rosalyn's birthday and back to school!

tuesday was back to school for all of us. :( how can this happen so soon? katie was shocked to find her accounting for investing and financing class was a fifteen-minute syllabus day. nice.

it's rather annoying because when you live in a sorority, you have to be moved out by the last day of finals (at least for our house). many summer subleases and fall leases don't begin until june 1st. therefore, many of our friends are stuck in limbo for two weeks trying to figure out how to tell their boss that they can't work because they have no place to stay. this is why brenda has become quite the bed and breakfast for many of our friends. monday, victoria stayed with us, and tonight and tomorrow meagan and emily are gracing us with their presence. luckily, we have a bedroom and bathroom that aren't being used, and a great futon in our living room. most everyone else will move into their homes on june 1st, and our b&b will slow down a little. (disclaimer: we are in no way complaining, just explaining to our readers the situations. we love visitors!)

happy birthday, rosalyn! she had her birthday dinner at "the little grill" which is one of manhattan's best kept secrets. make sure to check the times they are open though, because they have weird hours. after a fab dinner, we headed to brenda for a pit stop, and then to the ville for a few drinks. nancy's are one of our favorites at so long saloon. they are pineapple juice and old style beer on tap.. yum. we ran into many friends here, and also the long lost charlie lyle who had been studying abroad--we're so glad to have you back! calling it an early night we headed back to brenda because we all had to wake up early for work and class in the am. katie was in one of her "hyper" moods, and was cracking everyone up.

personal updates:

nicole: feels like she's actually getting into a routine. something like: cats, rec, shower, bluestem for internet, class, home to my roomies, etc.
*makes the fanciest dinners of us all

clarissa: still studying for the lsat, taking some history class, and working on campus
*obsessed with the fleet and is always bugging us to go riding with her

katie: just got a cute summer do, working, volunteering, and going to class
*really excited to see her sister run at the state track meet this weekend! why did she get all of the good genes?

memorial day weekend bbq.

(Above: Mosquito aka what we were bit by all evening until we moved indoors. We need to invest in some citronella candles and bug spray!)

After a weekend in Kansas City, we all headed back to the Little Apple (Katie making a pit stop in Topeka for her family reunion) for our Memorable Memorial Day Weekend BBQ. Brenda’s first real event.

We had quite the crew show up including Jodie, Amanda, Victoria, Lacey, Addison, Wallace, Rosalyn, Kristen, Kayleigh, Rob, Daniel & crew, and Emily. It was fun getting to relax in the nice weather after a long weekend.

san-dog's wedding!

Wedding Day! Sandy Tadros, our sorority sister and friend, got married on Saturday. Her wedding was at 2pm in KC and her reception followed at 7pm.

Before the wedding, there was a mini-crisis when Katie's zipper on her dress broke. After Josh's mom and sister attempting to fix it, Katie made several calls to our friends who could bring her a dress to wear to the wedding. Katie and Josh picked up Adam and Mackinsey for the wedding, and luckily, Mackinsey had a dress that worked. Whew!

Obviously there was some time between the wedding and reception, so Nicole hosted a little get together for us at her house, as it was only a few minutes from the Ritz Charles, where the reception was held. This was really fun and many friends made appearances.

The reception/dance included a belly dancer and ethnic Egyptian music. How unique! We had a blast dancing to the jams.

friday travels..

Friday we all traveled to Kansas City for Sandy and Chris' wedding. Nicole and Clarissa stayed at Nicole's house, and had dinner at Tanner's followed by watching "Rachael Getting Married" which they describe as the worst movie ever.

Katie had an exciting evening of attending Josh's sister's graduation party. Congratulations, Lisa! Tim and Paul stopped by, so they were the only four cool college kids in attendance. They all headed to the plaza and Tomfooleries for some drinks with Tim's sister Alison and boyfriend J. A. Alison and J. A. were nice enough to let all of them crash at their pad, which is near the plaza.

thirsty thursday.

Yay! Thursday equals 50 cent tacos at Porter’s (our favorite hang out). After a long day of work for Katie and Clarissa, and cat finding and plant watering for Nicole, we could all use a break. Nicole invited many other sorority sisters and friends, so it was especially fun.

Thursday was also the day that grades were officially posted, and all of Brenda’s residents got 4.0s for the semester. How exciting! ☺

Following tacos was a celebration in the Ville for working hard and getting all A’s. Lauren Anderson and Joe joined us for a fun evening out.

sophie, chloe, and stewie

it's tuesday and it seems like it should be friday already. the first week of summer is proving to be a long one.

katie had work at 7:30am this morning, but luckily even though our doors squeak and the floor creaks, no one woke up while she was showering and getting ready. clarissa went to study lsat stuff at hale early this morning, before she had to be at work at 11am. nicole hung out at the veves' while watering flowers and feeding and letting out their three cats.

nicole met katie at the sorority house to help her load the silver bullet with a collection of items that girls had left. there were so many nice things, it was hard to leave most of it. while loading things in katie's trunk, nicole and katie managed to give katie a huge goose egg on her forehead and put a hole in the screen of nicole's cell phone. i thought helping others was supposed make you feel good, bring happiness.

around 4:30pm, nicole and clarissa rode trekkie (katie's bike) and murray to the rec to work out, and then to bronze image to work on their summer glows. katie was still at work, and afterward she ran a million errands including getting a few items which were needed for the kitchen.

after making some dinner and eating some pre-made raw cookie dough, nicole went to the veves' to find the cats. when she arrived stewie and chloe were anxiously awaiting her arrival, however, sophie was no where to be found. she decided to wait around, take a shower, and pick up the house. after waiting nearly two hours, walking around the house several times, shaking the food in hopes of their her return, she decided to open the screen door. little did she know the screen door had a hole in it, so chloe decided to make an escape. two cats missing and no sign of their return, she decided to head home for movie night with the roommates (and joe).

