sweet tea & sun drop

hold my heart.

2011-10-24T22:16:00.003-04:00

does anybody know how to hold my heart,

how to hold my heart, because i don't want to let go too soon.

- sara bareilles

i haven't written in who knows how long. and i hate that i'm using this right now as an opportunity to put things off of my chest that i can't begin to write anywhere else. i'm currently in the middle of an emotional rollercoaster - and i don't know what to do about it. there are all of these feelings inside me that i don't know what to do with - feelings of anxiety, fear, hatred, regret, and so many others. during the end of a cappella practice tonight, i was holding back tears. and i have no idea why. when we sang happy 29th birthday to my beautiful sister, i was holding back tears. when i got in the car and "someone like you" by adele played on the radio, i lost it. me, a competent 21 year old, bawling on the way home. i'm in a rut. and that's strange for most people to think of. because i shouldn't be in a rut. i'm 21. i go to william & mary. i have good friends, in fact, i have great friends. i have a wonderful job. i was even elected homecoming queen at william & mary this past weekend. but there's something missing. and it's not frustration over the fact that i dropped my phone in water and it's currently sitting in a bowl of rice to dry out. or that i didn't get the last two solos that i wanted more than anything. or that i miss the hell out of my sister and need her more than anything right now.

that something that i think i'm missing is love. i need, more than anything in my life, a great (and i mean, great) love. that one love that knocks me off of my feet. that makes me swoon and weak in the knees. a love that makes me feel again. that one love that lets me open up myself to someone with no reservations. yet, i'm standing here, waiting with open arms, and asking - where are you, love? when are you coming to me? when's it my turn?

because i'm frankly tired of never having had a true boyfriend. i'm frankly tired of having the only person i've really almost been relationship-wise-romantically involved with being someone who haunts my daily existence with his lies and our addiction to each other existing like a stain on my heart that no matter how hard i rub simply won't come out. i'm frankly tired of everyone around me being in a relationship and being happy, which i realize is completely and utterly selfish. i'm frankly tired of feeling bad about being selfish. i'm frankly tired of having never been truly in love. i'm frankly tired of living on my knees begging for other people to want to be with me. and i'm frankly tired of having nights like tonight where i cry for no reason and can't control my emotions.

so now it's back to homework and figuring out how to repair the shattered pieces of my heart so that one day, they'll be ready to love.

xoxo.

krp.

blog is up and RUNNING!

2011-06-30T20:26:00.001-04:00

hi guys -

i just got the official and working link for my blog for the office of admissions -

and HERE IT IS! GET EXCITED!

http://blogs.wm.edu/author/krponder/

xoxo.

krp.

skinny love.

2011-06-07T09:07:00.005-04:00

i told you to be patient, i told you to be fine,
i told you to be balanced, i told you to be kind.
in the morning i'll be with you,
but it will be a different "kind."
- bon iver.

200.

this is my 200th post. wow. seems like so long ago when sweet tea & sundrop began. so long ago when i first started this blog on a random whim freshman year. and it's especially funny for me to look at my first blog post (in january 0f 2009) when i thought this blog had to be something. when i thought it had to be cool & hip. when i randomly made the decision to make all of my blog titles also be song titles. i thought i'd go through and pick some interesting little quotes from my past blogs - from 1 from every month my blog's been in existence, so bear with me here, folks...

january 09 - i'm "that" quintessential girl who, when you meet her, will attempt and most likely succeed in making a connection between someone that she knows and someone that you know.

february 09 - i love going home for breaks from school and drinking nothing but sweet tea, going to field parties and bonfires, and wearing a camo hat.

march 09 - i love weather that i can just wear a skirt, top, jean jacket, and flip flops in.

april 09 - when i was little i used to get told that my eyes were beautiful, some of the most beautiful eyes that anyone had ever seen.

may 09 - i just have to think about where i want to be in my life, the person i want to be, the friends i want to have, and the relationships that i hold value to.

june 09 - in times of mass frustration, i just look to my dad, and realize how much work he does daily, how many people he saves, how many lives he touches, how much he loves, and realize that i need to get the ball rolling in my life.

