I Don't Dance

We work in this little place called the admissions office. It's pretty much the place to be. Especially since they take us to the TIGER'S game for student worker appreciation week. Apparently we're really good workers. And by "we" this time, we mean more than just Erika and Jessica. We mean all the UGuides: Sarah, Jenny, Alyssum, Nathan, Marissa, and... well, Dave's alright. ;)

The game was AAaaa-mazing. The Tigers totally killed. They scored 11 runs in ONE inning against the Texas Rangers. And! As if it couldn't get any better than that, Inge played 3rd, and Granderson was back from his injury. Everything was right with the world. :o)

To make things even better, our video actually worked this time! woo! We didn't tape any of the game... we were kind of high up. But! We did, however, tape all the dancing that went on between innings and as the batters walked up to the plate. Well. That's about all I have to say on the matter. Here's the video, enjoy!!

If it's telling you that it is no longer available, try this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IXUpobt7Sc

and you might have to refresh a few times.
I really don't know why we have such technical difficulties ALL the time..... argh.

Kung Fu Fighting

As it said in one of my previous posts, I (Jessica) love fire. While that's not 100% true, I do love bonfires. In fact, bonfire is my favorite smell in the WORLD (FYI - my #2 favorite smell in the world would be Hollister cologne for guys - just sayin').

Last night, Dave called me up and asked if I wanted to go to a bonfire that he and Greg were making. How can anyone in their right mind say no to that?

This past weekend, Erika left me all alone (again). Except I wasn't alone. Erin was here too, but I didn't really see her all that much. Andrew was here too, but pretty much all of our friends had left us for the weekend, so the 2 of us (Me and Andrew) kept each other company.

On Friday, we watched sports and Seinfeld (one of Andrew's favorite shows, I'm not the biggest fan). On Saturday, me and Andrew and Paul went to the SAU baseball game against Great Lakes Christian College and it was pretty much the biggest joke EVER. SAU was up 22-0 at the bottom of the FIRST and GLCC already had 7 errors. The pitcher also hit about 5-6 of our players, 2-3 of the hits were in the 1st. At first I thought it was funny, but then the humor turned to pity. Andrew and I ended up leaving after the 3rd and we were up 29-0. Even though we didn't stay till the end, I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that we won.

After that, I spent a lot of my afternoon catching up on my favorite ABC tv shows (Ugly Betty, Grey's Anatomy, LOST, and Desperate Housewives. Don't judge me. They were great.). It then came to bonfire time. During the 1st half of the night, we watched Dave, Greg, and Matt act like ninjas trying to chop up the wood for the fire. And then Dave proceeded to dress up as a ninja and ran into Village B and scared a bunch of girls. It was pretty much the sweetest.

I didn't get a ton of pictures or good footage, so I kind of combined it into a 30 second video or fire jumping and pictures of the evening.

(go here if the video won't work - http://youtube.com/watch?v=WEfvCwD8lMo)



P.S. Post Script, right Greg? :)

P.S.S. Even though Justin thinks I act like Pam from The Office, I have a confession to make. I am not. That being said, I did not walk the coals in the fire. I'm not that bold. Or that strong. Or that sweet. Sorry, guys. :(

P.S.S.S. Dave E. Evatt will be the death of me.

P.S.S.S.S. Andrew owes me a million dollars. Literally. $250,000 per year over the course of the next 4 years.

How to Save a Life

How do you save a life, you ask?

Not how The Fray tells you how in their song... no.

The real way to save a life is to participate in Relay for Life. Which we did! Yesss.

And we had a totally sweet time. By we, that means Jessica and Erika (of course) AND Pablo!! As fun as living in a room with 3 hot ladies can be, he was tired of sitting around the room all the time and needed to get out. Since Jessica and I are good parents/fun aunts, we decided to let him join us. He was also looking really forward to going on the hot air balloon ride, which was one of the fundraisers. Unfortunately, it was too windy. And I (Erika) totally called that one. Thanks, Timmy.

He had a great time, anyways, though. This slide show is just cause we couldn't decide which pictures to include and which to leave out... so we decided that the best course of action would be to include them all this way. :o) [don't mind the depressing music. we just thought it would be appropriate cause of the title.]

