The End of the Year!

Today was the last official day of AmeriCorps.

Long time coming!

I'm very glad to leave Hickory. It is a strange place. There are many families here, and many retired people. There are stoplights all over the place. Many busy streets going to malls and chain restaurants. Too much driving is necessary. I've not enjoyed this town at all. There *is* a good brewery, whose website does not do it justice. I might miss OHB a bit. =)

And I will miss the friends from AmeriCorps. They are good people! I admire them in many different ways! And they will all do great things next year.

But I am glad this year is over. It is good to get out of this town. Is not quaint at all. And the roads are confusing and numerous. 4th St Dr SE, 4th St Ln SE, 4th St Ave SE. Even the street names lack character.

Tomorrow I pack all my things into my camry and then Monday off I go!

Menu Amazing

We had JohnEd and Angela over last night for dinner/drinks. Fun times! Derek's Kristin is in town, and we all never really get chances to hang out with her, so it was nice to kick it with her for awhile. Although, Derek's Annie somehow sat on her tail wrong and sprained it (evidently this is not so uncommon... I had no idea), so Derek had to take her to the vet for the second time in one day, and we actually didn't get to spend so much time hanging out with Kristin. So it goes.

Here is the menu we enjoyed:
Fresh cherries, peaches, apricots, apples, and blueberries with ricotta+goat cheese dip.
Brie and cherry quesadillas with mango/tomato/avocado salsa
Balkan cucumber salad
Asparagus and basil lasagna

Fresh-tastic! I am still full I think. I took some pictures of the fruit but none of them are very good, and then Annie got hurt so I did not take any more pictures. Plus, people usually want to eat the food once it is ready rather than wait for me to shoot it first. Imagine that.

Annie is okay but she is drugged up. Lots of tail pain. So strange that the tail is so fragile. She also has an eye infection... sad puppy right now. She's not supposed to wag her tail for two weeks! Seems rather impossible.

Now I work on throwing things away and consolidating owned items. One week to pack up two years! AGH! =)

Wilmington

Long day. Ubuntu won't work with my laptop. =( So sad! Ah, well. Otherwise, estuve ocupada estudiando espanol todos los noches. That's right, preterite. Both times I took Spanish3 I sort of zonked out as soon as we began to learn timeline grammar. Past present future AGH! SO MANY THINGS TO REMEMBER. Is easier now, since I actually want to learn. Also helps that I have taken Spanish3 twice.

Tomorrow we head to our last retreat for AmeriCorps. Thank goodness! I'm ready to be done!! We go to Wilmington, which is a very touristy city on the coast, which sort of sucks but also is kind of fun, because there is a nice beach and good restaurants/bars. Good coast seafood! Yum!! Unfortunately, it is a long drive, and I drove a lot today and now I have to drive a lot tomorrow and I get sick of all the driving all over everywhere. And North Carolina has no direct routes from point A to B! Never! Is quite annoying.

Poor Derek won't be able to swim. Injury to his arm! Laceration! Pics on flickr.