july 09 - healing takes a while. and i need just a little while longer.

august 09 - it's a life spent waiting for the "one," and simply going to school and getting a job and doing things like that because they're there to fill up the time spent waiting.

september 09 - it's good to know that other people feel the same way you do through their lyrics.

october 09 - (whoops. didn't post any at all this month.)

november 09 - here i am. wishing and hoping and praying to have even the chance to have a love beyond imagination, a love filled to the brim and even overflowing with passion, loyalty, silliness, and longevity.

december 09 - (whoops. didn't post any at all this month either.)

january 10 - 2009 - you sucked a lot. but then you were good sometimes.

february 10 - i feel like a talent and a hobby go hand in hand, sometimes, but i guess you don't necessarily have to be talented at a hobby in order to like it.

march 10 - maybe it's just because i'm a southern girl born and raised, but whenever your outfit is missing that "something," try adding some pearls, and i guarantee you it'll be better than it looked before.

april 10 - and here is the next thing i love - accents.

may 10 - i miss that boy who was like my brother, that boy who honked at me obnoxiously and did his crazy eyes every time we passed on the road - me in the x-terra and him in the white jeep.

june 10 - i can now officially say that i have been to heaven and back.

july 10 - who still believes in love at first sight?

august 10 - how could anyone be perfectly lonely?

september 10 - and with the release of sara's new album, my love for her and her music has been cemented.

october 10 - the danger of refusing love is real. - eugene rogers

november 10 - as the thanksgiving season comes to a close, and the one of advent and christmas begin, i start to realize how sincerely and utterly blessed i am.

december 10 - the art of the apology. how should we apologize?

january 11 - there are some days when you go to church, and you feel like the sermon was made for you.

february 11 - this song is more beautiful than what i knew could exist.

march 11 - i've been falling out of touch with religion lately, making excuses for not going to church, not reading my bible, not necessarily living my life completely the way i know god would want me to, and something as simple as that prayer put me back in check with reality.

april 11 - and it's back on my grind after a beautiful weekend at home - it seems as if these last few weeks have been slipping through my fingertips quicker than the finest sand on a beach somewhere beautiful (where i would gladly be right now sipping on a margarita and getting tan instead of huddled inside for the next two weeks studying).

may 11 - i'm back from my hiatus.

june 11 - it's things like this that make me excited to be a part of the tribe - a tribe that extends much farther than williamsburg - one that extends all the way to haiti.

that's it. keep following me on this crazy journey - i'm sure it will only get more and more interesting as time goes on.

xoxo.

krp.

how to love.

2011-06-02T12:50:00.002-04:00

for a second you were here, why you over there?

it's hard not to stare, the way you moving your body,

like you never had a love, never had a love.

- lil wayne.

so, i'm sitting here at my new job. and i wrote a blogpost, but i can't put it up yet because i haven't been taught how to post a blog yet. so i'm posting it here - for a trial run. :)

enjoy...

xoxo -

krp.

there’s just something about that william & mary connection…

william & mary has a program called branch out international, which helps organize and support international alternative breaks with william & mary students as well as train the leaders of these trips. for the past two semesters, i have been attending almost-weekly meetings with the two student leaders (adam and wesley) and melody porter in order to best prepare myself to lead the william & mary haiti compact with brian focarino. from may 17^th to the 24^th, i was in port-au-prince and cap haitien, haiti and i can honestly say that it was one of the most interesting and life-changing experiences i have had while i’ve been at william & mary. although this experience was by far one of the most amazing things i’ve done in quite some time, while i was in haiti (for just seven days), there were three different ways in which i encountered william & mary outside of the people that i was traveling with. let’s explore them…

1. random kid – while traveling five miles on horse up to the top of the citadel (see here – seriously one of the most beautiful places that i’ve ever been in my entire life), we were on the last mile stretch of the steepest part of the mountain. i may or may not have already almost fallen off of my horse at this point (wasn’t my fault – the horse literally sprinted up the steepest part and then turned a corner just a little too fast), but something caught my eye. there was a haitian kid walking up the side of the mountain and you will never guess what he was wearing – a long-sleeved william & mary t-shirt. i couldn’t believe my eyes – a random kid was wearing a william & mary t-shirt! i yelled out at him – “OH MY GOD – LOVE YOUR T-SHIRT!” and pointed at my chest and then his. he probably thought i was some ridiculous american who was being stupid, but it made me seriously so excited to see a william & mary t-shirt on the side of a mountain in rural northern haiti.

