Library Trip #1

This is the result of little sister and I's first trip to the library this summer! Technically she's not on her summer vacation yet, but I had to go soon after arriving back home last Saturday. After picking her up from school the other day, we went straight to the library. Initially I didn't plan on getting any books, but I somehow ended up with the top four in this pile. Looking at all the YA books that lined the shelves made me decide to grab a random book from an author whose last name starts with A. The series I picked up were written by someone with a B last name, and it is a series that I heard about a lot last summer, so I'm pretty excited to read those.

Now to see how long it takes me to read these...

- rl

Summer Plans

Steamed buns I tried last week with one of the girls on my floor! They were fascinating. If you're ever in Chicago and curious, just let me know and I can give you details. (:

I FINISH MY FRESHMAN YEAR OF COLLEGE IN LESS THAN A WEEK. Crazy, I know. With this, I will be heading home soon. I'LL BE HOME FOR THREE MONTHS. It's going to be so great, aside from the fact that my cat died last night,..yeah.

Anyway, my summer plans are not currently set in stone. While the obvious thing is just to work a lot at Chick-fil-A, I need more than that. My hope is to make as much money possible for next semester, and I think that means it's time for me to move a little bit past Chick-fil-A. I still want to work there, but I would like my main job to be in the form of babysitting/nannying. And that is why I am posting about it: connections. I registered for care.com last night, but I'd like to get personal recommendations first from those I know. If you know of anyone (or are that someone) who needs childcare for your children this summer (like children who are in school but now you need someone to hang out with them while you're at work), then I'm your girl. Some info for you or for whoever you know: three children is probably my maximum, and I would like consistent hours every week. I will have transportation to and from, but to travel with the children would possibly be a different story (we would need to work that out). In total, I am looking for at least 50 hours a week, excluding Sundays. I don't want all of those hours to come from babysitting/nannying, but that's just a heads up that I am looking for as many hours as possible.

I do already have a few summer plans in place (housesitting one week, some potential errands that vary, and maybe a trip or two.) If someone was interested in considering me for hire, we could talk those things through and figure it out prior. Let me know soon, though! I'll be home soon. I'm already spending time looking up jobs, and I would hate to agree to one from someone I don't know when there was someone I did know that was interested.

Something to also note is that none of this is set in stone. I very well could end up working at Chick-fil-A all summer, but I am hoping to expand out a little bit and broaden my field. 

- rl

Roomie Date in River North

Tonight we had what was probably our best roomie date yet! We went to a place called Blaze Pizza that has decently cheap thin crust pizza. So good! The best part is that we both only ate half of ours so that we could eat the second half for dinner tomorrow night, which is the only time a meal isn't served on campus. This will definitely be a place to bring people when they come to visit! 

After that, we ventured to Eataly, an Italian restaurant and shop that is my go-to for a treat: sorbet! However, when we got there the line was longer than I'd ever seen it, which is really saying something. We opted instead to just walk around the store a little bit and get a little info on the shape of cheese before heading back into the nightlife of River North in Chicago. Ally got frozen yogurt and then we stopped by my Chick-fil-A so I could say hi to coworkers and get a drink. 

After getting back to campus we had to go to the library to get a DVD for children's church in the morning. We ended up spending some time catching up with one of the guys on our brother floor. The three of us eat breakfast together several times a week, but we're not super talkative at 7.30am. 

Overall we had a great night! We did so much in a matter of a few hours, and it felt great to walk around the city being a little dressed up and avoiding spiders in that one window display...ew! It was almost as fun as playing in the park this afternoon with Ally and her little man (the boy she nannies). The little guy thinks the three of us should be best friends because our birthdays are all in successive months, yet he hardly spoke a word to me.

- rl

p.s. two weeks until I go home! I talked with my mom while on my break at work today. Thirty minutes of feeling at home. It was lovely! I miss my mom's voice just discussing the day's events, and I'm excited to hear it for three whole months!!