Philadelphia Highs

1. Arriving (despite my navigational shortcomings)!
2. Slot car racing fanatics at the local hobby store
3. Introducing Mikr to major chain restaurants (P. F. Chang's, Chipotle)
4. Watching Say Yes to the Dress
5. Creepily monolithic architecture in Harrisburg
6. Used book shopping at the Midtown Scholar Bookstore and Harvest Book Company
7. Banjo-playing accompaniment to used book shopping
8. Beautiful stone architecture in Philadelphia environs
9. Church with Mikr's landlord / college roommate and family
10. Bill Mallonee concert...
10a. BYOB
10b. Presbyterian bonding
10c. Meeting Bill!!!
11. Making it home (despite my check engine light and alarming car misbehavior)!

Fall Highs

1. Trying out some of the hikes in AMC's Best Day Hikes in Connecticut
2. Finding my way home again, despite washed out bridges & unblazed trails
3. A used book sale across the street from my apartment
4. Frequent library visits
5. Scads of books, wedged in my bookshelves and piled on my dresser
6. Watching episodes of Avonlea on scratchy library dvd's
7. Jog/walking
8. Kids' Club
9. Pirate vs Ninja raking and volleyball
10. Leadership Core back at my apartment
11. Fabulous fall weather
12. Breathtaking sunsets and sunrises
13. Windows that open
14. Listening to Bill Mallonee bootlegs
15. Not studying

End-o-Summer Highs

1. Looking for shooting stars after Friday Night Bible Study
2. Toy Story 3 (finally!)
3. New laptop
4. Psalms
5. Piles of unread books, purchased earlier in the summer
6. Dainty diving contest @ the Swim Thing
7. Looking forward to Backyard & Hudson Valley Shakespeare

Bubbles!

Highs

1. Six library books
2. Several hours of Burn Notice on DVD
3. A new skein of 'Fisherman's Wool' yarn for crocheting scarves
4. An impending snowstorm!

Highs (West Coast Edition)

1. Squash soup
2. Street musicians performing Portobello Road at Pike Place Market
3. Exploring Seattle's science fiction museum in the company of 100s of actuaries
4. My first omelet, courtesy of John
5. POWELL'S!!!
6. Ethnic (Lithuanian, I think?) food
7. Introducing John and Christina to Speed Scrabble
8. Discussing Vocation, Art, and Theology into the wee hours

Weekend Highs

1. Going for a walk Sunday afternoon - such a beautiful Fall day!
2. Watching Lars and the Real Girl
3. Listening to The Avett Brothers

Retreat Highs

1. Bioluminescence
2. Blindfold Pictionary, Zoom, Never-Have-I-Ever, Shuffle-Your-Buns
3. Beach devotions with Mike - meditating on 1 Peter 1:1-5
4. A VERY COLD dip in the ocean, followed by hot chicken soup for lunch
5. Coloring books and macaroni necklaces
6. Paper bag skits
7. Joey's benediction

Highs (Looking on the Bright Side Edition)

1. A job I can do from home, in my pajamas
2. Sudafed Severe Cold Formula
3. Pink kleenex
4. A surfeit of library books
5. Tuesday night - starting to turn the corner!

Weekend Highs

1. Making a heck of a lot (186?) of meatballs
2. Skyping Jessie first thing Saturday morning
3. Crashing Presbytery to hear David Wells
4. Walking in the woods - taking an unfamiliar trail, and finding my way back to civilization...eventually
5. Library books and Chinese food, a perfect pairing since South Windsor Public Library is just around the corner from Sun Sun, and it's always so nice to enjoy a meal with a good book
6. First SNAC meeting of the year, replete with new faces

Weekend Highs

1. Stargazing with Emily, Oliver, Sami, and Weez - shooting stars and moth attacks
2. FINISHING the Fairmont slideshow (always an epic struggle)
3. Final Fairmont debrief, report back, and picnic
4. Gaping at fabulous clouds and later, another beautiful starry sky - and almost driving off the road as a result
5. Arts Fellowship
6. Driving with Sam
7. New music - Jon Foreman, Ingrid Michaelson

Fairmont Highs

1. French braids
2. Bunkbed debriefs with Leta
3. Prayer chair with Sami
4. Sharing blue licorice and matzo
5. Dear Yous
6. Purple car!
7. Weez's smelly note
8. The Falcon, Blue Denver, Whimsy, Pilgrim Tribute Cruiser, and Blitzen
9. Driving Harrison, Joe, Caleb, and Tim
10. "Waiting for the A Train" with Oliver
11. Albuquerque
12. Snow
13. Seeing Carol and Pat off
14. Polly
15. Sunset on the way home from Dairy Cream Corner
16. Pizza Hut doxology
17. Avon and Edward
18. Are you getting enough water?
19. John Lyoch
20. Chelsea's shirt
21. Car Talk
22. No Dippin Dots!
23. Spaghetti lunch
24. Uncles and nephews
25. Pink Tux to the Prom
26. Oh deer!

Highs

I think I passed!!!

Highs

An unusually fine weekend for games...
1. 4-Square (mentioned below)*
2. In a Pickle**
3. Apples to Apples
4. Throwing frisbees at Elias, Ben, Ben and Bill***
5. This is a Thing**
6. SNAP**
7. Excuse Me - What Are You Doing?**

*Haven't played since 6th grade!
**Entirely new to me!
***Not technically a game, but satisfying nonetheless

Highs

1. Playing loud, summery music in the car
2. 4-square
3. Driveway chalk drawings
4. Venn diagrams

Highs

Beachreading:
1. The Face of the Stranger, Anne Perry
2. The Children of Green Knowe, L.M. Boston
3. The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell
4. Inkheart, Cornelia Funke

Post-beachreading (books that accompanied me to the Cape, but didn't get read...yet):
5. The Origin of Science and the Science of its Origin, Stanley L. Jaki
6. Peter and the Starcatchers, Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson
7. Freakonomics, Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner

Highs

I'm going to the beach today...Will return on Sunday!

Highs

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Highs

1. Outdoor Game Day...bizarre team building games and softball/ultimate. Such a delight watching folks play together. And totally amazing watching groups do origami. With a blanket they happen to be standing on.

Highs

Books I'm taking with me on vacation:
1. The Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate, Nancy Mitford
2. An Assembly Such as This (A Novel of Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman), Pamela Aidan
3. Eggs, Jerry Spinelli
4. The Chosen, Chaim Potok

And, too bulky for vacation, but waiting when I return:
5. Inkheart, Cornelia Funke