2. pure water for the world – when visiting an organization called pure water for the world which works in connection with international child care (ICC, our primary community partner), some of us had on t-shirts from william & mary, and believe it or not, a woman working there said, “wait, you guys are from william & mary? my daughter just finished her freshman year there!” yet another random william & mary moment where we were able to connect to a really awesome organization just because of the power of our university. pretty cool, right?

3. in the airport – while getting on the plane in port-au-prince on our last day to head back to the states, i was stopped by an older man because i had on a william & mary t-shirt. he said, similar to the woman at pure water for the world, “wait, you’re from william & mary? my daughter works there in the PR and development office!” even though i didn’t know her personally, the fact that we made a connection just by our shared william & mary-ness was pretty awesome. one of my other team members knew his daughter and was able to talk to the man for awhile, only reinforcing the positive relationships and opportunities that william & mary has to offer.

it’s things like this that make me excited to be a part of the tribe – a tribe that extends much farther than williamsburg – one that extends all the way to haiti.

kylee

who you are.

2011-05-30T18:11:00.003-04:00

don't lose who you are, in the blur of the stars,

seeing is deceiving, dreaming is believing,

it's okay not to be okay.

- jessie j.

i'm back from my hiatus. only to start another one. the past few weeks have been a little crazy - finishing up my junior year, being home for a little bit, heading off to a life-changing experience in haiti, being home for memorial day weekend celebrations and heading to the river, and now being back at school to start my first day of work 8-5 all summer TOMORROW. it's a little daunting, right? i'm testing out my fancy new french press that is precious and adorable and will be fueling my caffeine addiction all summer, and i am testing it out! not as good as alistar's or rebecca's, but it'll do for now until i can get some better local coffee. i'm also considering starting to buy my coffee from a really neat company called "just haiti" but i need to chat with melody to figure out exactly what is the right kind to buy. for now, i'll settle for my seattle's best level 5 with some brown sugar and half-and-half, just like my sister fixes it!

while i was in haiti, my team kept a blog, which i highly recommend that you check out - right HERE - do it! it's awesome, and it'll give you an idea of what the heck i was doing all of last week. this is, of course, for the 12 people that regularly read and follow this blog. whomp.

this summer, i'll also be keeping another blog - i know, more time to detract from this one. i'll be keeping one for the william & mary website, and i'm super excited about it. my friend brian blogs for w&m and i love all of his posts (see here). i'll be sure to post some on here as well, about more lighthearted things and more realistically me things, but for my w&m blog i'll be tackling everything related to w&m and life here, including the three w&m connections we made while i was in haiti (here's a preview - 1: random kid walking up a mountain in a rural village with a w&m longsleeved t on, 2: touring pure water for the world and meeting one of the employees whose daughter is a rising sophomore at w&m, and 3: meeting the dad of a w&m development and PR faculty member in the miami airport in customs!).

time to go grab dinner with my girl, briana, who i'll be working with all summer. i'm excited for plaza azteca and some guacamole - a great way to start the week. i guess i can work on my budgeting plan for the summer until she arrives...yes, mom, i AM doing it.

xoxo.

krp.

jack sparrow.

2011-05-09T20:06:00.002-04:00

this is a tale of captain jack sparrow,

a pirate so brave on the seven seas,

a mystical quest to the isle of tortuga,

raven locks sway on the ocean breeze.

- the lonely island.

if you haven't seen this beauty yet, it is worth your watch. in fact, the ENTIRE episode of SNL with tina fey is hilarious.

love it.

xoxo.

krp.

ps - junior year is over - WHAAAAAAT?

