happy fathers' day!

how awesome are we?

thanks for being the best dad ever!

my brother got married!

my brother tied the knot yesterday with the amazing megan zimmer (well, i suppose now she's megan reinhardt)! it was the cutest little backyard wedding, right on big bear lake. we walked down the aisle, taffy performed his first wedding ever (way to go, taff), and they said their vows and became "man and wife." pictures were taken, bocce ball and horseshoes and croquet were played, and s'mores were made. we ate some delectible roast beef dinner and delicious cake and candy and cookies, cried with laughter at the best best-man speech ever given (props to david hughes), and danced the night away until the happy couple drove off down the mountain...

i couldn't be happier for mark and megan. and i hear they're settled in, soaking up some hawaiian sun and honeymooning their little hearts out. congratulations guys & i love you both!

i am a hero

because today i saved ten little baby quails from being eaten up by a big mean hawk. there i was, just reading some harry potter and soaking up some sun in the park, when a mommy quail came out of the bushes, and then out popped ten little baby quails following behind her like a little swarm of adorable bumble bees. they were just frolicking about pecking at little bugs or seeds or whatever it is they eat, when all of the sudden this giant hawk comes and tries to grab one! they all race back into the bushes and the hawk follows them. now all i can see is the bush shaking and little baby birds chirping panicked chirps and squealing pitiful little squeals. it was heart breaking. they might as well have been shouting, "help us, alli!" and so, i did. i ran over there shouting and waving my arms and yes, at this point i realize i look like a complete freak. luckily no one else was there, and even more luckily, it worked! the hawk flew away and all the little birdies were saved. i've never felt so foolish and so heroic at the same time. you're quite welcome, baby quails. as a thank you, feel free to fly to my doorstep and be my pets.

“sometimes, if you stand on the bottom rail of a bridge and lean over to watch the river slipping slowly away beneath you, you will suddenly know everything there is to be known.” -a.a. milne, winnie the pooh

nants ingonyama bagithi baba!

if that doesn't sound familiar, maybe this will: naaaaaa sayvenya babaditsi baba! ...no? that's what i always thought it was, at least. and by "it" i mean the opening of "the circle of life." no matter how you sing the intro, though, does not matter. what matters is that you just can't help but love the lion king. and last night, i took my mom to see the broadway production at the orange county performing arts center. if you haven't seen this award winning musical, you need to. even if you don't like musicals. because, like i said, who doesn't like the lion king? trust me, no matter how old you are or whoever you are, you will thoroughly enjoy it. my mom and i definitely did. what's not to love about people in giant elephant costumes trapsing down the aisles? seriously, though. the costumes are incredible. in-cred-ible. the whole thing was, really. so next time it comes to town, go. don't think, just get tickets. you won't regret it. oh, and try and sit on the aisle...

where in the world?

i realize that some of you might be wondering where in the world i have been these past three weeks, and why haven't a posted and post? well, i mentioned it before, but you might have forgotten. i've been studying abroad in the british isles! and, alas, i have been posting many posts. just not on this blog. but rather, on this blog. you can read all about my trip there, if--for whatever reason--you haven't been keeping up already. and now that i'm back home, i'll be back to this blog. let the heart to hardt recommence!

adieu to the dorms

the past nine months have been so great for so many reasons. but the biggest reason of all, i think, is that i lived in the dorms. now, i have to admit that at first i wasn't entirely thrilled at the thought of being surrounded by 25 girls all day every day, never having any personal space, and all the other "joys" that come with living on campus. i value "me time" more than anyone i know. but after a couple weeks--or maybe it was a couple months (i'm telling you, it took some serious adjusting)--i really began to love it. there are so many memories and good times that i would have missed out on, so much girl talk and laughter that i would have never been a part of had i not lived in the dorms. nease hall, second south, room 210 truely became my home away from home this year, and the girls around me became my family away from family. this room has brought me so much happiness:

that's what it looked like before. but today, i moved out. my once cozy room now looks like a depressingly empty void. here's the after...it's so sad.

i never thought i'd say it, but the fact that i won't be living on campus next year kind of breaks my heart. this was the only year that i will ever haved lived in a dorm, and i feel so blessed to have had such a wonderful experience, that i'm able to look back on the year with fantastically fond memories. i won't ever forget the nine months i spent in that cubby hole of a room with my crazy new mexican of a room mate (love ya ceej) and all my other hall mates. so thanks for all the good times, nease second south room 210. i've had a blast. adieu.

