I don't know how you talked me into this

Dear Runner Brooke,

I went for the single-most pathetic little 1/2 mile run today. But I didn't hate it. Which means I will be more likely to go on more pathetic little runs in the future. Baby steps.

To reward myself for being so physically active, (snort) I am making mushroom raviolis for dinner, and because I am a cheap bastard (read: culinary mastermind) I made a homemade mushroom stock out of the leftover stems, half a carrot that I found, superhero parsley and rosemary, and some shallots and garlic. Not too shabby... So excited to eat it! Also very sad because I subconsciously always make enough food to feed exactly 1 Brooke and 1 Amanda. But I'm lacking in the Brooke department. :(

So we need to start planning our song for the karaoke contest. Thoughts?

Love for always,

Wheelie

Happiness is a tie dyed field hockey ball with your face on it

Dearest darling Aurelie:

1. Autocorrect in my phone just changed "Aurelie" to "Wheelie" which I thoroughly enjoyed. 2. Bacon spinach risotto sounds phenomenal. You'll have to teach me how to make risotto in general, since I can't. 3. I will gladly make EMT crack every time I come to visit you in your awesome new apartment. Maybe the 6 year old can help us!

Tonight, I had my field hockey banquet, where we get to celebrate our awesome team members and shower our seniors with gifts and love. Among those seniors, my baby goalie, whom I have groomed since the first day she ever wore goalie gear. During camp when she was 14, the first time she ever stepped into the goal, I knew she would be great. She was awarded the "E Ball" which, as you may remember, is only the best award you can get at a UVM field hockey camp. I made hers into a baby giraffe, lanky and wobbly, like her. She loved it and keeps it on her dresser to this day.

Last night, the captains got up and gave us our coaching gifts. Allyson got a 50 dollar gift certificate to a fancy restaurant in town and a can of sardines, hommage to the fact that she has to teach elementary schoolers phys ed this year and makes them be sardines to sit down and shut up. I got a manicure/pedicure certificate, since I've never gotten one before, and my very own E Ball. My goalie told the story of how she'd gotten her first E Ball at the first camp I coached her at and how, because of that, she knew she wanted to pursue goalkeeping. Basically, she made me cry like a baby and it was fantastic. I'm so proud of the young lady she's grown into. I'm like a momma goalie watching her baby dive or double leg stack for the first time. (Okay, I guess you have to be a goalie to get it...)

All my love, my lerv (autocorrected to perv... lol)

Brooke

Please don't judge my horrible French grammar.

Dear Brooklyn,

Someone, somewhere, has a batman apron. I saw it on a poster. This will happen. My apron is coming along, slowly but surely. The border is all done, just neck strap and belt to go! We'll be twinsies from the 50's!

So work has, per the status quo, been quite busy. We're field testing a new cardiac monitor so I've been medically geeking out on a regular basis. I've been quoted as saying things like, "Cool! This disk measures the effectiveness of chest compressions and estimates your cardiac output!" and, "Oh my god, it measures the ohms of resistance when you defibrillate really fat people!" (You never actually need to know that) Also, I now have really strong opinions on proper wire organization and how many inches of paper is appropriate to print out when you press the "on" button. Normal.

I clearly miss you terribly, and hope that you're having a blast with Mr. Fancypants. I cannot, repeat, CANNOT, wait to meet him. Ahh! Love him already. (Platonically... All that other -ness is for you to take care of.) I wish that you were here to help me eat this spinach risotto that I just made. ( With bacon and onions... It's basically my go-to for using up fridge leftovers.) Guess I'll just have to take the rest to work. Oh and by the way I haven't stopped receiving requests for those brownie-cookie-oreo things. Seriously. You made my co-workers crazy. They are crazy people now. Those things were EMT crack.

So I bought myself some wall art of Van Gogh's "Starry Night" because I am sooooo excited about my new apartment!!!! You obviously are required to help decorate/snuggle with me at sleepovers.

I hope you enjoy your night off before it's back to the grind!

Tu me manquais trop...

Aurelie

Being a slacker is not for the faint of heart.

Dearest darling Amanda.

I am so terribly sorry its taken me so long to reply. At least you have had a productive couple of weeks and have been able to keep me updated with your crazy antics. You know your sister is beautiful because she is a mini you, I will sit on the flash cards and help you study any day (be stereotypical!! BASIL!) and if rosemary and parsley were really superhero plants, Nicole and I wouldn't have had to give ours a proper burial at the beginning of winter. So you have mutant plants. Mutant superhero plants.