DONE WITH JUNIOR YEAR - what.

2011-05-08T23:47:00.003-04:00

thought this was interesting...and kind of funny. :)

type your name: kylee ponder
type your name with your elbow: kyleer pom,ncdfer
type your name with your eyes closed: kylee ponder
type you name with your nose: kylee ponder (HOLY COW - impressed with that)
slam face into keyboard: gtbyh

done with finals, done with junior year, i'm a senior. when the hell did all of this decide to happen?

xoxo.

krp.

procrastination.

2011-05-02T21:22:00.002-04:00

nice to see you again, procrastination + 5 hour energy + diet mountain dew because i'm out of diet sundrop.

how many songs: 3197.

how many hours/days of music: 8.7 days of music

sort by song title:
first song: above all - michael w. smith - whaaat - a little gospel ccm in my life.
last song: 2012 - jay sean featuring nicki minaj

sort by time:
shortest song: introduction - kanye west - 0:19
longest song: kainchi hare krishma - krishna das - 15:50

sort by album:
first album: sister hazel - absolutely.

last album: 8701 - usher. hehehehe

top ten most played songs (no repeat artists):

breathe again - sara bareilles (220)

release me - agnes (163)

changes - 2pac (118)

need you now - lady antebellum (113)

wintersong - ingrid michaelson & sara bareilles (104)

crawl - chris brown (95)

thinking over - dana glover (93)

scar - missy higgins (90)

love, save the empty - erin mccarley (84)

torn - natalie imbruglia (81)

the ten most recently played songs (no repeat artists):

pony (it's ok) - erin mccarley

many the miles (live) - sara bareilles

happy - natasha bedingfield

you are goodbye - holly conlan

i'm on fire - john mayer

the beauty in ugly - jason mraz

i never told you - colbie caillat

oh! - eric hutchinson

up to the mountain (the mlk song) - patty griffin

are we there yet - ingrid michaelson

the first song that comes up on shuffle:
don't give up (acoustic version) - pat mcgee band

search the following and state how many songs come up:
death: 1.
life: 66.
love: 212.
hate: 11.
you: 483.
sex: 15.

that's me procrastinating. enjoy.

xoxo.

krp.

someone like you.

2011-04-25T21:45:00.004-04:00

i've already posted a video of adele singing this, but this one takes the cake - and the quote at the beginning is rather powerful -

there's nothing quite like the feeling when you're listening to a song,

written by someone you don't know, who you've never met,

who somehow manages to describe exactly how you felt

at a particular moment in your life.

xoxo.

krp.

i won't.

2011-04-25T14:31:00.003-04:00

kind of powerful words here, friends.

i won't do what you told me,

i won't do what you said, no,

i'm not gonna stop feeling,

i'm not gonna forget it,

i don't want to start over,

i don't want to pretend,

that you are not my lover,

that you're only my friend.

cause when you took my heart,

you took it all.

when you gave it back,

it fell apart, so...

i won't do what you told me,
i won't do what you said, no,
i'm not gonna stop feeling,
i'm not gonna forget it,
i don't want to start over,
i don't want to pretend,
that you are not my lover,
that you're only my friend.

well maybe you're not right for me,
maybe it's just hard to see,
i get lost in your beauty,
then, i just start questioning,
cause when you took my heart,
you took it all.
when you gave it back,
it fell apart.

i won't do what you told me,
i won't do what you said, no,
i'm not gonna stop feeling,
i'm not gonna forget it,
i don't want to start over,
i don't want to pretend,
that you are not my lover,
that you're only my friend.

you say it's easier to burn than to build,
you say it's easier to hurt than to heal,
but i say you lose when you give up what you love,
and i've lived my live without you long enough, so...

i won't do what you told me,
i won't do what you said, no,
i'm not gonna stop feeling,
i'm not gonna forget it,
i don't want to start over,
i don't want to pretend,
that you are not my lover,
that you're only my friend.

i won't. i won't. i won't.

xoxo.

krp.

all for you.

