Bad at Blogging

I've been so bad at blogging lately.  At first it was because I was uninspired but now that I actually have things to write about I feel lazy and also like I want to give my blog a makeover, but the template designer isn't really working for me right now.  In the mean time, I am going to try and blog a bit more now.

TODAY WAS GOOD

TODAY WAS GOOD. 
Here is why:
1) First and foremost:  After 4 years of procrastination, tears, and teenage rebellion against parents who told me I should get one, I, Keiran Leah McCann, have finally obtained my basic New York state learners permit.  CAN I GET A HELL YES!?  I studied the book and went to the DMV and took the damn test and I got a 100% and a congratulations from a surly DMV lady.  I have no idea what my photo looks like because they don't show you after they take it and the permit card will arrive in the mail in about 2 weeks.  (I'll probably just be a hideous mess, which would be kind of hilarious.)  In the mean time I have a little paper certificate.  It was fo' serious a rather proud moment for me.  Just because I had lacked motivation to get it for so long and then last week I kind of just started studying for it ona whim.   Now I finally have it and it feels almost like a rite of passage.  The only issue now is that I need to learn how to drive.  The idea of driving on a real live street amongst other drivers is just terrifying to me.  Also, I move back to Philly tomorrow where I'm pretty sure that I'm not allowed to drive.  And I have no intention of going back to New York any time soon and I also refuse to drive in the city until I've had some rural practice down.  So basically, I have no idea when I will actually LEARN to drive.  Thankfully, my permit doesn't expire for 4 years, so I have 4 years before I actually need to get behind the wheel of a car.  BABY STEPS! (PS I am sorry road trippers, for not trying to get the license sooner!)

2)  After obtaining such license, I decided to call Caroline (who lives in the area of the DMV) and celebrate by getting a much needed pedicure.  Seriously, it was like my legs were attached to nasty foot shaped rocks.  I used gold nail polish because it is the color of champions.  JUST KIDDING.  I got gold because I love gold nail polish. 

3)  After having our toes wrapped in seran wrap, Caroline and I walked to the Patricia Fields store, talked about hilarious things, then walked back to her house where we ate gigantic veggie burgers with sweet potato fries and watched Jersey Shore and Anchor Man and laughed at stupid things like bears and babies and now I am watching CSI and packing last minute things for Bouvier!!!

4) Speaking of Bouvier, AKA home sweet home, I have officially made the decision to never live in my parent's house full time ever again (this does not mean I wont live in my grandma's house in Harlem, because she is not my actual parent).  From this point forth, I am going to try and live on my own to the best of my ability.  Visits are allowed, of course.  But I just really need to...be on my own.  This place is not my "home" anymore. 

PS I'm an organ donor. 

THE GREAT PLACE!

 (360º iPhone app.  Photo of my room.)

I HAVE MOVED INTO THE GREAT PLACE!!!  I cannot believe it has finally happened because it has been about 8 months in the making.  It all started with Caitlin, Beth, Lindsay and I sitting in Temple Towers and talking about how much we love each other while getting ready to go out for the night.  Next thing we know, we're signing a lease together along with ChrisFish.  I have absolutely no worries about living with these ladies.  We all get along really well and are pretty responsible and have even lived with each other before with no problems.  Once we get into a rhythm and routine, I'm sure things will be extra great.  I do have a little anxiety at the idea that I may need to move out in 7 months.  In case we decide we don't want to renew our lease or live somewhere else.  It's possible it could happen, but out of shear laziness and just wanting to finally have a place to call home for the first time in 5 years (ever since my mom moved to NJ, I really don't feel like I have a home base), I really want to stay there. 

I couldn't even bring myself to move everything in.  My mom kept trying to get me to pack things and I just couldn't bring myself to do it because I kept thinking "Eh..I'll just have to pack it back up in a few months, what's the point?"  I hope I can get out of this mentality.  So anyway, the house is LOVELY.  It is really big and located in North Philadelphia about 10 minutes walk away from Temple campus.  It has 3 floors, 5 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a living room, kitchen, dining room, creepy basement, and back yard.  I have a big bedroom on the 3rd floor that has a lovely view of the street we live on. 

I was the first person to move in, so it was weird being there with a big empty house.  (Thank god Adam was there to hang out with me.  It was actually nice having it just be the 2 of us for a few days.  Of course, he is not going to be living there, but I expect he'll be around a lot.)  First of all it is dirrrrrtyyyyy and no matter how much I tried to clean it, it just did not seem to get clean.  Also, you can hear a lot of sounds from the 3rd floor.  Not enough to be disturbing, but enough to get a little creeped out when you know no one is supposed to be in the house except for you.  Just like neighbor's doors closing or talking.  I can pretty much hear everything going on in the street outside, but I actually like that.  It almost makes me feel safer, just because I'm so used to the lovely and loud NYC.  Last night there was a huge party going on in one of the houses and at one point I heard people screaming!  So I thought, "Oh god.  There's a fight.  There are going to be gunshots."  But when I looked outside, people were screaming and hugging each other in what looked like a reuniting of friends.  Unnecessarily loud, but cute.  When I first arrived, my next door neighbor was outside and even welcomed me to the neighborhood and reassured me that it was a lovely and safe place to live, much to my mom's incredulity. 

