What am I, an adult or something??

Ever since I got home from Africa, I've been doing a whole lot of hanging out with Jeff, scrapbooking and Friends watching. But now I have to go back to reality and start working. I eased myself into it by working two days two weeks ago with my favorite kids to babysit ever, Sarabeth and Susannah. Last week, I sat them three days and another family on Tuesday and Thursday. My Tuesday and Thursday kids I'll have the whole summer from about 9 to 6 and phew! turns out they're great kids! I was pretty nervous to babysit a boy, which I don't usually do. AND a going-into-seventh-grade-boy at that! But both he and his sister, Alyson (a 6th grader), were super fun! They like crafts and video games and nerf guns (some of my all time favorite things!) And yesterday we saw Karate Kid (one of the worst movies ever made) and had some fun outside playing WATER TAG! The best game ever which he invented..the person who's "it" has the hose and if you get wet, you're it! it was SO fun..until their mom came home and got mad! yikes! I'm really excited for a summer full of fun that might get their mom mad! hahaha

Another adult-like project (besides working 5 whole days last week!) that I've taken on is tutoring! I'm now the proud private Language Arts tutor for three kids in the Orange School district! Yay! It's almost like I'm a real teacher or something! The pay isn't amazing, but it's a blast to make up lesson plans and read all my old favorite books again! Neil, the fourth grader, is reading Half Magic with me. He's so smart! He really doesn't need a tutor! Haha he's a fabulous reader! He reads with great fluency and he sounded out words very well! He was great. My first third grader was supposed to read The BFG by Roald Dahl (I'm renewing my 8 year old self's obsession with one of the most amazing children's writer's of all time) but he already read it! So next week I'm bringing Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator instead! He is such an avid reader, he's read a lot of favorites! AND he picked up on my similes lesson really quickly, and was always proud of himself when he picked one out! My next third grader, Sonia, is tomorrow and I'm so excited to meet her!

Hopefully, I'll have more updates on my kids throughout the summer! YAY!

African Adventure: Part TWO!

So the next part of my adventure took place in the beautiful Cape Town! Since I have now discovered that I am a city girl at heart, this was my favorite part of the trip! It also led to the the most playtime with Elin so how could I NOT love it? I've been in Elin withdrawal for about two months now!

On Saturday morning we went up the cable car to the aptly named Table Mountain. We could NOT have asked for better weather! It was probably the warmest day of the trip with not a cloud in the sky. The view from the top was breath taking, and we had some fun exploring.

After a few hours we returned to the bottom to get over to Elin's Cape Town abode for a braai held for us and a few other families that were visiting and in celebration of two birthdays! Elin and her fellow grad and undergrad students cooked some DELICIOUS sausage, chicken, lamb, corn and garlic bread for us! Like everything on the trip, it was wonderful! I stayed for awhile after to watch an intense ultimate frisbee game (I was way too full and uncoordinated to participate) and to watch that night's soccer and rugby games! Rugby is a sport I will NEVER understand..I feel like Ross from Friends when I watch it! haha

On Sunday the whole family piled into our rental car to explore the Cape Peninsula! It was on this car ride that I ate the most delicious food of all...a whole city!!

The Cape of Good Hope was windy but very cool! You could see only oceans for as far as the eye could see in every direction! Then we went to where the old and new lighthouses are and I don't remember much else from that part of the trip because I used most of my energy to complain during this half hour of uphill walking to both lighthouses. But when we stopped at the two oceans restaurant afterwards for burgers, it was doubly delicious!!

My favorite part of the day was when we stopped to see the jackass penguins! They're called jackass penguins because they have a TV show where do stupid stunts to potentially hurt themselves...JUST KIDDING! They make this funny sound that sounds like donkeys! That's why! The best part about it was that they had babies!! And watching them waddle!! They look so silly!

