By the way...

Sorry to keep putting up pictures of my feet. It's just that I have no life and nothing else to take pictures of right now. I hope I'm not grossing people out...

Are my feet any tanner?

Well, it's been about a week and I've been trying to get my feet tan. I haven't worn my Tevas at all, and I've been trying to spend a bit of time outside everyday. But, as you can see, I don't think that it's working...Do I have to put sunblock on the parts of my feet that are tan already or something?
How do you like my new nail polish? The name of the color is "femme fatale". I feel weird wearing such a bright color on my toes.

I found my jumpdrive!

So, yeah...I'm an idiot. I got off the phone with my sister this morning and decided that it wouldn't hurt if I searched my car for my jumpdrive one more time. I'd searched around the passenger side of the car previously (because I usually throw my purse over there, and I keep my jumpdrive inside my purse...), so I figured I wouldn't find anything. I searched the passenger side again, and then as I was looking across the car, I noticed a bit of blue yarn underneath the driver's side. It was the blue yarn that I keep tied to my jumpdrive! It was underneath the seat in my car the entire time! I think that it must have fallen out of my purse as I was digging around for my car keys while sitting in the driver's seat. Phew...now I think I need to go to school and make some backups of files so that something similar doesn't happen again...

Farmer's Market

I went for a walk this morning and came across the downtown farmer's market. I've been to the farmer's market there once before, but that time there was only a collection of a few vendors and they all were selling, like, the same three items. Today, the market was a little bigger...still nothing in comparison to the farmer's market in Madison, but, at least a better selection of things than what was there earlier in the year. I wonder how long the market runs. I hope it still runs in the fall during the beginning of the school year, because I want to actually plan to go to it and buy stuff, instead of just running across it when I go walk to the Acoustic Cafe for a coffee. Today all I bought was a bunch of cucumbers, just because I have a bunch of food in my fridge right now, and I don't want to have to throw away a bunch of food when I leave Eau Claire again in like a week.
Okay, I think that I am going to go hang around outside for a little while...I've still got to work on getting my feet tan...

Bacon Wrapped Lamb Filets with Pesto

I bought a bottle of wine last night. It's just a cheap wine that is a blend of Shiraz and Cabernet Savignon. I got it home and read the back label and had to laugh because of what it said about food pairings on it. It says "This wonderful wine is a perfect match for bacon wrapped lamb filets with pesto." Who sits around and says, "Tonight I think I'll make bacon wrapped lamb filets with pesto"? It's like the wine bottle was trying to tell me what I should make for dinner...aren't the suggestions on the back of the wine bottle supposed to be broad? Like, this wine works well with seafood or beef or something? I wonder if the person writing that label just decided that they'd just put the craziest food suggestion ever on it...

Baby got backpack?

The tv was on in the background the other day while I was getting ready in the morning, and Target has this new commercial now for their back-to-school supplies. It's to the tune of "Baby got back" and the lyrics start off, "I like backpacks and I cannot lie..." I'm impressed. I think that it takes a little bit of work to change the lyrics to that song. I want to see that commercial again so I can hear exactly how they changed them.
What song is easy to change the lyrics to? I think that the chorus to Van Halen's "Panama" can pretty much be made into anything. It's easiest with words and phrases with three syllables, though...I guess if you used my name, for example, in that chorus, it'd have to be "Ca-an-dee".
I think that "baby got back" is turning out to be the summer's theme song. Lelani, when are we gonna find a kareoke place?

Dog

I think when I move out by Jake, we'll end up getting a dog together. What should we name it? Jake likes the name Gizmo, but that's his parents' dog's name. We can't have two Gizmos running around, in my opinion. When we get a dog, I want to train it to go to the fridge and bring me back a beer. Therefore, my vote for the dog's name is Brewski. Isn't that an awesome name? Lelani (since I'm convinced you're the only person who reads my blog regularly), what do you think?

Poof! My thesis is gone!

