Suburbia

I've been out of town for the past two weekends, and I chose to spend my time in the wildernesses of...suburban Puyallup and Portland. Let me tell you, neither locale is for the faint of heart!

I went to visit my mother's brother and family the weekend of the 14th, and I got to take the exotic transportation device known as "The Sounder". It was my first time. I was excited because the trains are the same double-decker kind used all over Italy. Rather than seeing the sparkling Ligurian Sea, however, I was treated to the damp, gray valley that is Pierce county. My aunt and uncle's farm is a treasure-trove of Americana, and I spent the weekend feeding horses, playing with cats and dogs, baking, painting my cousin's bedroom, not showering, not getting dressed, playing Rock Band, eating oreos dipped in raspberry jam, and being lazy with my lovely cousins. I also learned a very important skill: apple peeling. My aunt has this fantastic machine that allows you to pop an apple onto a rod and spin a handle, slowly advancing the apple toward a razor blade, which peels and cores the apple in one fun motion!

I got to do this procedure about 10 times and I was quite giddy, as avid Team Lara fans may imagine. It was magical.

This weekend I made the epic journey down to P-town for a doctor's appointment and some old fashioned family bonding. I helped pick out paint colors for our kitchen, family room, and den, beat my dad at Mario Kart, listened to my mother hum while making dinner, dealt with the thermostat being raised to 75 deg., introduced my grandpa to Thai food, went to the library, and had, generally speaking, hott times. And by "hott times" I mean falling asleep with my cat on the couch at 10pm on a Friday night with a rerun of CSI on in the background. It was bizarre (read: wonderful) to go four whole days without seeing a single hipster, to be the one almost hitting a pedestrian instead of being the pedestrian, and to not pay any sales tax on my hair conditioner from Fred Meyer. Ahh, suburbia, with all your joys and mysteries, how I love thee!

Coming up for Team Lara: Thanksgiving reunions with the BFFs, a review of the second Pants movie during a drunken viewing at said BFF reunion, my 22nd birthday, the hell that is Lemieux's reading room at 4am on Tuesday of Finals Week, and the Holy Grail of Fall Quarter--Christmas Break!!