i planted dahlias in pretty pots on my porch on friday! unfortunately, they don't seem to be doing very well. i knew there was a pretty good chance that i'd kill them, but i didn't think they'd be dead when i woke up the next morning. and yet, there they were, all wilty and sad on saturday morning. i thought maybe it had gotten too cold out, so i brought them in and put them by a sunny window, but the downhill slide seems to have accelerated too quickly. i think i have massacred the flowers. :(

today was the college of agriculture and natural resources "battle of the majors" (natural resources management and engineering, animal science, landscape architecture, and plant science). it was a big field-day type event with tug of war, an egg toss, a milk chugging contest, and things in that general vein. here are some pictures of team NRME Grads...we had a lot of fun and did really well in some of the events, so it was a good day. and then, of course, i went inside and did work for a few hours, which was not fun but was productive. which is good. overall, it was a lovely weekend despite my black thumb of death wreaking havoc on innocent fauna. *sigh*

pictures of the new jeep here, here, and here!

i have tinted windows. i'm ghetto. :D

goodbye blue jeep, hello green jeep...

today i sold my shiny blue wrangler and got my new (to me, anyway) shiny green wrangler. it's a 2000, dark green with half doors and a tan soft top...and it's stick. which makes me feel even more "rugged" than i already was, per the farm services guys at uconn. it's in really great shape, low miles, and i got a pretty great price on it b/c the dealer selling it wanted to buy my jeep pretty badly. and, best of all, it's mine. mine mine mine. no cosigner, no co-owner, just plain mine. and that feels really, really good.

i'll post pictures tomorrow :)

~*~*Welcome to the world, Tristan Benjamin Renshaw!*~*~

my friends chris and jody had their baby boy this evening (April 4th)! i am SO EXCITED to meet this baby :)

everybody say 'hi baby tristan'!

okay, okay, i just posted like an hour ago. whatever. i had to post this for all of the old school 'oregon trail' fans out there. and april, this one is for you :)
[see all the shirts here]

i am so ready for spring. we had a few teaser days; mid to high 50's and sunny...but i want real live spring. sunshine and flowers and flip flops. flip flops are my shoe weakness. generally, i don't care so much about shoes. september through march/april (april this year...), i basically wear my lace-up boots, which are the exact same lace-up boots that i've had for the past 4 years, b/c i wear them until they die and then re-buy the exact same pair. but come spring, i am the flip flop queen. i have a flip flop for every occasion. no, really. i do. it's sick. i have green flips and black flips and brown flips. i have suede flips and corduroy flips and straw flips and cloth flips. i have thin soled flips, thick soled flips, and wedge flips that make me supah dupah tall [side note to dana: not taller than you, don't worry ;)]. it's craziness. and now, i see that old navy has made april third (tomorrow) the First Official Day of Flip Flops. so, you know, i *have* to wear them. it's an official day, for crying out loud. not only that, but apparently, they're also conducting a flip flop model search. you fill out a form and send them a picture of your feet, and they decide who's feet are most "flip flop worthy." psh. my feet are *so* flip flop worthy (stop with the short toe jokes! stop it!). you never know; it could be my life's calling. i'd be the most over-educated flip flop model east of the mississippi, i can tell you that much. and west, for that matter.

currently laughing my butt off at engrish.com...this, this and this are a few of my favorites so far...

i hate when my batteries go exploring.

busy, fun weekend...my sister got married on saturday! the weather was sunny, the service was beautiful, and everything went off without a hitch. even i, a confirmed non-dancer, danced the night away and had a blast. good times.

don't have much time to update right now, and i'm afraid the rest of the week will be more of the same. i'm swamped with school work and need to be a bit of a hermit for a little while. i'll try to be reasonable about updates though, i promise...

yay for grown-up underoos! these, in particular...("can't you just see her in that outfit? WHOO!"). ahahahaha!

i crack myself up sometimes. it's a good thing, really.

i have found jesus. he drives a hatch back. i didn't follow him, though...he got off a different exit.

oh, and in case anyone was curious...the monkey name went for $650K. i hope they don't name it something lame...

that's just not nice. not nice at all. :P

man, the downside of anticipation is that once you finally get to the thing you've been anticipating, it inevitably flies by and then *poof*...it's gone. i have been seriously bumming all day. :P

on the up side, i had a *fantastic* weekend, could not have been better, aside from bringing dana back to the airport at which point i cried like a big ol' goober. i've never missed someone so much. and rob's band tied for runners up in the battle of the bands (they was robbed!). the band that came in first played well, but their singer bit. rob's band was better. hush up, i'm not biased. okay, i am. but they were.

on an unrelated note, i have decided to create a drink for jim called "the irritated irishman." any suggestions?

:)

it's friday, it's friday! *does happy friday dance*

picking up dana at the airport at 7 tonight, then headed to see rob's band compete in a "battle of the bands." rock on. yay for boyfriends flying all the way across the country, even if it's not even for 48 hours! ;)

this itty bitty cheeseburger made me think of april and her love of all things miniature... :)

update: current going price for the monkey name is 65K!

i stumbled across this the other day...how incredibly, incredibly bizarre. apparently, you can "buy stock" in my blog...and even stranger, somebody actually has. i'm flabbergasted. i've never heard of such a thing. this, combined with me actually checking my counter statistics yesterday, has led me to conclude that at least a handful of people are actually reading my blog. and some of them actually ended up here somehow other than me actually giving them the link, because i'm pretty sure that i don't know anyone in germany or italy (guten tag! buon giorno!). not to downplay the aussie and canadian hits, but i'm pretty sure i know how you guys got here ;).

in any event, if i've been boring the crap out of y'all, i apologize. i'll try to be more interesting ;).

apparently, if you are filthy filthy rich, you can name a monkey. not just one monkey, but a whole new just-discovered species of monkey. i feel the need to point that out, b/c i was introduced to this topic by one of the professors coming into the graduate office and saying, with no explanation/introduction, "okay, i think we'll need to pool our money, but we may have a shot at naming a monkey." i assumed he meant one, singular monkey, but no: it's a whole darn species. of course, when he said this, no one had bid yet...considering that bids are currently at $12K, i think that chances of a department-wide monkey naming are pretty slim.

what would *you* name a monkey?

jim sent me this link...is it mean? yeah, probably. but it's also a really really good idea. cracked me up, anyway...