hi hi (to borrow a phrase from mr. h!)
i stumbled across this site while looking for pictures related to stress and depression etc...go figure! anyway, it was pretty amusing, especially since i am working on finalizing my tickets to germany....oh, the possibilities. ha ha. www.airtoons.com yawn. i have to go and finally start reading the scarlet letter by nathaniel hawthorne...what possessed me to try to read a bunch of classics this summer??? so far, i have 2 down.....ahhhhh!!!!!
stephanie

oooooh ahhhhh

hey! just finished the computer game Nancy Drew: Ghost Dogs of Moon Lake (hence the picture...) - it was good!! we (nicole, michelle, sean & i) have become quite addicted to these nancy drew games - they're so much fun! thanks alicia for first introducing us!!! lol. anyway, the first one took us about 3 months to finish because we kept getting stuck. then we discovered the message boards and finished the games in like 3 days...bad us. so i was determined to do the game without cheating...and i did! i am so proud of myself, especially the times when i resisted temptation. lol. i really really recommend these games - they're fun, challenging, and if you take the time, they can be a somewhat of a learning experience. you should try them sometime!
steph

happy summer!!

happy first official day of summer 2005!! yeah!! so go outside and enjoy this lovely weather!! i realize this statement is kinda hypocritical of me as i sit here at my computer writting this while listening to fountains of wayne, and making copies of my graduation powerpoint to give to all of nicole's friends (3 more to go!) I KNOW!! but oh well...do what i say and not what i do. anyway, as soon as this is over, i think that i am going outside to help my dad plant flowers. so there!! lol. enjoy!!
steph
ps - my keyboard is acting weird today...the caps lock and shift keys have decided that they no longer want to work for me. ahhhh! it's getting quite annoying.

sand, sand and more sand!!

g'day!! ok, but now it really should be g'night but whatever...
last night after work i went to a sleep-over at the co-workers' house. it was a blast!! i think that i was the first sleep-over that i have been to in the last 4 years. wow. anyway, it was a lot of fun - we had a toga party (which i missed the majority of), way too many desserts/junk food, watched the spitfire grill (it's an ok movie in a retreat/moral lesson kind of way) and our favorite clips of phantom of the opera since only 3 people wanted to really watch it, and stayed up talking for a couple of hours. it was fun!!! then today we went to the indiana sand dunes. at first i was unsure as to whether or not i was going to go because my mom was nervous - how are you getting there, who is driving, you're not driving, how long will you be...all those type of questions - and i was supposed to be going to a wedding. i kinda didn't want to go to the wedding because although i had met everyone in the family (about 4 years ago!!), i didn't think i would enjoy myself because we aren't really friends anymore and i wouldn't have known anyone. now i am really glad that i didn't go because (1) i had a really great time at the dunes, and (2) my sister said that the wedding was boring because she didn't know anyone. the dunes were awesome though - i am soooooooooooooo glad that i went!!! lol. by the time we got there (we had gotten lost a little), we didn't have much time to spend, but it was still a lot of fun. first we had to climb this mother of a sand mountain!!! i was HUGE and very very STEEP! it was almost impossible to stand straight as well as keep moving - the sand was super hot and really hard to walk on! kayci and i held a little rebellion once we finally got to the top - we declared that we weren't going to go down the other side to the water and that we were going to simply sit there all day. the view was gorgeous!! the water was such a vibrant color blue-green, tons of boats were out, and there was a neat view of the chicago skyline. well our rebellion didn't last all that long - maybe 10 minutes - before kata dragged us down the hill to eat lunch. we all decided to put some lemon juice in our hair...let's see if it works. then we just kinda sat around, talked, and ate some more. caroline was the only one to bring a bathing suit, but lauren went in the water anyway. they said it was nice. so i decided that i was going to merely get my feet wet. the water was a little cold, but once i got used to it, it felt great! after deciding to move just a little deeper, i accidently got the knees of my jeans wet, then my thighs and butt - i was just a teensy little bit wet. after caroline saw how wet i was, she suggested that i might as well just get all the way in - and so i did! it was really worth it because the water felt so nice. plus, i haven't gone swimming in a lake in clothes for a long time (i wear a bathing suit you idiot! get your mind out of the gutter!! lol) so it felt pretty cool. i think i gained at least 10 pounds because of the weight of my wet clothes!! lol. it felt so weird. kata wanted pictures so we all laid down in the sand - i stood up and my wet clothes were plastered in sand!!! lol. i think i looked silly. ah well. luckily i had planned ahead so i had a change of clothing...but i was still wet and sandy the entire ride home!! poor car - i think we made an enormous mess. oh well. the entire ride home we sang/danced along to the radio - it was fun but i caught some people driving along giving us some weird looks...yeah!!! it was a blast! we all have decided that we are going to take another trip back for a longer time sometime later in the summer, so if you missed it, you can come then. now i am really tired - blah! i think i am going to go watch robin hood with errol flynn and oliva de ha...something or the other and fall asleep. night!
steph

phantom of the opera continued...