2011-04-25T00:06:00.002-04:00

there's been times, i'm so confused,

down my road, they lead to you,

i just can't turn and walk away...

-sister hazel.

and it's back on my grind after a beautiful weekend at home - it seems as if these last few weeks have been slipping through my fingertips quicker than the finest sand on a beach somewhere beautiful (where i would gladly be right now sipping on a margarita and getting tan instead of huddled inside for the next two weeks studying). whether i like it or not, junior year is 5 days away from being over (classes-wise). soon enough, i'll be an old haggard woman living by herself in a shoe with too many children and no husband or something like that. (hopefully not)

things that happened this weekend that were wonderful include -

alistar & thomas coming home with rebecca for the weekend to spend easter with our family - growing up with no (i repeat, no) first cousins and very limited family (now that both sets of grandparents have passed away) has given our holidays a limited amount of excitement. it was so nice to have a full house - and to be able to spend a little quality time with alistar and to finally meet thomas, who i have heard about for the past 3 years, but never met. my dad reveled in it all - the intellectual conversations, the gardening partners, the feeling of having other men in the house - to quote my mom's facebook chat earlier tonight - "OMG didn't dad totally love it?" n.b. - my mom is in fact over the age of 50 even though that selection from facebook chat makes her seem the ripe age of 13. there was also a beautiful moment in last night where rebecca, thomas, alistar, and i sat in the living room (with evan when he felt so-called to grace us with his presence) and just played music - thomas and i alternating on the guitar, alistar beating our some rhythms, rebecca harmonizing. i even got to show off my waltz moves to alistar. moments like those are irreplaceable.
church this morning - easter church has always been one of my favorite services throughout the year - everyone dons their best spring clothes and there is just a feeling all about the church of life and renewal and growth and positivity. it was wonderful to see people like meredith and griffin, caroline, but also wonderful to see some of my favorite older couples in church like the lucks and the hutts. the sermon was beautiful, the weather was beautiful, the stained glass windows (that will be transported to our new church next week) were beautiful, everything was simply, beautiful.
cook-out last night - last night, rebecca (stephenson, not my sister) hosted a cookout for all of our friends who were in town. we sat around, ate some delicious food (thanks to becca's beautiful and newly-discovered grilling skills), drank some beer, and played cornhole. there was something so very adult of us (even though we were in rebecca's parents' backyard) all sitting together and chatting about life - it's the moments like these that i'll treasure and miss when i get older and come home to franklin. it's just frankly a little scary to think that someday soon people just won't come home anymore, or if so, it'll be once a year at christmas, and not every break we get. we all got a little freaked out talking about summer plans, realizing that, for the first time in quite sometime, not many of us (if at all, any of us) would be here this summer. no monday night soccer games, no swims in jack's pool, no lazy days out at the river, things aren't necessarily getting worse, they're just slowly getting different.

so here's to the last week of classes - may you bless me with the motivation to get my work done ahead of time, the self-control to resist temptations like going out with friends and corona night, and the determination to get through it all alive.

happy spring -

xoxo.

krp.

exit wound.

2011-04-21T14:23:00.002-04:00

and it hurts so bad, that i search my skin,

for the entry point, where love went in,

and ricocheted and bounced around.

- the script.

so although contrary to the somewhat morbid title of the song by the script that is the title of the blogpost, a whole lot of wonderful things have been going on in my life lately. and i'm completely convinced that sometime soon, everything's going to come crashing down in a puddle of mess around me. but until that happens, these are the great things that have happened lately -

1. being offered a position in the office of admissions as a senior interviewer - i just had my first catch-up meeting with wendy and cannot even begin to describe how excited i am to start this.

2. receiving the order of omega outstanding commitment to service and community award at the 2011 greek awards - being recognized for being involved is something that's somewhat strange to me, but it was wonderful.

3. being inducted into the order of omega - yesterday, i (among with 20 other william & mary greeks) was inducted into the order of omega, an honor society for the top 3% of greeks at william & mary who thrive in scholarship and leadership.