katie starts her unpaid internship tomorrow morning, so wish her luck. nicole is crossing her fingers the missing cats will be hungry in the morning and will be waiting at the house when she goes back. clarissa will be.... studying for the lsat...

the fleet.

today was a productive day for everyone. katie had to be at work bright and early at 7:30am. clarissa went into work and hit up hale for some lsat studying. nicole received a surprise call from jessie to watch evan and olivia.

nicole visited katie at work, and got an impression taken for a new upper hawley retainer (exciting!). she will now be sporting a "robin" colored retainer with mother of pearl glitter. thank you dr. tindall and staff.

everyone met back up at brenda around 5pm. clarissa took an lsat practice test (wow, she's serious about this...) while nicole and katie took kitty hawk (disclaimer: annie left kitty hawk with us because she didn't have room to take her to ta town.. now all three of us can ride together!) to the "other" dara's to pump some air in the front tire. who knew it only took 1 second of air to almost explode the tire? after letting some air out, kitty hawk was back in action and we headed back to brenda to scoop c.

we decided to ride bikes together, which will now be referred to as "the fleet". pictures to come.

while we were waiting for clarissa to finish, we called taitt to see if he was at 509. he and matt had helped us haul two chairs into brenda's living room and we wanted to give them a little something. matt is already in great bend, so he will have to wait. taitt however now has a refrigerator stocked with bud light man cans courtesy of the brenda residents.

it was quite a sight to see clarissa riding from the library to 509 one-handed, while handling the man cans and pedaling. yes, the fleet took a tour of the little apple to see who was still in town.

we ran into some fratters and sorority girls on 15th, and a few other bikers around town. too bad they don't have a fleet like us.

returned to brenda, made dinner, watched wheel of fortune and the bachelorette (while clarissa took ANOTHER lsat practice test) and chilled.

kristen, clarissa's home-girl, stopped by brenda for a visit. she came on her bike... potential new member of the fleet? she surprised clarissa with a late-birthday gift which included a wine stopper and opener. we love visitors.

wal-mart/target adventures.

we took the silver bullet to target first. we all needed the college-version of dresser drawers aka rubbermaid tubs. we also needed converters for our old-school two-hole plugs. you can only imagine how hard it is to fit 8 rubbermaid tubs into the back of a jeep with still having three seats (with seatbelts!). we were quite the crew, and required an unload before we hit up what katie would describe as the most annoying place ever, wal-mart.

we decided to get groceries at wal-mart, instead of dillon's because they are cheaper, even though the freshness/quality is lacking. after three cart fulls and several hundred dollars later, we made it back to brenda, and had a stocked refrigerator.


disclaimer: before heading to wal-mart, we decided to make a mexican dinner for our first real meal in brenda. on our way there, we remembered that liquor stores aren't open on sundays, so unfortunately there would be no coronas. :( at wal-mart we got all the goods for the meal, including non-ripe avocados for guac. who knew you should buy them mushy? did your mom ever teach you to buy something mushy? no.

while clarissa FINALLY cleared her stuff out of the front room, nicole and katie continued to organize/clean the laundry room, which is also a storage room for the fleet (more to come on this soon).

(above: an example of clarissa's clutter/lsat prep station)

annie joined us for a brief time, and decided to pick up her kitty hawk (bike) at our sorority. nicole, clarissa, and annie went to the sorority house to pick up kitty hawk and murray (clarissa's bike), only to discover that kitty hawk had a flat tire, and a missing air cap. katie to the rescue with silver bullet, picked up the crew from dara's parking lot.

joe joined us for some hang out time on the futon, and then we all went to bed.

the maupin's come to town.

everyone was hoping to sleep in after a late night for clarissa's birthday, but fear of nicole's family showing up and seeing us in all of our glory encouraged us to wake up early. no one set their alarm, but rosalyn was perfect for the job at 9am. (thanks, girl)

the cold gumby's from the night before was the perfect remedy for our hangovers (thank you adam and mackinsey). the maupin's actually didn't show up until noon, but then it was time to get busy. the mounds of cat hair along the side boards on the stairs was on the top of our list. with the help of cody, nicole's younger brother, the futon was tightened and actually safe to sit on. the kitchen table was put in place, and our three bookshelves were assembled.

katie had to attend a graduation party in hutchinson until around 4pm, but when she made it back, clarissa put her to work to assist in sanitizing/overhauling the refrigerator. it is now safe for food!

the house is really starting to come together at this point.

the maupin's had us over for a bbq at nicole's cousin's house, which was eventful to say the least. we truly appreciate all of the donations from her family.

after a few brews, we decided to catch up on some much needed r&r, and stay in for the evening.

moving in.

wow, what a day.

on friday we had to be moved out of our sorority by 5pm, and the women living in brenda didn't completely move out until friday at 3pm. because we knew the women we're subleasing from, we made several trips over to brenda with all of our "stuff" throughout the week, which was helpful, but it was still quite a feat. clarissa and nicole had beds delivered by ashley's furniture and feldkamp's. it was VERY interesting to try to watch the movers get the full size beds up the stairs, and they even created and possibly re-created holes in the wall by the stairwell. (see above) luckily, they were patched by robin maupin (see next post). to add to the chaos, it was clarissa's 21st birthday celebration.

clarissa's birthday party plans were to head to club tub for dinner and a few drinks/shots at 6pm. obviously this was hard and because of the move, we made everyone wait and made it to club tub around 6:30pm. clarissa began her shots at this time, but because of overzealous friends, she was finished and puking by 10:30pm. :)