I love the city!

Hey friends and family,
So.. It's official. I am truly having a stupendous summer :)

Today, LT & I managed our 1st solo adventure to Boston!! Yes, of course we got a bit lost, but whenever that happens, we just call it "we went adventuring" & it's actually quite more fun that way. We see very neat & new things. & eventually we made it to Alewife where the T-train is! And let me just say, I love the T-train. I know for a fact I could definitely either live in a city like Boston, or have to commute to one via a train transportation unit. The London Tube is still by far my favorite. & the Paris Metro was great too. Hated the Italian one. & I'll let you know my thoughts on the Subway next month. But as for the Boston T.. two thumbs up!

I'm watching Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban right now.. so hi, distracted again. It's at the climax scene too, with the dementors and Harry & Sirius. #intense.

But I just wanted to drop by really quick and comment on how much I loved exploring the city today! Didn't take too many pics. But we just enjoyed it. walked around. explored. got lost. got directions from a really sweet valet guy. found H&M! ate at the Cheers bar. & so on.

I think we have a good starter feel for the city.. we're definitely going to become better explorers.. for sure :)

Ok, Harry's passed out. g2g! lol. Ciao for now!

Cptn. America

Wow. That's a pretty big picture for something that really had such a small impact on my day.

The role of Captain America in my Monday was there was a Cptn. America themed donut at Dunkin Donuts where I went for breakfast. Funny thing is though that I didn't even eat it. I bought it, but was too full from my Boston Creme & Vanilla iced coffee. So my cousin Erika ate it.

There's really no point to that story. I just thought it was a cool name for a donut. It was a very Katie thing to do, thus, to purchase it.

ANYWAY.. haha. Life here has been very busy. Ok, that's kind of a fib. I am honestly living the "chill.life" But we have been very active, I guess is a good way to describe it. Today for instance, I woke up. (always a good start) Took Lauren to Greenwood, (where she has swimteam) went to el librario, had my dunkin donut run, (that's where Cptn. America came in) came home, listened to music, (I promise we're getting to the active part) Did 8 minute Abs with Erika, played basketball, (more skill-improvement then active) went for a run, went swimming, did weights, made a meatloaf, listened to more music, had dinner, went for a walk, played very intense card games, called Amie, and wrote this blog entry. AndwowdidIjustboremyselfwritinganoldladyentrylikethat.

haha. I feel like a person who writes down everything they had to eat in a day! Not, that's a *bad* thing.. But I feel the boredom creeping in as I write it. I am a waay more exciting individual to already become boring at age 20.

ok, so let's see if I have any good stories. My good friend Anna Kay seems to pen her entries like she's an author. It's beautiful. I wonder if she edits.. I don't edit, in case you were wondering. Nope. what you read is what my brain is thinking at the exact moment my fingers are hitting the nifty keys. It's quite terribly exciting. My brain is definitely an interesting domain. For instance, did you know that all clams are born as males? And that then they can choose whether or not to become a female? But once they turn, the change is irreversible. I found that fascinating. Ok, maybe not *fascinating*.. but definitely interesting! #Thank you internet.
Oh yeah, my friend Lauren & I are now totally into the whole twitter #sign thing for all of our texts and particular real life moments. For instance: I saved a worm today... #hero.

hahaha. I didn't really laugh out loud just now. But I smiled pretty widely. If widely is the right word. Have I mentioned the smoke detectors? Yeah, we were all awakened or awoken last night to 8 smoke detectors beeping terribly obnoxiously.. I thought it was a nightmare at first. Until I stumbled out of bed and saw my aunt and uncle also stumbling around trying to figure out what was up. Apparently the batteries never got changed and the detectors got mad. And so they planned a sinister "revenge" that took place in the middle of the night.. #themadness.

If I weren't as I tired as am or if I were more awake then I feel I would definitely be of a sounder mind then what I have. I bet Lewis Carroll would say something like that. I think I remember writing this loopy/sleepy-ish once before. I think it was during a chat conversation with a friend, back in the days when I actually logged on to facebook chat. Today I'm just a ninja.

Okie Doke, says the 5 year old inside of me. Goodnight Amie. Goodnight Mum. Goodnight Hannah. Goodnight Anna Kay. As I do believe you are all the people who read this blog :) Which is great, I like being able to cater to such a small audience and also to myself. Though I might regret not even check-reading what I'm about to post in the morning.. For now, I will just say, Buenos Noches!

Anthropologie.

Once again in LOVE with Anthropology! & once again, I have to have willpower to walk away from all of the cute clothes & adorable giraffe candleholders as they range from $38-100.00 (a piece) Tragic is our relationship. Like Romeo & Juliet. Only instead of feuding family's, I have a budgeted wallet, and instead of someone dying at the end. I just end up walking away empty handed. So maybe not like Romeo & Juliet at all. Maybe it's just tragic.

Regardless, I'm posting some pics here.. proof of my tragic love story.

