thelongwells.com

This is the view from the front door. The kitchen is in the background through the door.

My room is upstairs and is the only one with a wall-in closet...although I'm the only one short enough to fit inside of it.

Well I'm about 2 months into my summer and it has been quite different than any prior summer. The first two weeks were spent with Darin and my parents in Berlin and Rome. I'm so lucky to have been able to visit Darin again in one of my favorite cities in Europe, Berlin, and then getting to see Rome as well. We had a wonderful time and I never wanted to leave. After many tears I flew back home for a week before moving back to Tacoma to start my summer reasearch project. Mom drove with me in the truck and then flew back after a few days. We spent the time cleaning the house and putting together ikea furniture for my room...and of course some shopping. I finally feel totally moved in and the house finally clean. After about a week and a half of boredom I headed back home to get my car and to go to Sarah's ultrasound (yeah a boy! although I lost the bet to Darin). I drove back to Tacoma yesterday after a quick visit from my friend from Spain, Genny, who hopefully I'll get to see again in July. I'm now back to work on my study and finding myself with tons of free time. I usually have most of the day to myself and then working on the study in the evenings. So to fill my time I decided to take the GRE this August so I have some studying to do and I'm also thinking about volunteering at a local physical therapy clinic to boost my hours for my grad school application. I'm also going to come back home for the Fourth of July...I just can't stay away from the lake for long. And then back to Tacoma to wait for Darin to get back in August...counting down the days. I miss him more than ever and can't wait for him to get back. So that's what I've been up to! I'll try to update more often.

By approximately noon tomorrow I will have finished my junior year. And it definitely was the fastest. I don't know if it's because I wasn't here for a semester or what, but I really can't believe that it is already over. Now I'm counting the minutes until I get home with just enough time for a long awaited visit from my abroad friend, Genny, before I pack my bags for the even longer awaited trip to Berlin. It has been difficult to study for finals and write a paper with thoughts of home, Europe, and Darin on my mind...plus the desire to pack to speed the process along. But somehow I've managed to pack up my room and memorize all the muscles of the body for my final tomorrow morning.  However in about a month I'll be back in Tacoma to continue with my research study. It really started hitting me that this would be my first summer away from home and it made me a little sad. But in reality I'm not too far from home so if I wanted to take a week here and there to go home I definitely can. Plus, I plan on making my family visit me a lot too. I am really excited about this study...how often do you get money from a school to study? It really is a great opportunity and will allow me to get my senior thesis well underway before the year even starts.  Well I better get back to my packing/studying so that I can try to get some sleep tonight before my drive home tomorrow. I can't wait to home again and see everyone...especially someone very special in Berlin. Love you all and see you soon!

Mom, Brian, Nikki, and Halle came to visit me this past weekend. We spent Sunday walking around downtown Seatlle and introducing Halle to the beautiful flowers and ugly fish of the Pike St Market. After this we had lunch at the market where I showed Halle how to open her mouth as wide as possible (who got pictures of that?) and it was pretty funny. Good thing I am around to teach these kids important life skills...maybe Halle will win a pie contest one day with this one.

Apparently Halle and I can't figure out which camera to look at.

I came home last weekend to get away from campus for little bit and hang out with the family. Everyone came out to the cabin and we celebrated Aaron's and my birthday...Sarah made an amazing cake. It was kinda Spring Break II for me. Only 4 more weeks of school and then it is summer! I found out a couple days ago that I was awarded a summer grant from the school to do some research. So it looks like I'll be in Tacoma for a little bit...but no worries I'll come home alot too.

Mom and Dad bought me this beautiful flowers for my 21st birthday. Thanks Mom and Dad!