Monday we went to Green Markey Square, a big open-air market in the city, and we wandered around a little bit in the slave lodge (they had a decent Nelson Mandela exhibit) and the community gardens. On Tuesday, we were glad to have visited the Mandela exhibit because we went to Robben Island, the island where political prisoners were kept during apartheid. The cool part about Robben Island is the tour guides, because they were all political prisoners themselves, and seeing Nelson Mandela's cell. For me, the cool stopped there. I wasn't really impressed with any other part of the tour, and I felt like they didn't really do justice to the experiences of the other prisoners there.

After our stay in Cape Town, we left for Stellenbosch, a cute town north of the city in the wine country. I liked this part of the trip because it included days of wine tastings and spa visits, and nights filled with delicious wine and food. I learned something very important about myself in this part of the journey...I'm and ABC-er, and "Anything But Chardonnay" wine drinker! A woman on one of our tastings pegged me as an unwooded white wine drinker and I haven't turned back ever since. Who would've thought that I would discover myself as a wino in South Africa and not Italy?? haha
On our very last day in Africa, We drove down to Cape Town to hang out with Elin (our flight wasn't until midnight!) This was another one of my favorite days, because we went to Old Biscuit Mill, a Saturday market that is filled with people, food, and shops..all my favorite things!! We hung out there for a while, drinking cappuccinos (which had heart designs in the foam!! so cool!) shopping and tasting food. Then Elin and I spent a looong time getting everyone lunch and we packed it up for a picnic in the Kirstenbosch gardens. They gardens were beautiful but my favorite part was eating the gyro that Elin and I got for ourselves: chicken, onions, yogurt-y sauce -y stuff, lettuce and FRENCH FRIES all rolled into a pita! Seriously, best thing I've ever eaten. After some hours wandering around and looking for a flower bigger than my face to bring back for Erin, we left to say goodbyes and head back home.

And after a loooooooong journey home, we made it home and now we get to tell everybody about the best trip ever! YAY!

African Adventure: Part ONE!

There is SO MUCH to tell about Africa that I have to do it in installments! haha Part One is Day 1- 8 in Africa, so basically the first half of our trip, which we spent in an AMAZING safari camp in the province of Limpopo, which is about 2-3 hours outside of Johannesburg. Elin and Teek met us in Joberg (that's what the cool kids call it) and traveled up with us to Dinkweng.

Our lodge was amazing and the view of the back porch was spectacular, we even had our very own fire pit and braai (essentially South African bbq) area!! But it got better: since we were the only guests that week, we got the Polaris (basically a huge golf cart!) ALL to ourselves for the whole week. Since Dinkweng is the "nice animal reserve" (no lions and tigers and bears!) we got to drive into the valley in our Polaris and drive around looking for the two giraffes that were on the property (which we saw--TWICE!) and a ton of different kinds of African deer. It was basically my dad's way of figuring out his menu for the next two weeks on wheels!! (he ate warthog, kudu, ostrich and springbok! I ate chicken!).
The night of our arrival, the nicest people in the entire world (the family that manages the gianormous property) hosted a braai for the 5 of us at the main lodge which was the most amazing kickoff to probably the best eating two weeks of my entire life!! We had chicken skewers and pork chops and the best sweet potatoes I have ever eaten and beer bread and God's gift to man: bacon and cherry skewers (my mouth is literally watering just THINKING of them right now!). What an awesome way to start an truly awesome vacation!
The next day we headed out to K'Ingo which was the sister and neighbor camp of ours which had the big 5, which is buffalo, elephants, leopards rhinos and lions. Of the big 5 we only saw two, elephants and rhinos (which we saw at night so we don't have pictures of them sadly!), but we saw a lot of other cool non big 5 animals too!


My favorite moment of the ride came when we saw two elephants near a watering hole and our guide stopped on the other side of the lake and pulled out a cooler full of beer and a cheese and cracker plate! We all got out and watched the elephants from from probably about 70-ish yards away (I'm TERRIBLE at estimating) and drank a beer!! It was definitely one of the high lights of the trip for me! Another braai followed our game drive, which included the BEST dessert I've ever had: a chocolate cake-y thingy with PUDDING inside! yum yum! Next morning we woke up really early to try to catch the giraffes and saw a lot more on our property than we had the previous day!