I can't find my jump drive. Damn it. I have my whole thesis on there and I'm stupid, so I didn't make backup files of it...
The last time I remember seeing it, I used it in the computer lab yesterday morning to print off my journal for class. I went back into that lab today, but I didn't see it. I also searched the library at school and asked the people at the desk about it. I called the grocery store, the public library, the plasma place, and the auto mechanic's...none of them had it. It's super shitty if I can't get it back. I think tomorrow I'll search that computer lab again to see if it's there...
Damn.

Fixing my car

Well, I decided that I am going to get my car fixed tomorrow because it'll save me money. The first place the guy at the shop called to order the parts said it would cost $400, which freaked me out. He called another place in town and also someone in the Twin Cities. If I would've asked to have it fixed today (with the parts from in town), it would've cost $280. He estimated that it'll cost me $210 tomorrow (with the parts he's ordering from the Cities). I hope that it doesn't take a really long time to get the car fixed tomorrow. I waited around the shop for about an hour today before the mechanics had time to take a peek at my car and order parts.

I love ice cream

This is interesting...I think I have to go out and buy some Rocky Road ice cream now since I guess I am Rocky Road. I can't remember the last time I ate rocky road...what's even in it? It's like, marshmallow and peanuts, right?

You Are Rocky Road Ice Cream

Unpredictable and wild, you know how to have fun. You're also a trendsetter who takes risks with new things. You know about the latest and greatest - and may have invented it. You are most compatible with vanilla ice cream.

What Flavor Ice Cream Are You?

Feet

My feet are tanned all funny. They've tanned this way for the past three summers because I always wear the same Teva sandals outside all the time. I can't help it...the Tevas are the only comfortable summer shoes that I have. Anyway, yesterday I bought a pair of dress sandals for when I go to practicum next semester but my funky tan lines are bothering me. My goal is to even out my tan lines before school starts in September. I think that I'm going to have to not wear my Tevas anymore this summer so that my feet don't look so messed up anymore. HOpefully in a couple of weeks I can put up another post that shows feet that are evenly tanned...

My weekend

So, Maria came on Friday and we went to the Leinie's brewery together. I also took her out to Mogie's Pub for dinner and to the Acoustic Cafe to see a bluegrass band. Here is a picture of us out at the bar on Friday night. We went out with a couple people from my program. Maria said that it was her first real "college bar" experience. She says that the bars she goes to in Houghton are typically full of local people and only a few college kids.
Lelani made her way up to Eau Claire Saturday morning. We ended up having to drive her car to the mall because of my car problems (see previous post). We ran into this totally wicked storm on the way. The whole sky was green and the rain was so heavy that we had to pull off the road and wait for the storm to calm down. To kill some time, we went to this place called La Cheese (classy name, eh?) for outside of Elk Mound for lunch. La Cheese had some interesting decor. For example, the place had a popcorn machine filled with plastic cows. However, the service was slow, the menu was confusing, and the sound system was only playing static, not music. Maria concluded that she'd have to give the place a half star rating.

Here's a picture of Lelani sitting in La Cheese.

Cars Suck

So, I was going to drive Maria and Lelani to the Mall of America this weekend, but I only got a few blocks away from my house when my car started making a loud noise whenever I pressed on the gas. We pulled over and my muffler had come loose. So, we started to drive back to my house and some of the pipe connected to the muffler also came loose and started to drag on the ground. We left my car at my apartment and took Lelani's car instead. This morning, we pulled the pipe and muffler off and put them back by the garbage dumpster at my house. Here they are.

Lite Brite, Lite Brite Turn on the Magic of Colored Lights!

Check this out...there's a place where you can play with a Lite Brite online!
Play with Lite Brite!

Heat Wave

It's like 96 degrees outside today. It's been in the 90s for over a week now. Whenever I go outside for like 5 minutes, I sweat all over myself. I really want it to cool off. I think it's supposed to storm tonight. I hope it does...I need to it cool off because I can't stand my un-airconditioned apartment...

Armwrestling

Jake told me that he saw an armwrestling tournament on tv. He said it was kind of stupid, but now I want to see armwrestling on tv. I've always been pretty bad at armwrestling, but I think it would be cool to train and tell people that I am preparing to be a professional armwrestler.