Yeah, just the tip of the iceberg into the frosty sea of beautiful, yet insanely priced things Anthropologie has avaliable for purchase.

The top 2 are window displays. How amazing would it be to get to design such neat displays like that?? I'm definitely going to look into it after I graduate from SCAD.

And the latter two, the giraffe candleholder and the gazelle pillow. Yeah, those are 2 items I fell in hopeless love with. I might actually get the giraffe.. He's only 38.00.. & the "only" is just slightly sarcastic :)

haha, ok. enough drooling. Cheers, cyberspace of my rambling thoughts! Until tomorrow.

~kt

Again with the Free time.

Hola. Hi. Hello. Hey. What's up. Bonjour. Yo. and Hollah.

cstm.

yeah, (big sigh) again with the lapses of time where I have so much free time. Unfortunately, I've had to wait to go exploring today, which is okay, I mean.. I have so many more days in which to explore. And it's the weekend. So lots of Mandt family shindigs going on.

I'm kind of debating deleting my facebook. I know. something I have never even considered before as to all of the photos I've uploaded over the years. But I'm tired of being the habit of constantly checking it. & honestly, it's not that exciting. I feel like I've kind of dropped off the social face of the earth this summer anyway. No, I'm not all sad & pathetic & lonely. lol. But, I definitely am taking a bit of hiatus from everyone. And those are good, right? Everyone needs a break now & again. Right?

Anyway, took my morning walk today. It's still drizzly here. But I took my camera anyway. Snapped some photos of my favorite houses on Mossman, some flowers were beautiful too, and then I just stalked some chipmunks like a National Geographic photog (though far less gracefully) until I looped back home. Got some cute ones too :)

Now, I just ate a whole bag of mini-carrots. That was lunch.

yum.

I guess it would be worth writing that I am finally starting to get the hang of this whole "Wii" remote thing.. haha. I was never ever skilled at it before, as, obviously, we don't have a Wii. And I have few friends with Wii's. But my cousins have one. & they have Mario Kart. Which is awesome, as I love Mario Kart. My character for this version is Baby Peach! haha, yeah.. She's awesome. With the bike with the turtle shell + her, I am a winning machine! lol. ok, maybe not quite.. but we're training!

Basketball with Lauren has been quite fun too. We play "commentary ball" a game I created, where we play 1 on 1 and I am the announcer dictating every move we do. It's pretty funny. And definitely strategic, as we mostly end up laughing and missing shots. at least, she does ;)

So yah. Still living the Sudbury life. I think we're going to begin more out of city adventures come next week though. Definitely going to hit up the Red line into Boston and see some museums, shopping, and r&r. Should be awesome! I'm staying chipper.

So until later, eat y our carrots. And pray the sun comes out again soon.

Verse of the Day.

Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all he has done.

--Philippians 4:6 (New Living Translation)

Today, in a few select words.

cinnamon rolls. bacon. library. adventure. didn't get lost. swimming. hot tub. leftover chinese food. stumbleupon. & Harry Potter marathon!!!

rainy days and complicated board games

So tonight, my 11 year old cousin attempted to teach me the game "Risk"
Now, when I think back to my memories of the game, "Risk" I always think of the McConnell's house, back in the early 2000's, when Jayce & Mr. Don would have commendered their dining room table with a board filled with little army men and cannons in a so-called strategic battle that generally lasted hours, if not days.
And so when my cousin pulled that game out of the designated game cupboard, I was a bit like "yeahhh, ok. funnnn" But, I was up to trying it!

So 30 minutes later.. after the instruction manuel had been fully exhausted, and my aunt, lt, and I had our little men spread throughout all of the 42 territories, the game finally started to make sense. And so we enjoyed a bit of actual play time, with dice moves decided whether Mongolia got to invade Siberia, and yadda yadda.

5 minutes or so later, we called game.
lol. Sorry Risk, but we decided to leave the strategizing for another night..
I can definitely see how guys ages 10-17 could be enthralled with that game, and maybe if I'd grown up with an older brother, I would have gotten into it. But at this current stage in my 20 year old life, as a chick, I don't really see any "allure" so to speak, that will ever entice me to play it again..

So yeah, that's my story for today! It's been a rainy day up here. So no morning walk. But I did get to drive a lot today! Quite the adventure. Erika and I almost died in Concord. (not really, but we came close to being t-boned) & all I could say when I saw the car coming was, "Oh look, we're going to die" that was it! Just so matter of factly. lol. It's horrible! But only because we had guardian angels, and we lived! We laughed and laughed the rest of the ride after that. Let me just say also, that if my aunt & uncle didn't have a gps, I would DEFINITELY probably not even be here writing this blog entry. I'd probably be in New Jersey. Or in Rhode Island. These New England roads are quite different from the Southern routes I'm used to. But I do believe I'm beginning to get a good hang of it. Let's see how this next week goes.

So yeah, exciting stuff, right? Oh, the life of a nanny. ;)