(Go here if you can't see the video - http://youtube.com/watch?v=OFtjaKtgtA4)

So. As you can see, Pablo thoroughly enjoyed himself.

He did have a slightly traumatic experience. He was KIDNAPPED! It really was one of the scariest moments of my (Erika's) life.

Ok. We'll make this easy. From here on out, when I say "I," I mean, Erika. K? K.

Anyways. I was holding Pablo while Jessica went to the bathroom, and Dave-freaking-Evatt said to me, "Hey Erika, I gotta tell you something." He came up to me and snatched Pablo right out of my hands. I held on as long as I could, but then I started to hear a ripping sound. So, naturally. I let go. I didn't want to rip his arm out. But. It wasn't that bad. Cause it's only Dave. He really wouldn't do anything to really harm Pablo, right?

Wrong. He gave him to Tony. Yes. Tony. I chased him ALL over the track trying to retrieve my child. But Tony ran into a tent or something and I totally lost him. And Pablo.

By this time, Jessica came out of the bathroom, so I rushed over to her and frantically told her what happened. We tried to find Tony, but all we found was Andrew who offered us no help whatsoever. He just kept accusing us of being bad parents. Which we are NOT. He was mistaken. I tried calling Jamar and make him come help us. I got his voicemail and said, "PABLO'S BEEN KIDNAPPED! HEEEELLLP!" Or something to that effect.

We kept looking and finally found him in the tent next to us. They took very good care of him there, and it really did all work out in the end cause Pablo made a great new friend named Ashley. He liked cuddling with her. :o)

Then I decided I should call Jamar back and let him know that all is right with the world cause Pablo is back. So, I did. I got his voicemail, and as I was assuring him that everything was ok, Brian Meagher came up behind me and Jessica and had the scare of the CENtury. So I screamed very loudly in Jamar's voicemail's ear. Sorry Jamar. Heh. It probably didn't really reassure him like I hoped it would...

The rest of Relay for Life was pretty uneventful in comparison.

Although. JD and his band played. And that was spectacular, as always. Steve makes great faces as he plays the drums. :o) But. Like I said, they were awesome.

And then Jessica and I walked with Paul and Andrew. And then I started walking w/ Jamar. We walked from 1:00-2:30 a.m.... ish.

It was spectacular.

The end.

Sugar, we're going down...

There are 2 things we love in life: ice cream and fire. Hence the title. 

Sugar = ice cream

We're going down = the building we just lit on fire*

(*Disclaimer - we don't really light things on fire)

We were sitting in our room. Doing homework (go figure, right?). When, suddenly we heard the most wonderful sound that anyone in the world will ever hear. Ever. 

That's right. 

Jessica gazelle-leaped off the futon in glee as she shrieked "is that the ICE CREAM truck??" Erika immediately regretted getting ice cream from the DC as she looked out the window and saw that Jessica was indeed correct. 

We grabbed our money and ran haphazardly into the street, forgetting what our parents had told us numerous times about looking both ways before crossing the street. But it's ok, cause everyone stops for ice cream trucks. We weren't the only ones, either. Eager college students came running from all directions towards the street with cash in their hands. 

Jessica ended up getting a Chocolate Eclair 

Erika ended up getting a Strawberry Shortcake. 

And it was heaven.

After we ate our ice cream (yuummmm!), we got back to doing some homework. We were being so good that night. :o) 

And then we heard one of the most annoying sounds in the world. It wasn't an alarm clock, a mosquito buzzing in your ear, or Andrew cracking his knuckles. It was the fire alarm. Every time this happens, our response is something along the lines of, "Seriously?" "For real?" or "Again?" Then Erika slowly gathered our things, like jackets, shoes, and in this case, a camera as Jessica finished a Scramble game (they're timed, you know.) And we made our way outside. It's a good thing it wasn't a real fire, cause we were moderately slow to say the least. 

Here's the lovely ladies of our village. Well, at least the ones that were in the village at the time. 

Ok. Peace out. :o)

More Bounce in California

We tend to push the boundaries of normal social conduct. But really, it's just because we're so sweet - not to toot our own horn or anything - but it's true.

