I love this neighborhood!

The Columbia Neighborhood is my FAVORITE in Bellingham. It makes me happy, and if I were to live here outside of Western. this is the place I'd live. The school is the only walking school in the district...meaning that the school has NO buses! Most everyone at the school knows my name, and they are awesome. Today, when I was leaving work, one of my kindergarten girls followed me to my car via the fence on the playground. It's her ritual with me. Every time she's there, she follow me to my car, and makes sure I know that she knows which car is mine :) Well today, she ran alongside the fence and followed me to the end of the playground where the 4 way stop is. She had the biggest smile on her face and was waving like crazy! It made my heart happy. It was a fantastic way to start my day.

Dash lives in the Columbia neighborhood, and often we'll have dinner at his house. Tonight as I was on driving to his place after work, I saw two older guys playing catch in their yard. It was really cool. Where else would this happen? I mean, really. It's crazy. And it's awesome.

It helps keep me sane that I can be in this neighborhood so much. It feels less like a "college-town," and more like a cozy place that one could call home. Sometimes I forget how "homey" Bellingham can be, especially when stupid, stupid college students live here. And YES, I am a college student, but I am NOT stupid. Well at least not like everyone else. Thank you VERY much!

Making Pies

Fall has been in the air. I've been looking forward to fall. I LOVE this time of year!!! I've been craving old things that remind me of fall and home. Apples have been popping up at the stores like crazy, so I decided to get some and make my mom's cooked apples with cinnamon. Well the week got crazy, and I didn't end up making mom's apples, but I did end up making PIE!!!

Actually, I ended up making 3 pies! I was getting set up to make pies at Dash's, and his roommate, Liam, handed me a big can of pumpkin to use for whatever. So I ended up making an apple pie, a pumpkin pie, and an apple pumpkin pie. I essentially halved the pumpkin pie recipe and made it with lots more pumpkin. I found that I enjoyed it SO much more, although it was still really filling!!

Today was productive, but not so much in terms of school stuff. I cleaned my kitchen, the bathrooms, and a good portion of my room. It's nice to have a clean place! And nice that I had time to make it clean!! I also cleaned the beta's tank and got new "toys" and a warm place for the bird. All in all productive!!

I also "watched" the Huskies game with Dash and worked on stats homework. I got to hang out with work friends last night and enjoy good food this weekend.

It's been a good and enjoyable day. I needed it like crazy!