4. getting accepted into the 5 year bachelor's to master's program in elementary education - i am serious so excited about this one. i still have to take the gre's this summer and submit my scores to elevate to the master's level, but this news is exciting regardless!

fingers crossed that this isn't a sign that something bad is about to happen...

xoxo.

krp.

apologies.

2011-04-18T16:09:00.004-04:00

your love is like a blanket, just a little bit too warm sometimes,

i wanna wrap somebody in it, who can hold me in his arms.

- grace potter & the nocturnals

this weekend was a whirlwind. it flew by just as fast as the tornados that ravaged through the towns in north carolina this weekend. this past week was crazy too, with bone marrow drive drive day (it was our 20th annual one - how exciting is that?) on wednesday, papers and presentations due, professor meetings, and even more.

friday was a little crazy - because i went shopping at bcbg on thursday afternoon for a formal dress with my little, i went to the workshop class on friday morning at 11 am, tabled for delta blues from 12 - 1 pm, and then headed over to admissions for tribe ambassadors. i gave a tour later in the afternoon that didn't finish until 5 pm, and formal was at 6. did i mention that i still didn't have a date? i ran by the ∆∆∆ house and found out that i did, in fact, have a date. i sprinted home to get ready and then headed to where every one else was getting shuttled to formal. i had a blast at formal, surprisingly, and despite my plans to get home super early, arrived home at 2:45 am, in time to get a little sleep, and then wake up at 9:30 for a tour at 10:30.

saturday was more crazy than friday (if that's remotely possible) - with a tour at 10:30 that took significantly longer than possible, met up with my mom at 12:15, and then had to head back to sadler center at 12:40 for a session with some prospective students. my mom talked to parents of prospective students, and it was so exciting to see her interact with parents in the same way that i interact with students. directly afterwards, we headed to my final a cappella concert, and then, we were on our way to richmond for cal and katelyn's wedding that night. i can honestly say now that i am grateful for the life i live after i survived the car ride there. because i was spending the night with my sister in richmond, i drove separately from my mom who was returning back to my hometown that night. with torrential rain, tornado sirens blaring over the radio, lightning coming down beside me, i was more petrified than i have ever been in my life. tears were streaming down my cheeks, i was switching back and forth between words that i would not want the man upstairs to hear and the praise radio station. thankfully, we made it. not in time for the wedding, we still made it for the reception.

afterward, i headed to sweetfrog with my sister and mom to grab some frozen yogurt, came back to rebecca's apartment, and spent the rest of the night sitting with rebecca and alistar and drinking a glass of red wine. nights like these are the nights that i treasure the most - more than sorority formals, more than big wedding receptions. it's the nights where i sit in my pj's with a glass of wine with my sister and her boyfriend and catch up on life. it was so wonderful for me to see rebecca so very much in her element - in her own apartment with all of her beautiful things. i so much treasure the relationship that my sister and i have - the one that has transformed to her being the "too cool" big sister and me being the "i'm-super-annoying-and-i-want-to-copy-everything-she-does" little sister to us being best friends. for that, i am so grateful.

and i am also extremely grateful for the relationship and friendship i've been able to form with alistar - one that has evolved over many years and has very much so become a familial relationship.

here's to a less busy week -

xoxo.

krp.

til' the end of time.

2011-04-07T22:41:00.002-04:00

i want you to remember me,

lead on my legacy until the end of time.

-timothy bloom.

this has been one of my recent favorite songs, one that i kind of simply forget exists, and then, i rediscover it and listen to it 23948 times. i love the sensuality of the song, the feeling it invokes, and the beautiful music video (that is extremely sexual, just an fyi before you watch that).

anyway. lots of things have been going on in my life recently. i love the month of april for its beautiful weather and for the things it brings, but i simultaneously hate it for the massive amount of events that are currently occurring on william and mary's campus. and i might actually die next weekend from the extensive amount of things that i have to do.

my mind has been brewing for quite some time, longer than usual, about the whole idea of "friends with benefits" and where you draw the line from friends to lovers. just brainstorming. ideas on this topic?

xoxo.

krp.

assassin.

2011-04-06T00:31:00.002-04:00

little did i know,

that girl was an assassin too.

