shameless plug, by rachel

See my brother in concert at Java J's in Bristol TN/VA on August 26th at 9:00 pm.

It's only a 3 hour drive from Berea, right Kate?

Fly free my little chefs, by HANNAH

Holla! Today was my last day of chef camp, and I released 12 little bad-spelling chefs into the wide, wide world of good and evil food. We had a reception, which was crowded, crowded, crowded, and kid-made food and signs for the food, including the one for the party punch which read: the gratest punch EVR." I tried to make it clear that it wasn't quite my job description to teach spelling, just how to measure and cut things and pre-heat any standard oven like a pro. Or to make peace between rivaling poster-making crews, oh my goodness. It's Friday and those kids were MOODY. We're talking hitting, name calling, insults, AND little crying boys. It was quite an adventure in children, let me tell ya. Good thing I'm so experienced and so darn professional. True story: After the reception was over today I took off my apron and realized to my serious chagrin that my skirt (otherwise known as a snarky, thanks Cassidy :) !) was swiveled almost all the way round so the lines (white on a blue skirt) were running sort of side ways down my leg. I tried to play it off to my two innocently stupid volunteers (And when I say stupid it doesn't mean I don't appreciate you): "It's what all the kids in England are doing these days." Probably didn't work, but they weren't listening anyway...

Anyway, it's over. I'm rocking out a Friday night at home, with purple popsicles and a movie and a wild trip to Kinko's in the mix! Treloar's coming on Sunday! Yay!

Also, in response to the Pricilla idea. Sorry Rach, but I'm saying no. She's Elvis, and that's all there is to it. I'm trying to transition her. She never comes when I call her anyway, so why not be calling Elvis?

what about pricilla? by rachel

I think Pricilla is a good name for your dog, Hannah. Especially if she doesn't like Elvis.

Things in TN are cooking... besides Hannah, of course. It has been in the upper 90's for days and if you live in a house with no AC (like I do)... you just toast. Seriously. I asked Mom if I could sleep in the bathtub last night. She just looked at me like I was stupid. I thought it was brilliant. Ah well. I did go to Wetlands waterpark yesterday and my face got all crispified cause the sunscreen didn't work so well. I look like rudolph now. :-(

Ooooh, big news. Sorta. Sam and I were driving home from church Sunday, and I swear that Bruce Willis was in a gold truck behind us. Don't ask me what he was doing in the mountains of Tennessee or why he was in a gold truck, but it was him!!!! It had to be. It looked just like him. So it was. Really.

In other news, Josh now has joined the blogging world. Yay Josh! Though, since I seem to have a nack at renaming things, I think you should have called it "aromafanclub" hahaha, get it? Aroma? Yeah... I was homeschooled.

Elvis, by Hannah

Hey howdy hey. Thanks for all the birthday love, my friends. 20 was a great year, hope 21 can live up to its expectations. Here is my life in a nutshell:

I get up too early and go to work, then I come home and fall asleep. Then I wake up and eat too much, then I go to bed and get up early and go to work...and so on. In my spare time I

torment my dog by trying to re-name her Elvis. I thought this was a brilliant idea (any of you who know my dog know why!) but my mom says "no" and I can't really re-name her all on my own, can I now? Someday though, that dog will be Elvis. Also there are other good ways to torment Elvis. I can just put a blanket over her head and watch her try to find her way out. I really am bored.

I'm teaching a cooking camp this week and thus far haven't caught anything or myself on fire. Keep your fingers crossed though.

Zoie's in Greece, that hussy.

And a big hiya to Jonas who should currently be in Ireland (unless I got my months mixed up again). Also check here for his blogging endeavors (a link for a link, eh?).

Big news for my weekend: Treloar's coming!!!! She'll be here Sunday, and everyone knows how happy that makes me.