Here at Spring Arbor, we have open hours (when guys and girls can go to the opposite genders' rooms) during certain times of the week, and we usually utilize this time. We tend to have an outrageous amount of fun, whether we're chilling out and watching a movie or playing a game like yahtzee or scene-it.

However, we sometimes have so much fun that we feel the need to create our own games.

They may have more bounce in California, but not on this past Sunday night. I think we totally had them beat...

Exhibit A: Bobbly Ball (created by Austin and Andrew)
There really aren't any rules. It's basically just skill. And annoying to the people living below us (sorry Erinn and Allison!!). It just goes to show how much fun you can have on a limited budget.
Unfortunately, we weren't able to capture all of the best moments (i.e. Andrew giving Erika a black eye), but this video** that we made kind of gives you an idea of how intense this game actually can get.


*Also. Andrew. A stitch in time saves nine. Just sayin'.

**We made a video, but for some reason youtube is being stupid... we'll keep working on it...

Sweet Home Chicago

Ok. So, maybe it's not my home at all. But I do think it would be totally sweet to live there. 

If you read Jessica's last blog, then you know that I (Erika) was in Chicago for a class trip. I went with my Art History III class, and it was sweeeet! We left at 8:00 Thursday, and we got back late Friday night. It was really cool, like I said. I have only been to Chicago a few times,  and I had definitely never seen all the art stuff that we go to go see too. It was also really cool to get to know all the people in my class. Since I just switched to art major this year, I don't really know many of the art majors. It was a great way to get to know some of them too. 

So. Like I said: we left at about 8 in the morning. We took a people mover and a regular van. The people mover filled up pretty quickly - the seats are big and nice and comfy, so I sat in the regular van. But! It all worked out in the end, cause I got a whole bench to myself. Yessss! I definitely spread out and slept the whole way there. It was glorious. 

The first thing we did when we got there was to look at a few sculptures. That was pretty cool... definitely not the coolest, though. After the little mini-sculpture tour, we went to Frank Lloyd Wright's Robie House. That was aaaaah-mazing. Probably one of the coolest things we saw the whole time. We got a tour of the inside, but they are working restoring it, so we didn't get to see all of it.

 But! At the same time, since it was raining out (which was a bummer), we got to go to a side of the house that most people don't get to see. Yessss. VIP right here. :o) Here's a picture of what we got to see that the rest of the world doesn't. It was the kids' play area. It might not look like too much now, but it was built like 100 years ago, and look how modern it still looks now! Ok. Maybe you're not excited about this, but I totally was. I could bore you with tons more detail that I totally love, but I'll spare you guys. :o) 

After the Robie House, we went to the Museum of Contemporary Art. Ugh. I wasn't too much of a fan of that place as a whole. There was some weird stuff there. And I'd like to think that I'm at least a little educated on art, and I can see the beauty of a Picasso painting... abstract stuff like that. But, man. This stuff was crazy. There was this one sculpture... it was of a mermaid. Ok. Not too weird. But! She had the Pink Panther on her back. Yes. The cartoon pink panther. What is that?? And that wasn't even the weirdest thing there. I swear. Weird stuff. We weren't allowed to take pictures, but I definitely wish that I could have just so that I could show you how odd this stuff was. There was some cool stuff there, too. There was an exhibit by an a

rtist named Alexander Calder, and that was sweet. He makes mobiles. Really sweet ones. Google him. 

After all that fun, it was time to go to the hostile and eat dinner. We basically had the whole night to ourselves. We went to Panera for dinner, and then a few of us went off and just wandered around downtown. It cold and rainy, but super fun. :o) We just wandered in and out of stores, took pictures, and acted like total tourists. We went into a Forever 21, and Cynthia and I got matching scarves. We were twins and it was pretty sweet. And this Forever 21 was huuuge!! 3 stories! It was amazing. 

And! There were these mannequins. If Kate were an mannequin, this is was she would look like. Booty poppin'. Heh. It was funny. And yet slightly disturbing. She had short little booty shorts on and everything. 

So. Naturally I took a picture. There ya have it. Kate Yo as a mannequin. 

The next day, we did an architectural tour, and that was sweeeeet. 