-john mayer.

bad habit? i've bitten my nails since i had nails to bite. it's a gross habit that i've always hated about myself, but i've tried everything to stop it - and nothing worked.

but about a month ago - i stopped. cold turkey. accidentally. don't ask me how i did it. it just happened.

and the beautiful result is this - i'm not gonna lie. i'm kind of proud of myself!

xoxo.

krp.

a cappella.

2011-04-03T00:39:00.001-04:00

goodness gracious. can't get over this. the whole set is beautiful.

xoxo.

krp.

extremely strange how accurate this was...

2011-04-02T21:45:00.001-04:00

Free five minute personalty test

Kylee took the free ColorQuiz.com personality test!

""Highly optimistic and outgoing personality. Love..."

Click here to read the rest of the results.

songity songs.

2011-03-26T00:33:00.009-04:00

1. a song from your childhood. baby beluga by raffi. we had the book and we used to sing it ALL of the time. definitely a favorite.

2. a song that reminds you of your most recent ex-boyfriend/girlfriend. i kind of want to vomit as i'm writing this, but there's an inside joke between some of my friends and i about this song as it relates to a person i was involved with - so, cheesy as it may be, your body is a wonderland by john mayer. it's okay, you can laugh. i do, too.

3. a song that reminds you of one/both of your parents. grandma's feather bed by john denver. i was raised on john denver, the carpenters, the mamas & papas, and james taylor, and this is a song that i have vivid memories of singing along to with my dad and mom when i was little, imagining that my grandma had a feather bed just like the one described in the song.

4. a song that calms you down. hiding my heart by brandi carlile. she has an insane power and this sort of light that just radiates from her voice and it makes me happier than anything. need an example? see here.

5. a song that is often stuck in your head. right now, i (unfortunately) can't get friday by rebecca black out of my head.

6. a song that reminds you of a best friend. although i have some best friends from different walks of life, a song that makes me think of my best friend rachel (who is abroad in switzerland this semester and it pains me to know that she's been away for this long - thankfully, she comes home next month!) would have to be (as inappropriate as it is) p***y, money, weed by lil' wayne. she raps it like a champ and it makes me think of the two of us driving down dirt roads and rapping together.

7. a song that reminds you of the past summer. waka waka by shakira and freshlyground. i studied abroad in italy this past summer, and this song followed me everywhere i went. it was the one song that we could hear at a discoteche and literally get more excited than i can even begin to describe.

8. a song that reminds you of your first love. i don't have a first "love" - so i guess this is one i'll have to make use of a pass on.

9. a song that makes you hopeful. you make my dreams come true by hall & oates. any time you need to cheer yourself up, just play this song, drive down a road with the windows rolled down, and jam out.

10. a song by your favorite band. i don't necessarily have a favorite band, but sara bareilles is my favorite artist. and i say that without the shadow of a doubt. and between the lines is such a painfully beautiful song that i love by her.

11. a song on the soundtrack of your favorite movie. peace train by cat stevens from my favorite movie, remember the titans.

12. the last song you heard. bills, bills, bills by destiny's child - i was having a little bit of oldies therapy.

13. a song that reminds you of a former friend. i don't necessarily know if i can think of a "former" friend at this moment.

14. a song that reminds you of your boyfriend/girlfriend. welllll. that's an easy one. because i don't have one. thus, there is no song.

15. a song you love singing along to. always be my baby by mariah carey - you can't get much better than that.

16. a song that made you cry. someone like you by adele. it makes me cry because it someone makes me face the reality that'll be my future. and makes me so sad, because i don't want to be that woman who meets her old flame when she's 40 and then finds him content with a family and the love of the life while i'm sitting childless and loveless in a shack on the side of the road.

17. a song that makes you want to dance. release me by agnes. if you don't know it, then get on ittt.

18. a song you love but rarely listen to. til' the end of time by timothy bloom - i forget it exists, but there is so much beauty in it.

19. the first song alphabetically in your iPod. - above all, by michael w. smith - a little bit of jesus power here, people.