The only real downsides to the house are:
1) One of the locks stick, which is just annoying.  We need to get a new/third lock.
2) There are mice EVERYWHERE.  I don't really mind because this is just a fact of life.  Mice are around and will try to eat your food.  I prefer them to roaches anyway.   The way to stop them is to be clean.  Maybe the previous tenants were not as clean in the kitchen or maybe our next door neighbors are slobs and their mice are migrating to our house.  Regardless, the second night there Adam and I saw one fly down a flight of stairs and the third night we were there they managed to get into some individually wrapped Ghiradelli chocolates I stupidly left on the floor.  2 of them were nibbled/carried a few feet across the floor.  Godzilla mice?
3) My lovely isolated-ish third floor room is SO FAR AWAY from the bathroom.  I find I wake up having to pee really badly all the time but just hold it in because I do not want to walk down the 2 hallways and 1 flight of stairs to get to the 2nd floor bathroom with freezing floor tiles.  This results in me having a lot of dreams about running water or anxiety filled ones about peeing my pants in public.  (I have not wet the bed in years though, so that's good).  Last night I was trying to come up with ideas for keeping a pee bucket in the room, but Adam did not think that was a good idea. 

I am 90% unpacked but I seriously lack furniture.  Adam and I went to Ikea and I got a nice dresser, but I seriously need a desk and some shelf space.  The thing is, I have a lot of furniture at home and in storage, I just have no way of getting it to Philly.  It's a big process of driving to the storage bins and somehow fitting it in my car or renting a truck and then I need my parents to drive me back.  Sometimes it really does suck not having a driver's license or a car.  So for the time being, I have a lot of knick knacks stacked around my floor. 

CATCHING UP

OH DEAR LORD.  I have been very anti-blog lately.  Just not inspired to write anything or post anything.  Not even on my Tumblr.  I am just completely unmotivated, even though there are some amazig things happening in my life right now.  So I am going to try and be more diligent about posting things. 

MY YEAR IN PHOTOBOOTH PICS

 This is the first photo I took on Photobooth in 2010.  That lipstick mark is actually a band aid that was hiding a HIDEOUS bruise I had as a result of wearing cowboy boots in the snow and falling shoulder first onto the edge of my building's brick steps.  I also thought I broke my wrist for a while after that injury.

 In 2010, I visited Tessa in Baltimore and we both got our noses pierced.

 This was the year when I rediscovered my love of cooking, especially cooking FOR people.

 Look at that neck burn!  The result of working at the swan boat stand for 1 day before quitting.  Too much Irish skin and sunlight and children's vomit for that job to work out.

 I love this.  I assume I am drunk or I just woke up or something.  I look crazy and have a subtle googly eye.

 When I moved back to NJ for the summer and got a haircut.  Really, not my favorite summer but I guess I made the best of it.

 2010 was a year where I really developed a loving relationship with lipstick.

No more wisdom teeth!  And a love for prescription painkillers and 'Teen Mom' comes to fruition.

My lovely London ladies/Hard C's.  Thank god they were in London with me, otherwise I may have commit suicide.  Also, they are just gorgeous.

 I just found this.  Thank you Caitlin.

Last photo taken in 2010!

Photobooth pics are so weird.  THey are pretty much only ever of yourself, but they can really reveal a lot about a person's year.  GOODBYE

HALLOWEEN IN LONDON...

is kind of lame.  BUT we made the best of it!

FALL BREAK!!

 

(Most of the Temple London crowd at our "Get Rid of All your Perishable Foods Before Fall Break Pot Luck".  I brought yogurt and 2 nectarines.)

(Cutting Fornwald's hair before break to make his Florence Henderson hair flip go away.  I'm quitting school and becoming a hair dresser...Sweeny Todd style.)

 (On top of the London Eye at night.  I had only ever been during the day before.)

 

 (Adam and the Notre Dame.)

 (Adam and me on the London Eye.)

 (Straight cheesin' on the Paris boat tour.)

 (On top of the Eiffel Tower.)

 (Adam and the back of David's head near the Eiffel Tower.)

 (An attractive couple.)

 (Pere Lachaise cemetery.  We totally got lost looking for Oscar Wilde.  Couldn't find anyone famous.)

(The Rose Window of Notre Dame.)

 

(Mama and the Eiffel Tower.)

(Michelle and Lukas looking at something.)

 (Prince Albert memorial.  This is only a few minutes away from my flat.)

 (Big Ben is actually much smaller in person.)

 (Delicious falafels.)

(The London Eye.)

(Adam and me at Buckingham Palace!  The changing of the guard was really stupid.)

LONDON SIGHTS: London Eye, Picadilly Circus, Locke Tavern, Tiger Tiger, Buckingham Palace, Victoria and Albert Museum, The London Museum, Hyde Park etc.)

PARIS SIGHTS:  The Eiffel Tower, Pere Lachaise Cemetary, Notre Dame, Sacre Coeur, Montmartre, The Latin Quarter, Champs Elysee, Pompadou museum etc.)

FOOD I ATE:  hamburger with egg on top, smoked salmon with wasabi cream, escargot, savory crepes, sweet crepes, poireaux salad, complete English breakfast, dutch pancakes, fish and chips, lamb and lemon potatoes, Laduree macaroons, pastries galore! etc.)