School Sux

So, I'm back in class now...
I'm irritated with our professor. He keeps referring to the school psych people as "school counselors". We're not counselors- that's only like a tiny, tiny bit of what we do. None of the five school psych people in the class has bothered to correct him though.
Plus, this prof. spouted out this statistic about how we learn 70% of what we know before third grade. What bullshit. How could that possibly be measured? He was totally making it up...it's so irritating. I wish I was learning something useful instead of made up statistics that can't possibly be the result of a valid and reliable study. Ugh!

Contribute to Science

I took a survey conducted by MIT about blogging. If you have a blog, you should take it, too...

Candy's Fourth of July

On the 4th, Jake, Justin, and I went into DC and watched a parade. Here Jake and I are sitting on the curb along Constitution Ave. waiting for the parade to start. Before the parade started, Jake and Justin went to pick up Potbelly subs for lunch and I held our spot along the curb. See the woman sitting on the curb next to me? She is from Chicago and told me that while she was in college, she used to go to the original Potbelly restaurant near Lincoln Park.
After the parade was over, we all went to watch Bewitched at the movie theatre. Did you know that a large soda at the movies is equivalent to a 2 liter bottle? Isn't that crazy? But you'd have to be a sucker to buy the small soda...you get many more ounces per dollar buying the large. Screw health!
Here's a picture of Justin and Jake at the parade, clapping along with one of the songs played by a marching band. Anyway, after we went and saw Bewitched, we went out for mexican food and had a couple of pitchers of margaritas. It made going to the fireworks that night more fun. I'm trying to remember the name of the place we went to because it was good...I think it might have been Lauriol or something like that...it's near Dupont Circle. Yeah...I think I just found it online...here it is: http://www.lauriolplaza.com/

Back in Eau Claire

Well, today is the first day that I'm back in Eau Claire. Yesterday, I stayed at my parents' house and during the day we went up to Fond du Lac to see my sister and nephew and take them to the park. It's kind of nice to be back in E.C., because I can do whatever I want on my own schedule...like drink bloody marys and read a Lewis Black book in bed, which is what I opted to do this afternoon instead of doing more productive things. At home, I feel like I spend a lot of time pacing around, looking for stuff to do...here at least I can find stuff to do, although it's not always that productive.
I start class again on Monday. I hope that this class isn't a huge pain...but we'll see...
I found out today that I am getting a second assistantship position for next year, which means that a) I'll be making more money and b) I'll still be able to get health insurance through the university. Yay!
As promised, I am posting pictures from my most recent stay with Jake in the DC area. Here is Jake eating a burger at Five Guys in Alexandria. Every burger there is served with two patties on it...those suckers are huge! I think next time I'm out there we'll have to go and get burgers there again...but I shouldn't plan on having any other red meat the whole week, because I'm pretty sure the amount of meat in one of those burgers exceeds what most dieticians recommend. I would ask Justin's sister (who's studying to be a dietician), but apparently she thinks that turkey is red meat, so I think I should be skeptical about any response she gives to a question about red meat.
Here's a picture of me...I'm drunk and pretending that Jake's pool balls are my eyeballs. Oh beer...it's wonderful. I feel like I should write more to fill up the space next to this picture. I'm not sure what to say though...
Do I look my age? Jake and I were in Trader Joe's one day looking at wine and this woman who was stocking the wine shelves said to us, "I should card both of you just for browsing." It was interesting that she said that to both of us. If it was just to me, I wouldn't have been too surprised, but I feel like Jake usually doesn't get carded. I think he probably looks his age. Maybe since he shaved off his goatee he looks a bit younger though..Jake, do you get carded more now that you don't have a goatee? I feel like I must look like I'm fourteen or something...

Washington D.C.

Well, Jake is sitting in the living room watching Wimbledon, so I guess I have time to sit and write more here...

So far, Jake and I have gone to see the Senate Gallery, went to the Folklife Festival on the Mall, shopped at Eastern Market, and rented out canoes in Georgetown. Last night, we went to a kareoke bar with Justin, but none of us sang. I looked to see if "Baby got back" was one of the song selections, and it wasn't...Lelani, how are we going to make sure that the place we go to eventually this summer has it?

Well, I was going to try to put some pictures up but I can't seem to get it to work on Jake's computer...I guess that I'll wait until I get home.