I figured I would post something quickly to break up your streak before we go on our hate baking binge and Amelie fest for the next 48 hours. So, here are the only two photos of my roller derby boo I have, a cute Kito picture, the week old baby i helped come into this world, a shift report dinosaur, and the obligatory random selfie as a quick photo recap of my life until we can take a bunch more together IN THREE HOURS.

See you soon, my love!

Brooke

Let me blog about my day!

Salutations!

I hope my greeting made you think of Wilbur, the pig from Charlotte's Web. If it didn't, the Lancaster library clearly had such a diverse collection of VHS tapes that you did not make it through all of them. It's a classic. Love it. Anyhoo...

It's been a productive day for most everyone, it seems! Sarah, the littlest of my sisters, has gone and gotten herself a driver's license! How absolutely terrifying is that?!? I am, however, super proud of her, though I do not envy the bumpers of my parent's cars...

Also, She's super pretty. What a betch.

As for myself,  I started my day running tons and tons of errands... Wal-mart for soaps, paper towels, and birthday cards, Shaws for delicious groceries, the mall for new earrings, 2013 calendar (Lord of the Rings themed) and a day planner, and the dry cleaners because I spilled gasoline on my pea coat. Yup, the dry cleaners. Who's a fucking adult, huh? This chick. What's up with this?!? So, by 11:00 I had already accomplished more than I usually manage in a whole day. I then made myself some chicken carbonara for lunch, complete with homemade pasta, because I have lately become obsessed with making my own noodles. It's reminiscent of last year's sourdough frenzy, without all the bubbly science experiments in my fridge.

Then I wanted to do some arts and crafts. My mother raised me right, so I made sure to place several layers of newspaper on my floor to ensure a clean workspace. Then I FINALLY put a layer of sealant on the painting you made me. I know. Slacker. I've had this stuff for weeks. Almost months. Whatever, it's done now, drying and waiting on a second coat, and I'm only a little high off the fumes because it's too chilly to leave the door open any longer. I have been collecting all of the colored caps off the medication vials that I use at work, with the intention of making something cool, but I haven't collected quite enough yet. Stay tuned for that installment of the Barney Bag. (Please tell me you watched that show, at least?!)

Since I didn't want to mop my floor but I wanted to continue the productive streak, I winterized my porch. Which doesn't take a lot, just sweeping up the pine needles, emptying the flower boxes and taking all the various gardening tools to my car, since next spring I will be living in a different place! (Yay!) As a result, I am now in possession of more parsley and rosemary than any one person could possibly use. Apparently those are the sorts of plants that will thrive even if you don't ever water them, leave them out in a hurricane, and let them get frost on them. Superhero plants.

I also went through and got myself familiarized with the classes that I'm required to take for college, which was super exciting and intimidating and full of various -ologies. Then, I got up to refill my coffee, turned around, and was met with this scene, undoubtedly foreshadowing what my existance will look like for the next few years...

Papers strewn everywhere, Pandora on the laptop, black coffee coming out my ears... Yup. This will be my couch/desk/bed/car for the foreseeable future. Hope you still love me even though everywhere you sit will have flash cards on it.

I know you're at work right now, probably hating your life because this week has been demanding, but I love you and I get to see you next week and we get to have a slumber party on our camping cots! I have Ibuprofen for when we remember that our backs are not as young as they used to be...

All of my love for always,

Amanda

How many seconds did it take you to find me?

Dearest, gray-shaded Brooke,

I miss you terribly, clearly, and I am appalled that we have not yet had to chance to do a best-friends Halloween costume. This needs to be remedied. And it can't be anything lame. We have a whole year to think of the GREATEST BESTIES COSTUME EVER!

This year, I had an unintentional costume twin, which ended up being pretty funny. Here is my motley crew of co-workers in their October best:

I am the Waldo with little stripes. Vicki's costume was an actual Waldo costume that you can buy. Mine is Goodwill, but I found an old-school red camera for 1 dollar which was perfect! Go me, the cheap bastard! There was also a Mr. Clean, Things 1 and 2, and far too many of my male co-workers in short-shorts. So many knees and upper thighs that I did not need to see... Still a very fun party and the sangria was excellent!

I'll keep this post brief in hopes of maybe doing something productive today, but I promise a more eloquent and long-winded entry before long!

All erv mer lerv,

Amanda