class is from 1 - 4 p.m. and this is prime nap-time.  It's really hard to sit still and draw for three hours and sometimes all I want to do is take a nap (I've often fantasied about switching places with the models).  There is a nice heater that my professor points at the models so that they don't get cold, so it wouldn't be that bad. 

In other news, Stephanie has been cooking a lot and tonight she made a delicious meal of Salmon with brown sugar, yellow rice, salad and herb bread.  It was yummy!

Love,

Monica