So, until I have something more interesting to write about...

feliz cumpleanos a mi companera de cuarto - de raquel

Today is Hannah's 21's birthday! Yay for Hannah for making it this long! Too bad I am not with her to make her a toilet paper banner like last year. :(

and to Booger - .oot looc era uoY

By the way, I am back from Kentucky. Audrey, I was in Campbellsville building houses... more on that later. I now know how to shingle, though. How cool is that?

i hate packing by rachel

Tomorrow, Mom, Sam, and I leave for a week-long mission trip to the 3rd world country of Kentucky. it is all so ironic to me. last year we went to Mexico. Anyway, back to the packing. I hate it. With a passion. It's not just all the decision-making - though any of you who know me, know I can't stand making decisions either. It is the tension in the house. Everyone is on edge. Blah.

I hope this week can overcome the woes of packing as it has in previous years.

Aside from packing till almost midnight, I spent 10, yes ten, hours at work today. I love toy stores, but whoa. If Turtle's Nest was alchohol, I'd be plastered. Jessica and I found ways to entertain ourselves, though. Everytime someone was rung up, we turned their total into a year and tried to figure out what happened in that year. It all began when someone got $18.63. I said, "1863, what a good year." Then I stopped. "Except for the whole Civil War thing." Dumb Rachel. Next came $16.37.... Renaissance. It snowballed from there.

We also partook of some ancient "fresh-roasted whole espresso beans enclosed in robust dark chocolate." They were just a little dusty. I've been snacking on them every time I come in to work at the store since I graduated high school. They are always there! The box said, "With every flavorful bite, you'll experience half a century of passion!" I knew they were old, but sheesh.

So, have a nice life till I get back next Sunday!

And...

AND, I almost forgot. JOHN you signed our guest book!!! Rachel and I were extremely excited about this, so can you email one or both of us and tell us how you are and how we can contact you? we miss you!!!! and I agree about Rachel's hot hair. She is such a sexy little midget.

Living the boring life? by hannah

I'm sitting at our kitchen bar watching my mom make dinner. This is pretty much how things go around here since I've been home (and since the circus rolled out of our back yard! Circus=family reunion.): During the week, I go to work for half of the day, come home and take a nap on the couch in the living room (not on purpose. Just because me waking up before 8 am is difficult and when I get time to sit down I can't keep my eyes open!). Then I wake up and try to do something constructive. This week it has been everything from reading a book to cleaning out my closet (all I can say is OH MY GOODNESS. apparantly I haven't thrown away a SINGLE THING away since the end of my senior year of highschool....) to going over the plans for the kid's summer camp I'm leading next week. Sometimes these attempts at being active work out, sometimes they don't. I also have been abusing my cell phone- the whole "free after 9" thing just blows me away after living the pre-paid way for 6 months! So that's my life in an itty bitty nutshell. It is itty bitty, and non-exciting, but proving to be strenuous enough for me, after my 6 month break from life and the real world!

So I'm sitting here with my tea listening to the Counting Crows and pretty much loving my life. I miss England though! Zoie's off in Prague with Ben, hopefully both having fun and being safe. Have to say I'm proud of her to be brave and travel- wish I was there with yas! Take lots of pictures.

I'm teaching this camp at the museum this week, it's basically an extended tour of the place. We get to "explore" a different part everyday, including the wetlands (basically the swamp of Tennessee, which I live right in the middle of), where beavers used to live. Somehow I never knew we had beavers here! I was so excited. Then I found out that the wildlife people had to rid the wetlands of beavers, and they told the general public (and all museum goers!) that they were "relocated" when actuality...they were killed. It's a conspiracy, I tell ya. So I get to take 10 3-5 year olds out in the swamp with nothing but boots to keep them from running amok. Should be interesting. I'm kind of excited to see just HOW superior my kid skills are. Wish me luck!

Hope everything is well with everyone who might be reading this!

Bodensee by Rachel

Where my heart is....

Italia... by Rachel

So, I just watched Under the Tuscan Sun which was filmed in Cortona, Italy. My all time favorite place in Europe (outside of Bregenz). I miss that place... the pasta, the wine, the swallows, the random cats, the view, the kids beating each other with plastic bottles, the cute streets, the hostel man singing my last name (it sounds so much better when an Italian says it... better yet, sings it). AH, I think I'm in love. With Cortona. Not the hostel guy. He was like 40. Though he did have a nice voice.....

ps ~ to comment without making a blog, sign our guestbook... what do you guys think about my hair cut??

hair cut!!! by rach

i heart dollar general by rachel

This is the so-cool snack Sam and I found. Screaming Yellow Zonkers. One four thousandth four hundred and nine of a metric ton. You heard the Zonkers... EAT!

for the love of blogging... by Rachel

You know you are bored (and a dork) when you drive around thinking of things to do, only followed by, "that would be a good blog post." Yeah... Sam and I hit rock bottom today, but we did have fun.