(Kudu above, impala below)
Elin and Teek left that day which left me, Mom and Dad to relax, play cut throat Canasta, take afternoon Polaris rides and watch Planet Earth for the rest of the week...but that doesn't mean it got boring!! On Tuesday, Dad and I decided to go mountain biking. This might shock you, but I was actually the one to suggest it! The next hour or two consisted of probably the funniest and hardest bike ride of my whole life. First, the terrain was MUCH harder than we thought. The uphills were so hard! The downhills were fun though! After we took a break, things got interesting. My Dad's pedal (and arm of the pedal!) kept falling off so we either had to stop every 5 feet to put it back on or he had to continuously kick it back on between pedals. THEN my seat starting getting confused..it thought it was on Mr. Toad's Wild Ride or SOMETHING! It was moving around in a seesaw motion unless I put my weight in exactly the right spot..I fell off the back! hahahaha I'm just glad no one saw the two of us struggling...it was so disastrous!

On Wednesday, we woke up super DUPER early to get over to K'Ingo for our second game drive. It ended up being just us and Brian, our CRAZY but trusty guide. We did a LOT of off roading through the brush which was different than our previous game drive, where he stuck to the trails. But when we ended up seeing two cheetahs, that's when he earned is title of crazy!! We saw them heading away from us so what does Brian do? Stops the car and tells us to all get out to follow them! We did and they ended laying down to groom each other. So there we are, standing about 30 feet away from CHEETAHS (which they could probably travel in .2 seconds..literally) and that's when Brian decided to tell us that Cheetahs drink more blood in a day than water!! Mom and I are naturally FREAKING out, so he decides to tell us how to handle the Cheetah's if they come for us: "Don't worry, if they come for you it'll be at your throat so when they try to attack you just reach out at grab them by their throat. You'll get a few scratches, but you'll be fine." ExCUSE me?? hahah it was so terrifyingly awesome (after we got out alive, of course!) and is another one of my favorite African stories.

On the last day, Dad relinquished his role of driver..for a few minutes..and let me drive! It was a BLAST! I don't know why I didn't INSIST I drive earlier!! I smiled the whole time!!! It was a great way to say goodbye to Safari time. Next post will be Hello City Time!! YAY!

Off to the PRIDE LANDS!

That's right. Tomorrow I'm getting on a plane to South Africa. I'm going with my family on a safari and to Cape Town! To get my feelings of excitement, you have to realize two things: 1. I'll be seeing my older sister Elin for the first time in about two months and 2. I have had a crush on Simba from the Lion King since I was about two. I know it seems illogical that I'm in love with an animated lion (not even an animated human or anything!) but now is my chance to finally nab my dream man (sorry Jeff!). I might never come back!

Just look at this face!
Hakuna matata! See you in 2 and 1/2 weeks!

If you're out on the road...

Yay! After a long second semester, a long finals week, a long day of travelling home and a LOT of stuff, I'm finally home for the summer!! It's funny because Chagrin is the place I've lived the longest in my life, so I consider it my hometown, while my sister tells people she's originally from Pittsburgh! I love Chagrin because of the neighbors who will do anything for you, the people who are always in everyone else's business, and the crazy traditions. It took my friend Sarah to realize it when she was visiting over fall break, but I see now that it's completely true...I live in Stars Hollow (the town a la Gilmore Girls!) I was born about twelve years too late in my Mom's life to claim that it's based on our lives, but I still am in love with my town for it's similarity to a place where, yes, there are a few nuts, but everyone's friendly and pretty devoted to the community and it's wonderful people.

The Star's Hollow Gazebo above, the Chagrin gazebo below decorated for Christmas!

Stars Hollow's Luke's Diner, above, and the main drag of Chagrin below...I couldn't decide which diner in town would be Luke's! Rick's? Yours Truly? Parkside? Dink's?

Here's me and my friend Erin, the Queen of the Blossom Festival in Chagrin, basically our versions of one of the following Stars Hollow festivals: The Annual Stars Hollow Dance Marathon, The Annual Movie Marathon, The Founders Firelight Festival, OR The Annual Bid-A-Basket Fundraiser!!