first annual library dance party

so it's finals week this week at point loma. everyone's studying. everyone's stressed. and everyone could use a break. thanks to ian mckay and a handful of others, that's just what happened. one big study break in the form of a dance party. in the library. it was a little bit out of control, but so much fun. if you've ever wondered what it would look like to cram nearly 500 college students into a relatively small space and crank up some miley cyrus, soulja boy, and ke$ha...today is your lucky day because i got it on film. it went a little something like this:

upswing

there's something so uplifting about a before and after, about immense improvement. i took a beginning tennis class this semester and experienced just that. at the start of the semester we--twenty-five other students and me--picked up our rackets, awkward in our unexperienced, unathletic hands, and played a very sad game of around the world. i was the third one out. since that pitiful attempt, i've been learning step by step how to hold a racket and how to swing it; how to hit a forehand, backhand, lob, and smash; how to keep score and what things like "luv" and "deuce" mean. i've been learning how to play tennis. each day i've felt a little more comfortable with a ball and a racket. every day i've gotten a little bit better. it's been sixteen weeks since that first day, and today we had our last day of class. and how did we finished it off? with one last game of around the world. this time i was not the third one out. this time i got third place! this game lasted twice as long as the first, and i did ten times better. and i was the only girl left (if that really matters). i know that it might sound like a silly feat, but i'm proud of myself. in my head i see two distinct pictures: one of myself at the beginning of the year and one of myself now. there is a big improvement between the two, a before and after that look very different. i might not be the best tennis player in the world or anything and i don't plan on making it to wimbeldon any time soon, or even on the school's tennis team. to be honest, i'm still not that good. but i'm better than i was. there's been an upswing. i've improved. and i'm proud of that.

a "heart to hardt" of literary proportions

i love literature. obviously, it's a significant part of my education as an english major. and as someone who studies the ins and outs of literature on a daily basis, i can't help but find certain aspects of it in my daily life. as my high school english teacher always said, "literature is everywhere! you just can't escape it." (thanks for the wise words, nuz!) it's so true. i find myself thinking the same thing so often. and the past twenty-four hours of my life have been especially filled with literature. elements of foreshadowing, dialogue, and character development were major themes yesterday, last night, and this morning...
my friends and i often randomly break out in song. yesterday, annie seemed to be playing on repeat in all of our heads. "the sun will come out tomorrow, bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow there'll be sun..." we sang it intermittently throughout the day, a line here and a line there. little did we know that we would actually see the sun come up that morrow. foreshadowing. it's ironic and sometimes unexpected; you never really know when one small thing will play itself out in a big way.
the girls and i got to talking last night. minutes turned into hours as we took turns talking and listening, listening and talking. and before we knew it 11o'clock at night became 6o'clock in the morning. questions called for answers, sentences turned into monologues, tidbits became insights, and giggles grew into lots and lots of laughter. dialogue. it's amazing how much there is to say. about this, that, and everything. and it's incredible how our words, what we say, and how we say it, form us into who we are.
in the seven hours we spent sprawled out on our tiny dorm room beds, chit chatting into the wee hours of the morning, i learned so much about my friends. in some ways, more was said in one night than has been said in months and months of smaller conversations. something about the secret safeness that exists in the hours between sunset and sunrise heartened our heart to heart. we shared secrets, both silly and sincere. we layed out our hopes and dreams. we put our whole selves on our sleeves. character development. it's remarkable how many pieces of ourselves there are to put together, making the fragments of who we are into a whole. we found and shared pieces, both new and old, bringing us leaps and bounds closer to knowing ourselves and knowing eachother.
with all that to say, i do love literature. i love that we can't escape it, how it pops up in almost every part of our lives. but even more so, i love my friends. they are all such incredible girls with incredible stories and incredible spirits. i love the all-nighter we pulled thanks in part to unhealthy amounts of sugar and the phenomena of insomnia. i loved watching the night sky illume into day, knowing that sleep is far over rated in comparison to quality time with people we love. and i loved our "heart to hardt." it was definitely one for the record books, and one of literary proportions.

thanks girls, for being who you are. thanks for the memories of last night and of the year as a whole. i love you all SO much!