For the majority of the morning, we joined our youth minister, Ryan (aka Meatloaf) and a couple other youth group members at a community member's house to do some fixin' up. Sometimes, it is so discouraging to work so hard and not even make a dent. But like Ryan said, it is those times that we are needed the most. And the woman we were helping felt a little better about her house too.

Picture this though... 1 hammer, 5 people. We were "nailing" shingling felt on TOP of the shingles as a preventative measure against rain leaking in the house. We used what she had and what we had, and hopefully will find a way to actually FIX it all soon. But in the meantime, she will not have leaks. But yeah... there was one hammer. We were like a bunch of cavemen on the roof, banging in the little shingling tacks with big rocks. We also weed-eated, trimmed some trees, put up a trellis, and fixed some other stuff. Honestly, the house should have just been torn down and started over.... maybe one day. Until then - orar sin cesar.

So... boredom land with Sam and I. After eating a hearty meal at Sonic with the youth group, Sam and I traversed to the wild land of Johnson City where I got 10 inches or so cut off of my hair. Photos will be appearing soon - patience is a virtue. :)

Later, we chilled in Dollar General where we picked up a new snack - a photo of that will also appear shortly.

THEN, we learned Italian in the police department parking lot. Old MacDonald in Italian is just so much more fun... ia, ia, ooooooooo!

arriva derci, amicci

London baby 2012! by hannah

yay London!

some of my luvahs... by rach

this is at the top of a MOUNTAIN and a HALF known to locals as the pfander... doesn't it make you want to skip through some field singing, "the hills are alive..."

now that that is stuck in your head... I'll add more pics later.

looking at this pic... I don't think I got the blue memo. dang it.

the leaning tower...

a REAL fine piece of Austria - by Rach

mmmmhmmmmmmmm

"Don't blow your head off" by rachel

That is the phrase I have heard most today. Maybe it is because I am flat broke, so all my bro and I did was blow up a few fortune cookies and an apple with some old bottle rockets. It was actually quite entertaining. The apple, though Sam left it out for a month to soften, took a few times to blow, and then it only split in half. Last year was so much cooler - apple pieces flying everywhere. Ahhhh. The fortune cookes were awesome, though. They shot up on top of the bottle rocket then exploded to bits, the little fortune fluttering down to the ground. Explosives are entirely too much fun. :)

What else did I do today? Nothing, really... I read, rode a stationary bike for 10 miles (didn't get very far), wrote, sorted clothes, listened to Sam play his gee-tar.... not too exciting. Oh, Kelly (and the rest of the Bregenz people for that matter), I laughed so hard I cried again at dinner. I don't even remember what it was about, but I ended up spitting perfectly good Jones Soda back into my cup. Don't worry, I drank it again. Not as fizzy the second time round, but it was still Jones. :)

So now that you are all disgusted with me...
Happy 4th!

"A fine piece of Austria" by RACHEL

I AM SO TOTALLY BACK!!! After 24 hours of transit, I am finally sitting in my own bedroom at my own computer where the keys are in the correct places... none of that crazy Austrian keyboard stuff.

While it is a relief to be home, I already miss everyone. I'm telling you guys - I'm getting ready to write a book called Location Check about our misadventures. I'm not kidding! You will all be immortalized. Muhahahaha.

So the first order of business was to eat barbecue and drink all the refills I wanted and not have to pay to pee. God Bless the USA.

Actually, being in Europe for the past 5 weeks has really given me an interesting view of America and American politics. We won't go into that though.

I will be sure to update all about the amazing things I did soon - right now, I am gonna go lay on the couch and be lazy. Cause I can!

To all you faux Austrians - I heart you guys. And Kim? SHUT IT. ;)

ps ~ my brother (who is the coolest brother in the whole wide world - FOR AN ANT) now has an accidental blog. Check it out.