So there you have it! This is me being thankful for the amazing place I grew up which is an awesome place to come home to anytime of year. And, a little shout out to Mama Hudson, because tomorrow is Mother's Day, Gilmore Girl's is our favorite show, and we have the most fun thinking of all the different ways that our town is similar to the Hollow. Most importantly, I know that if, like Rory did on her first day of college, I texted my Mom "come backkk!" she, like Lorelei, totally would! So, yay home! and yay Mom!!

Two down, ONE to go!!

Well if I haven't had the best day ever, then I don't know what today was! haha! Let me just give you a run down of Abby's day of perfection:

So Jackie's alarm goes off at 8. I have a final downtown at 9!! My phone for some reason hates me and turned off in the middle of the night!! So there I am, running around like a CRAZY trying to catch the earliest bus I can to get down there in time!! Whew! I made it RIGHT on time because of course, being me, I went to the wrong classroom at first! But the entire time I'm running around like a chicken with it's head cut off, I'm giggling to myself because I was thinking about that Dane Cook bit where he says there's that moment before you wake up when you just know that you're late and your alarm clock laughs at you. Finally know what that feels like!! So, that's a silver lining to this morning!! Haha

Get to my final and can't help but giggle at the ridiculousness that is the classroom that I walk into. I'm the 5th person in the room to be wearing a obnoxiously pink Loyola hoodie that a couple of my teacher friends and I all bought and deemed our "teacher sweatshirts"! Of course, they gave us special powers so we would ace our exam, so we all HAD to wear them today! Alone, these sweatshirts are super cute, but with a crowd they are so bright and funny,and they definitely stand out in a class of only 18 people!! When we went to lunch I'm sure people on Michigan Avenue were giggling at us! We looked like the Red Hat Society! We finished our test so early (because of our special sweatshirt powers...duh!) that we had to wait outside the Cheesecake Factory until it opened! After our DELICIOUS food and stopping into our second class of the day, we headed back AND THATS WHEN THE DAY GOT AWESOME (not like it wasn't already!!!)

Erin and Denise and I went on an adventure down the street to find bubbles and chalk because it's BEAUTIFUL outside and we decided we deserved some playtime!! We've been working so hard for the past couple days and our next final isn't until Friday. Armed with Starbucks and three pieces of chalk (which we quickly demolished) we very nicely decorated someone's parking spot in the parking lot next to our building! They will LOVE the dinosaur, hearts, fish with bubbles and butterfly that fill their spot!! And of course, the Deathly Hallows symbol (Harry Potter anyone..?) and all of our names with a shout out to our wolf pack, too, I'm sure!

AND I still can look forward to the last night of watching Glee with the girls AND watching Bruce Almighty tonight! So there you go, universe! I CAN still have fun during finals week

Just another reason to love crayons...

This post is for my Mom! Thanks for calling me and telling me about this poem, Mom! It is too cute and I absolutely love it! Thanks for giving me a little smile in the midst of this craziness called finals week!

Box of Crayons

While walking in a toy store
The day before today,
I over heard a Crayon Box
With many things to say.

"I don't like red!" said Yellow.
And Green said, "Nor do I !
And no one here likes Orange,
But no one knows quite why."

"We are a box of crayons
that really doesn't get along,"
Said Blue to all the others.
"Something here is wrong!

Well, i bought that box of crayons
And took it home with me
And laid out all the crayons
So the crayons could all see

They watched me as I colored
With Red and Blue and Green
And Black and White and Orange
And every color in between

They watched as Green became the grass
And Blue became the sky.
The Yellow sun was shining bright
On White clouds drifting by.

Colors changing as they touched,
Becoming something new.
They watched me as I colored.
They watched till I was through.

And when I'd finally finished,
I began to walk away.
And as I did the Crayon box
Had something more to say........

"I do like Red!" said the Yellow
And Green said, "So do I !"
And Blue you are terrific!
So high up in the sky."

"We are a Box of Crayons
Each of us unique,
But when we get together
The picture is complete"