another picture of erica and val dancing...oooh they are going to love me!! lol.

a butt?? what's so scary about a butt?

good news everyone!! good news!! i actually got some pictures developed in a relatively short time after i took them!!! whooo!!! ok - it's been about a month, but since i am a person known to not develop a disposable camera in 4 years (seriously! i've done that! anyway...) and i found a bunch of pictures from senior outing, baccalaureate, last day of school...and this one! lol. this would be on may 20 after val, talie, erica, megan and i finished watching phatom of the opera. yes...we were listening to music in the credits or something and val and erica were "dancing" haha. talie is sitting in the background looking like that little monkey music box. anwho - that was such a great night!! lol. i loved that movie already but now it will be even more funny!! lol. there were so many different reactions...erica was gushing (i was going to use a different word here...if you were there you know what it is...erica you dirty person you! but i thought i would try to keep it moderately clean. use your imagination) over the music while megan was randomly laughing at the storyline or making comments...HILARIOUS!!! lol. i think you kinda had to be there to get it...it's not quite as funny merely hearing about it but let me say you really missed out. lol. maybe i'll post some more pictures later.....ha ha guys! bet you love it!! lol.
steph
ps - i'm not in any of the pictures because i was the one with the camera....muahahahaha!!!

last night i saw "star wars episode III: revenge of the sith". it was quite good - i really like the fighting and the anakin's struggle between the good and the bad. but it was also sad!!!! you sit there watching knowing the whole time that anakin is going to turn, yet the entire time you keep hoping that maybe at the last minute he will change his mind....sigh. it's too bad, but i guess if he didn't, we would not have the other three movies. the good news is that now i have officially seen half of the star wars movies - now i only have to see I,V, and VI...i don't know why i haven't gotten around to seeing them yet - someday i think i just may have to sit down and have a star wars marathon - watch them all in a row....hmmmm. also! i thought the timing of this was really funny...i get home from the movie, check my email, and find that megan has sent me a link to store wars. omg! i laughed through the entire thing (please keep in mind that i am really easily amused - life is just better that way!) anyway, here's the link www.storewars.org so check it out!! lol. i thought it was very clever. ok, off to villa........ahhhhhhhh!! ok it's really not that bad. i have this tiny tendency to exaggerate things. oops. hey - how many of you get paid to play uno for 3 hours??? yay!!
steph
ps - thanks for going to see it with me julia!!!

if the thin wire can hold back chickens, it can surely hold back ducks...

hello!
we went to the wisconsin dells on sunday and monday as a graduation present to my sister...stayed at a hotel with a waterpark. it was fun! i love swimming! the water is always so relaxing - i think my favorite parts are always the lazy river, wave pool, and the really tall slides. they had a new 4-person tube ride called the cyclone - it was great! there were times when we left the "ground" so to speak. i love water!!!! whooo!! anyway, we only spend most of our time in the 4 indoor and outdoor waterpark areas. though we did play one round of lazer tag. you should of seen dave play! he insisted that he could carry the vest/gun - and so he played! he actually didn't do too badly for a 5 year old who has never played before!! lol. we also went on the "original wisconsin ducks" not to be confused with the army ducks or any others that they may have. anyway, that was actually quite fun. i've never done anything like that before - car/boat thingy. it was nice and it started to rain so the weather was nice and cool too. we also tried to visit one of our old neighbors from hinsdale (from about 15 years ago!!) but they weren't home. there was some major work going on the house so we think they sold/moved or something oh well. i enjoyed it. and we even got to eat at culver's!!! lol. i know it's not that big of a deal but i love that place!! lol. after that we basically went home....and then cleaned out the car which by that time was a total mess!! lol. fun times.
steph
ps - the title was from the duck rides as we passed some chicke wire.

phew, tis done!

i'm so happy because i finally finished the wpa graduation powerpoint...it only took like 5 hours a day for 4 or 5 days...you know, no time at all. i'm just glad that everybody seemed to like it and that it worked! for a couple of minutes i was freaking out because it refused to go, but thankfully it changed its mind and decided to be nice to me. plus, i learned how to do things too...like use our scanner and how to put music in the powerpoint...there! two new things that i've learned since school got out. that sounds good for the summer...anyway, now i just have to figure out how to transfer everything to cds because everyone wants a copy...hopefully it shouldn't be too hard. nicole's graduation was nice...a nice little ceremony in the middle of mass. not too crowed, but so HOT!!!! omg, it must have been about 100 degrees in there!! set up was fun too...ahhhhhh!! oh well. as long as all of the kids enjoyed themselves and have a happy memory of the day - i guess that is really all that matters anyway. i had to go to work afterwards...blah! but justin is back (the maintenance guy who gives me my lunch break and kills the last half hour or so by talking with me) which is good because once again i am guaranteed to eat dinner...for a couple of weeks it was a little iffy. yeah! that is really good news!! lol. i'm still playing about 3 hours of uno every saturday with this group of ladies (as justin pointed out - "you have it so bad") i know that i shouldn't be complaining because i basically get paid to sit around, play uno, read my book, paint my nails, watch old movies etc, but sometimes it can get a little boring. ok ok, i'm done complaining for today! yeah! got to rush of and do some unspecified chore now...guess i'll find out what when i figure out where my mom is yelling (for future notice - i tend to insert the word "yelling" for other words like "talking" or "correcting" so it's usually not as bad as i make it seem! most of the time anyway). be back later!
steph

tomorrow, tomorrow, i love ya tomorrow...

