picture, movies, links galore

Tomorrow is June! I can't wait. Let me wrap up the month of May with a weekend recap.

Friday we went to see Up in theaters. Didn't get to go in 3D because it was sold out, but 2D was just as good. It's a great movie. Go see it. (Unless you're KV, then don't, because it's a cartoon...)

Saturday morning went to a potluck breakfast for tutoring and recapped the year. See previous post with azalea. (Chuck Bass wins. And not by default. Because it's an amazing name for an amazing plant).

Saturday afternoon we went to a wedding out in Litchfield. It was lots of fun. Apparently most MN weddings (or is it just ones in Nick's family?) involve hula hooping at dances. Hmm. Before we got to the wedding, we stopped to see the world's biggest ball of twine* Didn't know it at the time, but apparently there's a Weird Al song all about it.Here we are at the big ball of twine. It's a little difficult to demonstrate the ball of twine and take a self portrait. It's there in the background. Plus, it was a good excuse to take a picture.

Today was chill. Just hung out, got caught up on some sleep. Watched Dan in Real Life. It's so good. So glad friends have started giving good movie recommendations.

That's it. Happy "June is tomorrow already?!"

*Apparently, it's the world's largest ball of twine "made by one man." A whole town in Kansas made a bigger one, but it was a group collaboration.

name the azalea

Meet my brand new azalea, courtesy of the tutoring program I volunteer with! I hope I can keep it alive... any thoughts, tips, recommendations for how not to kill the plant? Remembering to water it is key...that's how I killed the last one.

Also, I need a name for the azalea. Can't decide if it's a he or she. The best I came up with was Leah the Azalea. Corny, I know. That's why I need your help! Winner will be announced when a good name is recommended!

grow up.

Stumbled across this article today as I was catching up on my Google reader. If you don't use a reader, you should. I play daily catch-up at work, but the long weekend overflowed my reader with 800+ items.

The article comes from a blog/site called Tomato Nation, and it's called "25 and Over." 20 hard realities about how you should act when you turn 25.

Okay, so I'm only 23 going on 24, so I like that I don't do all of these and supposedly can get away with them for another year-ish. But the blog made me smile at how harsh and true it was. Maybe everything they say isn't quite legitimate, but I'll share with you anyway:

4. Develop a physical awareness of your surroundings. As children, we live in our own heads, bonking into things, gnawing on twigs, emitting random squawks because we don't know how to talk yet. Then, we enter nursery school. You, having graduated college or reached a similar age to that of the college graduate, need to learn to sense others and get out of their way. Walk single file. Don't blather loudly in public spaces. Give up your seat to those with disabilities or who are struggling with small children. Take your headphones off while interacting with clerks and passersby. Do not walk along and then stop suddenly. It is not just you on the street; account for that fact.

8. Do not share the crazy dream you had last night with anyone but your mental wellness professional. Nobody cares. People who starred in the dream may care, but confine your synopsis to ten words or fewer.

fridge

So, I'm cleaning the fridge out at work tomorrow. I've told people that as long as their name is on it, I won't throw their food away. They keep e-mailing me, "Um, Nikki, I've got yogurt in the fridge, please don't throw it away." And I say, put your name on it, I won't throw it. So, in honor of the fridge cleaning and everyone's favorite Beyonce song, I came up with new lyrics..

'Cause if you liked it, then you should've put your name on it
If you liked it then you should've put your name on it
Don't be mad once you see that I threw it
If you liked it then you should've put your name on it
Oh, oh, oh.

ice cream night

These are some of the girls that I tutor every Monday night. We met at the beginning of their freshman year in 2007. Now they are finishing their sophomore year! We all went out for ice cream in place of tutoring (which they complained about!), hung out, and enjoyed the lovely weather!Me with Mai Te

Catherine, myself, and Mai Te.

Mai Te and Lorena

These girls make tutoring worthwhile. On the Mondays that I don't feel like being there, it goes away the moment I step in the door and get to hear about what's going on, what's the latest in Geometry, plus their opinions on Twilight, Gossip Girl, and everything else wonderful.

low-quality pictures.

It's Star Party recap time. Sorry, we didn't have close enough seat for high-quality pictures. So you get low-quality. If you squint really hard and look, you can see pictures of Flo Rida in the first picture. #2 is a blurry rendition of Matt Nathanson.
Matt Nathanson, by the way, had the best stage presence and was the funniest by far. And good. All I have to say is, if you can cut to playing "Jessie's Girl" in the middle of one of your own songs - and then cut back - you are amazing.

It was a good time. Super fun. Great company. Couldn't have had a better night. Oh, and I love Flo Rida. Love. Him.

queque

Last night was a monumental night in the lives of three girls. Last night, I hung out with friends Kelly and Sabrina and we each decorated our very on Gossip Girl Cake Wrecks. We can't submit them to Cakewrecks because we're not professionals, but we had a good time anyway.

We'll start with my wreck. That's a purse and a cell phone. I realize they don't look like it at all. X's and O's around the side, maybe a little mixed up.

Then there's kelly's ghetto fabulous "Gozip Gurl" cake. I love her cake.

And you have to make a Chuck Bass cake. Thanks, sabrina!

More than good times were had by all, plus, who wouldn't want to eat these fantastic GG cakes?

Happy Mother's Day

To my mom - you rock, I love you!

To my mom's mom - she is just as awesome!

with a little help from my friends

So, some of you may know, I've started added a random question to the voicemail greeting on my cell phone. It's something like, "Hey, this is Nikki, leave me a message and answer this question: What would you do right now with $100?"

But I'm stuck. I haven't come up with anything fantastic of late, so for the past week or two, it's been: If you could be any one place right now, where would the be?

Help me out, friends - what are some spectacular, thought-provoking questions that people should answer on my voicemail? (And it should probably be suitable for all ages/types...)