#30: Have a Sunday Funday

            Looking back, I'm kind of ashamed I never actually did a Sunday Funday during classes, especially since I didn't have any on Mondays! But Graduation fell on a Sunday thus enabling me to have one last hoo-rah at bars. I never really found out what the Sunday Funday specials were, but I know that at Biltmore mimosas were only $3 starting at 11am.

         Thanks to these 3 ladies and Molly, I had a blast dancing in the strobe lights of the beach bar one last time amidst a tempestuous lightning show in the sky that eventually gave way to a downpour. But bars were dead that night-- I'm assuming because people were throwing their own individual parties. That night (our last one, of course) there were older men and nerdy looking older females abound.

And so our transition into "those sketchy alumni" occurred.

#25: See the river on the Lawn

             The river is one of those word of mouth things you have to learn about as a student. It can be seen by laying on the south end of the Rotunda and lookinig up at the columns and backwards down the end of the Lawn. The grass makes the river and the trees are the banks! The first time I ever saw it was first year after a life-changing conversation on the steps. My life was so different then.

#37: Rope Swing at Blue Hole

        "You have to cross three bridges to get to the Black Hole," the old gentleman on the bicycle with the straw hat and winter gloves mused. It had been a long drive to this unmapped site, and had he not been biking by, we may have turned around and never made it.

        On the last day before I left for a few days at home, Molly, Lauren, Jade and I went on one last excursion to this mountain stream! It was an overcast day in May, and the water was no warmer than 50 degrees. I didn't want to get in, but fearing regrets is the best way to keep me from them, and the girls are so good at getting me to realize I'd be missing out!

             We made a few friends from Jade's hometown who goaded us to get in...after assessing the different depths of the water (trying to avoid stray rocks in the shallows) and optimal jumping points, Lauren was the first brave soul to jump in!

           Then Molly jumped.

           And then Jade took the first try on the rope swing! And then.... yes, I took the plunge.

             That mix of freezing mountain water and Joe's vulnerable immune system landed me with a nasty cold that I still have two weeks later... my system will recover. Regrets last forever :D

"Well, you just have to stand up to your fear and not let it squeeze you white. Right?" - Bridge to Terabithia

#107: Ride a UTS bus

        This picture was taken on a UTS bus first year coming back from Jade and my birthday dinner celebrations! Back then I never took the bus to class, and I know I'm revealing my age here, but back then the routes were called Blue and Orange. To account for increased first year housing way up in Hereford and Observatory Hill, now they have the Northline and Outer/Inner Loops.

        Ironically, I weighed more first and second year when I tried to walk everywhere than I did when I moved to 1900 JPA, where the bus stop literally right in front of my apartment has made me lazy and old.

"As long as a school bus comes riding by, I'll be willing to jump on it." -- Diane Evans

#61: Go Wine Tasting

        Ahhhhlcohol, the perks of being 21. I haven't gotten to any vineyards this spring, but I did take advantage of my mountain proximity to the vine in the beautiful September weather. My first trip was actually a 40 minute trip to Price Michel, a strikingly gorgeous winery up 29 North. I did a little researching this summer and found this place online, and the fact that they were having a free tasting event WITH chocolate was too much for me to pass up! Heather, Kimberly and I dressed up and went one Saturday.

       After being served some dessert wines by "Joe" our barista, the three of us decided on 2 bottles of wine we enjoyed the most: the Peach and Raspberry ones. "Tres bien" was also quite delicious but considerably more expensive. We had fun afterwards frolicking a bit tipsy amongst the vines and tractors outside.

       Molly's birthday was just a few weeks later! Her parents were so generous to pay for all of us to go wine-tasting at Jefferson vineyards up near Monticello. The wine selection we had here wasn't dessert so it wasn't nearly as sweet- the real red and white stuff.

        The view was gorgeous here, complete with six lovely wooden chairs just perfect enough for us to sit in and admire the mountain view before climbing into our WAHOOPTIE! My experimenting at vineyards and with different bottles with Joe has led me to the conclusion that I love Rieslings, and that, like Kristin, I don't have those $4 bottles of strawberry wine they sell at convenience stores, no matter how much the cashier tries to dissuade me.

"Wine is bottled poetry." -- Robert Louis Stevenson

#100: Make a 2am Harris Teeter run

         Reason #129 why my boyfriend is the best: I wasn't going to complete this task! He really wanted me not to give up just because it's a stupid obligation. So he let me sleep for 2 hours and then woke me up for the Teeter trip!

         When I was touring colleges, I remember going to CNU...and one of the main things they couldn't stop talking about on the tour was how Teeter was 24-7 and you could go there any time. Seriously, this point was the highlight of the tour and hit on throughout the day as one of the main drawing points to their university. It's kind of a joke, because we have a 24-7 CVS, Kroger, and Harris Teeter all within 5 minutes of Grounds.

         I didn't buy anything, but Joe was able to get chocolate Teddy Grahams that Kroger doesn't carry! And several things for Sam and Hyde, of course. (If you can't tell, Joe's holding up a "2" peace sign!)

#7: Read a book in your favorite Garden

            Wednesday was my first day of no exams, no school, no obligations! And Lauren came to my rescue and prevented me from freaking out about life. I grabbed my last West Range chicken sandwich and my picnic blanket and headed over to one of my favorite gardens... I don't even know the number. But it's the third one dowwn on the West range, and it has the giant Ionic column at the entrance.

        She and I enjoyed A Survival Guide for Landlocked Mermaids, and its beautiful life lessons helped remind me of the important things to be aware of as an adult mermaid.