And we went to the Chicago Institute of the Arts, and that was sweet. It's true what they say: paintings are waay better in person... and there was an Edward Hopper exhibit there, and he's one of my faves. If you don't know him, he did this painting. If you've never seen it... well, then you must live in a cave. 

And. Of course. We went to the Bean. It was cool cause it was the first time I had ever been

there. :o) I definitely want to go back. It was kind of overwhelming... so many cool picture opportunities, but Cynthia and I didn't have time to totally capitalize on it. But this was my favorite. 

Well, there ya have it. Basically the highlights of my Chicago trip.

Peace out. :o)

Something's Missing

As it says in the title, something's missing. And it's my best friend.

Erika's in Chicago for a couple days and has left me all alone (in case you're having a slow day, me=Jessica). I don't think it would have been so bad, but the night before, she and I were talking about how we were going to be apart for the longest we've ever been, starting this summer. We pretty much won't see each other from May-January, because I'll be in South Korea and Disney World, and she'll be in South Carolina and Michigan. At least I'll be stateside, so that we can talk on the phone all the time, but I'm really going to miss my best friend.

However, I'm not just going to be a hermit while she's gone. Today, I ate lunch with Justin (who's the worst, by the way) and his Kid's Hope kid, Cody, aka, Stinkbomb 3000. I had thought that "Stinkbomb 3000" was a nickname, but apparently, it's an alter ego, because SB-3000 was in hiding, not eating lunch with us. I think Justin is going to go find him. Eventually.

As a fun fact, Cody said that one time he had so much gas to pass that it lifted him off of his chair. Maybe it's not just an alter ego. Maybe he's a straight up super hero. He's also single.


I also played Ultimate Frisbee with my brother floor, Village D. It was pretty much the sweetest. Except that it wasn't, because we lost, but I still had fun. :) I was known as "the girl" and the other team apparently didn't underestimate my mad skills this time because they covered me like nobody's business. We only lost by two touchdowns, though, so it was better than our first epic battle against Beta 2. The beat us (barely) by about 9 or 10 points. I think they cheated. Thanks, though, to everyone who played on my team (Jamar, Amanda, Nate, Steve, and Dave).

Today was also kind of a big homework day. I spent 3 1/2 hours in the library working on a consumer behavior project. After, I got a pizza from the cougar den, because I was famished. When I went to throw my plate away, I saw that someone had gotten rid of their easter basket with great stuff in it. It was pretty much a gold mine. So, Erin Buter and I went dumpster diving and came out with an easter basket, some peeps, a nail file, nail polish, and a Spanish phrase book. Yes. Erin is eating the peeps right now and says they are good. Ew (I hate peeps - and they are from the garbage). But, I was going to give them to Paul, who loves peeps, so it's good that I wasn't going to give him something crappy. Now he just doesn't get anything at all and can read about it in this blog. Sorry, Paul. My bad.

Lastly, tonight is the night that The Office returns to TV and we're watching it in the lobby. It's gonna be the best and I can't even wait. Not even a little bit.

Blank Sheet of Paper

Ok, maybe not "blank sheet of paper," but that's what it starts out as. Homework. Blah.

As long as it doesn't end up the way it starts, we're good.

So, even though we are really fun most of the time ;o), some of the time, we just have to do homework. It's not all fun and games, you know.

And so we did. And here's proof.

Jessica: This is how I found Erika writing a paper when I came back from class. Weirdo McBeardo. I just had to take a picture. I mean, for real, Erika?

Erika: Sometimes I get tired of sitting at my desk and on the futon and on the floor and on the pink chair. So this is what happens. Ok?!?!?!

Jessica: This is a picture of me reading close to 300 pages worth of Business and Government texts. I have a test on Friday and am NOT looking forward to it.

Erika: My way of doing homework was far more entertaining. The end.

Erika: Ok. So maybe, my way of doing homework wasn't more entertaining... but. I had been working on that stinking paper for at least 5 hours. Almost straight. Moral of the story: don't procrastinate.

Jessica: In case you're wondering, she really was doing homework. She wasn't sleeping in this picture. Pathetic, I know.