'lo
last night i went to see my younger siblings in their school play: Annie (Annie Jr. to be accurate). it was pretty cute - like all grade school plays are, complete with not so perfect singing and sound. still i am impressed for what they did...i'm sure it was way better than anything that i ever did while i was there. but it was sooooooo hot! either (1) there is no air conditioning - wouldn't be a big suprise, (2) the air was simply not turned on, or (3) the air was broken or not strong enough. basically everyone was melting. everyone felt really bad for the two girls who had to sing while wearing really heavy fur coats - ouch! but it was nice...haven't been to an all-school production there in a while so it brought back some memories that aren't too old. my mom is always talking about organizing an all class reunion (because even if everyone came there would only be about 40 of us. ha ha.) and it's starting to sound like a really good idea since many of us haven't talked in 4+ years....time to see really old friends, crushes - do you think they've gotten cuter? or are you painfully ready to admit that they were ugly the entire time??? i am thinking of a certain person in particular...meghan9loves etc. lol. fun times! now i'm going downtown to deliver some food to some friends who are organizing/working a missions week and summer camp...it makes me sooooo glad that i have air conditioning (spoiled me i know) because i bet they don't have any.
rushing off,
steph

shake that thing!

i forget the name of this song...but it's playing at the pool across the street...pool! you have no idea how good jumping in the pool sounds right now...this house is so hot but my dad won't put the air on yet. ooooooh water...ok for the third day in a row i am working on this wpa graduation powerpoint. i love these baby pictures!! i don't think it is possible to be an ugly baby, but geez, when you grow up you can have some problems! lol. ok ejoy the warm summer weather while i sit here if front of my computer for hours....
hot and frazzled,
steph
ps - look no picture!! i resisted the temptation to put in a random picture that i steal of the internet or elsewhere...i think all of the pics in the powerpoint are starting to mess with my brain!

today i was working on the deadly, super top secret, hadardous to my health, extremely important mission involving foreign policy and national security...ok, ok, i was really working on the wpa 8th grade graduation powerpoint. this was one of the pictures of my sister Nicole (and me too...i am so special because i will show up 3 times in this powerpoint. look what you can do when you control what pictures are used...muahahahaha!). anyway, i thought this picture was really cute (and more flattering than some of the other ones! lol) and i had to post it. this is nicole and i - i am obviously the cuter/taller/older one - in hawaii in 1992?? i think. it was fun...don't remember much about that trip except being afraid of the ocean, spending hours building sandcastles, and snorkling in the pool. fun times! maybe i'll post some of the others later. shhhhhhhhh!!! don't tell her about the pictures until after she sees them on saturday!
steph

bu ha ha...i love this picture!! anywho i am working on the wpa graduation pics.......trying to find all of those embarrassingly cute pictures of graduates when they are babies, naked in the bath, or making weird faces. it's fun! lol. last night my mom and i were digging through some old pictures of her...in saddle shoes, purple paisly minidresses and bellbottoms...wow. can't wait for the day when i look back on old photos and wonder what the heck i was thinking when i bought/wore that outfit!! lol
happy reminiscing!
steph

today's little art lesson

hola! nothing noteworthy happened to me today, so i decided to post this picture. first of all, it's called "charring cross bridge" (in london!) painted by andre derain (de-RAN...i recently found out that i had been pronouncing his name wrong, so i included it to avoid future confusion). he was a fauvist. fauvism began aroun 1905 when art critics compared the art to wild beasts (fauves in french). they are famous for the shockingly bright but usually happy colors. anywho, i really really like the colors in this picture because they are so different and bright! i am a fan of bright colors as long as they are not too obnoxious. i don't like all of derain's paintings, but i think this one is cool. and to think, that i probably never would have heard of this guy if i hadn't dropped ap english and taken humanities instead. moral of the story= take humanities!! it's an awesome class...and you get to paint (even on the final!!)! ok - i was looking through all of the pictures that i have saved on my computer, and this is one of my favorites, so i posted it. then i had to give a little explanation, so here's your 30 second art history lesson for today...
colorfully yours,
steph

ok now that it is summer - well it's been summer for the last week, but whatever - it is time for me to come up with my first annual (ha) summer book and movie list! since i will be away from home soon (shout of happiness + tears!), i need an official list of all the really really great movies that i have missed due to mother censorship. that sounds kinda harsh on my mother (sorry mom!), and while it definitely could be really annoying, it wasn't all that bad. but i am going to fix that now!!! soooo...and kind of suggestions on what i should read and/or watch this summer would be greatly appreciated - let me know!
in a rit of fealous jage (a shot in the dark!),
steph