"We want to be refreshed, to remember, to find our way back to the part of us that is mostly ocean"

#13: Visit the Farmer's Market Downtown

        April showers brought May flowers! ... to the Charlottesville City Farmer's Market, that is! Each Saturday morning April through October, the parking lot across from the Downtown Mall is packed with tents and vans from local vendors that look like they get a lot of business. From fresh produce and "forest fed meats" to jewelry crafts and baked delights, the market is a smorgasboard of sensory stimulation.

            Kimberly and I took a break from studying for our final final exams and grabbed a trolley downtown to experience this wonderful event which I regret not previously being a part of. The market is open from 7am-12pm, and the marketeers are a wide range of Eco-hippies, clinging sorority sisters, and even celebrity professors like Fordham <3. We decided to mill about the site several times to soak it all in and make sure we hit the vendors that were perhaps lower on the locational hierarchy.

           The first thing I noticed when we entered the lot was the "Orchid Station", complete with entrancing orchids and an equally eyecatching owner. It made me think of poor Pansy and poor Joe who was stuck taking an exam at the time! Then, Kimberly wandered over to the Baker's Palette and got a delicious looking cinnamon bun which we took for a stroll through the maze of vendors.

Please enjoy the pictures and get down to the Market one weekend if you can!

Oh, and if you do, try the fresh baked bagels. They're diviiiine!

"Farmers markets are green shoots coming out of the gun. They represent hope and they need to be cultivated. But we have a juggernaut coming at us." -- Jerry Brown

#90: Spotlight a Streaker

            I’m growing up and I’m making decisions. Some wiser than others. I’ve decided I am going to bring my camera tomorrow and take pictures of the McGregor room where I have lived for the past week. I’ve decided I’m going to stay two more hours and head to Biltmore where I will celebrate seven hours and Cinco de mayo with a margarita. And on the way home, burdened with my kilo-boulder shoulderbag hanging by threads, probably after stopping at Little Johns to actually eat some substantial food, I will stop on the Rotunda steps and see if I can’t spotlight some streakers.

            Refusing to buy a flashlight or heaven forbid one of those Lawnie-spotlights, I will further define “spotlighting” as “direct attention to, intense scrutiny or public attention”. Having seen streakers numerous times, it won’t be something I could miss tonight and never see again. But I highly doubt I won’t see anyone, because it’s exam time and stressed out college kids do some crazy stuff.

#80: Participate in a Sustained Dialogue Event

            

             I’d been hoping that Sustained Dialogue would do their normal “Stereotype Me” T-shirt day where they hand out white t-shirts and you have to fill it in with how you don’t fit your stereotype. Like, I would put I’m a WASP but I don’t eat salads. But they didn’t do it this semester!

            So while I can’t devote two hours twice a month to actually participating in Sustained Dialogue and talking about racial issues around grounds (even though the website is ridiculously un-updated, apparently it’s a yearlong commitment), I did try to go out of my way today to talk about some issue that I think is important to discuss in a college campus, even if it's not particularly race-related. Or maybe it is.

            This girl came to the AFC today to pick up a cooler and I talked to her about what she was using it for. The chick had been in my psych class two years ago- the kind of pretty that guys like but girls look at and see as catty and fake. And VERY VERY skinny. She said she was taking the cooler to Clark for “No Diet Day”, a two hour event promoted by HOPE (Hoos Open to Preventing Eating Disorders) and the Women’s Center. They were giving out cups and free lemonade to endorse better body images. I’m sorry, I had a really hard time accepting lemonade from the skinny minnies there. Easy for you to say when your body is already a size –3.

So, reader, what are your thoughts? (I’m trying to sustain some dialogue here, help me out :D)

#60: Attend a class in which you're not enrolled

In 20 minutes, I will attend my last class of my undergraduate career. Of course it feels like just another day: full of stress to present in Oceanography, lecture up until the last minute in Jazz, and Charlotte skipping out on lunch.

I don’t like to go to class very much… and I only attended one I wasn’t enrolled in earlier this spring before I enrolled in the astronomy course I’m now taking with Joe. And it was one of the most horrifically boring courses I’ve ever sat through. (It was only fifty minutes too!)

I felt it would be fitting to begin my college career with a class on Greek civilization and Moral ethics of Plato and Aristotle and to end it with a philosophy course, so I dropped in on Philosophy 1001. But I couldn’t stand it. It would have been SO easy with only one large paper and two smaller ones…virtually no homework and relatively short readings. But I would not have attended class and I never did again.

And after this next one, it’s weird to think that I won’t be attending school anymore as my main business. I really want to celebrate J

School’s out for summer, school’s out FOREVER.

#9: See a Horse at Foxfield

            Yesterday was one of the happiest social experiences I’ve had in college – Foxfield Races 2011. I’ve been asked several times, however, if I regret not attending the races earlier. After thinking long and hard about it, no. The reasons?

1)     I was actually 21. (well I was actually 22.5 but we won’t be going there). As a result, I took that tequila and cran cup all over, never worrying for a second that I could be stopped. No fear!

2)     I actually like seeing horses, and Charlotte, Chelsea, and Joe liked that too. So I wasn’t held back by the 10 other people around me belittling the fact that I wanted to see the race

3)     Foxfield is freakin expensive. Heather warned me the night before that it was the stupidest thing, that it was just paying money to sit uncomfortably in a field and drink while surrounded by frat stars. While I had a blast, to some extent this is true. Tickets were $40 a pop, plus we got a plot, plus we covered Charlotte’s grief by paying for her ticket, plus I wanted to pay for Joe. That put me at a hefty $150 experience + the cost of my fancy hat + food + alcohol that had to be in a plastic container. And I even re-used my dress!

4)     This was by far the best day in the past 4 years to go to Foxfield. 74° clear blue skies, most all of my friends in the same place, no torrential downpours or sweltering hot weather like in previous years.

I LOVED IT. And I think events like this are super important for friendships that are about to TEMPORARILY part ways after graduation.