Erika: Hey! (giggle, giggle)

The end. For real this time.

Get 'cha Head in the Game

It's nice to get off campus every once in a while. Even if it's directly across the street. Last night we went to Marino's for all you can eat pizza buffet. It was glorious. Every time we go we have a competition to see who can eat the most pizza. We didn't keep very good track of it this time, all we know is that Erika didn't win (like always), and neither did Jessica. We think it may have been Austin. Good job! It was pretty eventful... if you would like anymore info, just ask one of us for more details. :o) 

We know we wrote a little about tennis in the last blog, but with this excellent weather we have been having lately, it has kind of turned into an obsession for us (this time it's Austin, Andrew, Paul, and Lenora). 

While we were observing the games (Jessica, Erika, and Caitlynn), we noticed that Paul has a number of uses for his racket. 

Here is a list: 

1. He uses it for an actual racket (go figure)

2. He uses it as a guitar/ukulele 

3. He uses it as a Samurai sword

4. He uses it as a set of nunchucks (it is possible)

5. He uses it as a baton - balancing it on his fingers

6. He uses it as a gun

He's a resourceful guy. 

However, we are more resourceful. Cause we taped some of the game. Here's the highlights. Put to Get'cha Head in the Game, thanks to Jenny Timm. Who is basically the coolest person on Delta 3. (Move to Village C, Jenny!). Sorry some of it's hard to see - it was getting pretty dark, and we didn't know how to make the lights work. If you want to see a better quality version, stop by our room! :o)

Enjoy! 

Take Me Out to the Ballgame...

It all started out as another BEA-utiful day here at the Arbor.

Thanks to our friend, Andrew, we knew that Spring Arbor had a baseball game today so we decided to go for an hour. The baseball team here is REALLY good, so they are always fun to watch. Not to mention, that we know a few people who play, so that always makes it a little more entertaining too. There are also a lot of things that happen at the baseball games that don't really have anything to do with the game. It's a great time to just hang out with friends.

One of our biggest fears is death by foul ball. Really. It's scary. And more common than you would think (at least the foul ball part, not necessarily the death part). So we told Andrew that he was supposed to protect us from any kamikazi balls. He said no, but we could take the hat off his head and use that to catch the ball. Gee, thanks. We also established somewhere in the conversation that if he just happened to ruin Jessica's face, then he would either have to 1. pay for the plastic surgery to have it fixed or 2. find her a husband that could stand to look at her disfigured face.

There were also a number of things that we saw that we found interesting and felt needed to be shared with the world:
1. JD was there.
2. Just kidding about #1 - there's more. He was wearing a winter coat and a hoodie. It was 50 degrees and sunny. JD. Spring is here. Get in the mindset.
3. Although spring is here, the humidity hasn't really come all the way yet, and the air is really dry. The girl sitting almost in front of us had to have been the mayor of static-city. She could have electrocuted a small child, or maybe a cat with all that static.
4. Jon Schaible is verrrry fast.
5. Andrew is very protective of his hat.
6. Caitlynn is very good at stealing his hat.

Believe it or not, our day doesn't end there! :o)

We then met Paul for dinner. And Andrew forgot to push in his chair. So. Paul obviously put it under the table, because that's what you always do when somebody doesn't push in their chair. Andrew, rather than being a normal person and fixing his chair, decided to sit on it the way that it was, and thus punching his water, knocking it over, and spilling it everywhere. Maybe it was a "you had to be there" type thing, but it was hilarious! And officially the best part of Jessica's day.

After dinner, since it was such a nice day still, and you don't get many of those in MI, we went for a walk. During the walk, we encountered Andrew, Paul, Austin, and David. But they didn't see us. Cause we are stealthy. We hid in the trees and took pictures of them. And the trees hurt. Stalkers? No. Paparazzis. Duh. These pictures are of Andrew catching us being paparazzi and of Paul rockin' out on his air guitar/tennis racket while Austin watches :)

We did some other stuff that isn't really worth mentioning (aka: homework).
Then. We went to Jamar and Jessica's whiffle ball game, and they won! They didn't even strike out or anything, and are now in the toilet bowl championship whiffle ball game tomorrow at 9. Yessss.