20. the last song alphabetically in your iPod. - 2012 by nicki minaj & jay sean - such jam.

21. your favorite song. i don't know if this is physically possible for me to pick a favorite song. i just can't do it.

22. a song that someone has sung to you. gunpowder & lead by miranda lambert - liz sings this in our house all of the time (when she's here and not abroad) and we usually end up blasting it and reveling in its freedom and willpower.

23. a song that you cannot stand to listen to. after living with my brother, any, and i repeat, any, song that is by alvin & the chipmunks, or the infamous chipettes for that matter. thanks, ev.

24. a song that you have danced to with a best friend. the cupid shuffle - before it became overplayed and annoying.

25. a song you can listen to all day without getting tired of. right now, that song is the show goes on by lupe fiasco, however, i have a feeling that may change soon.

all over now.

2011-03-23T13:56:00.002-04:00

call me crazy if you got it in you,

but these people don't seem to mind.

- eric hutchinson.

i have had somewhat of a wonderful but monotone day. i know that makes no sense whatsoever, but for me, days in spring can only be completely glorious if the weather is perfect - and this weather is not cooperating. one second it's cold and rainy, one second it's sunny and perfect, the next it's massively humid. i guess i should be used to this bipolar (or even multiple personality disorder) weather by now. not like i've lived in southern virginia for the past 21 years or anything. whoops?

i got up early this morning in order to finish up writing up a problem set for my generative syntax, only to realize that i didn't actually do the right thing. i spent approximately 3 hours on a problem set (that's due monday) when i could have spent approximately 1 hour on the actual homework for today. thankfully, my professor is wonderful and is letting me turn it in tomorrow, but regardless - it still kind of sucks a little. although i do have a chunk of work done on this problem set that's not due until monday.

i ran to sadler after class frazzled to get there on time to table for mr. william & mary - only to set my stuff down and realize that we were next to the prayer table. i had no idea what that meant, but a boy from that table looked at me and asked if i wanted some cookies for free (who ever says no to that?) and i said of course! he asked if there was anything he could pray for me about because i looked a little stressed, and i asked him to simply pray that i could get through this week with all of my extra-curriculars completed. he asked if he could pray with me then and there, so, we did. we bowed our heads, and in the sadler center, he asked god to be with me and thanked him for my involvement in so many organizations. afterwards, i sat to myself and realized that that's how religion's supposed to be. i've been falling out of touch with religion lately, making excuses for not going to church, not reading my bible, not necessarily living my life completely the way i know god would want me to, and something as simple as that prayer put me back in check with reality. so, random cute boy who prayed for me, thanks. you made a difference.

alllllright. off to continue to tackle my extensive to-do list. this is what i've accomplished so far in the past two days and what i still have left to accomplish -

- finish SOC 361 paper - DONE

- turn in BOI app for WMHC - DONE

- write charhud response paper (include more research and contextual things aka start my legit paper) - DONE

- rewrite charhud response paper

- Greek awards for ari - DONE

- look over problem set - DONE

- homework for syntax

- do module for monday's meeting - DONE

- start organizing contacts for people for BMD

- go to Chesapeake Bank for Jack - DONE

- Brian rec letter - DONE

- finish and turn in ed school app - DONE

phew. it's been a hell of a few days. and i haven't been able to sleep. stupid.

xoxo.

krp.

someone like you.

2011-03-15T18:26:00.002-04:00

never mind,

i'll find someone like you.

i wish nothing but the best for you too,

don't forget me, i beg,

i'll remember you said:

sometimes it lasts in love,

sometimes it hurts instead.

- adele.

i cannot get enough of adele. i've been a fan of hers for quite sometime - as "hometown glory" was one of the iTunes singles of the week waaaaay back. all of 19 was beautiful - such an insanely powerful album, and her newest album, 21, doesn't disappoint.

one of my favorites on the album is "someone like you" - a song that painfully describes a past relationship. her description at the beginning of the video (below) is beautiful to me, and really sums up so many feelings that all of us have as human beings. including the whole him having a perfect life circa age 40. and me still being single. but i digress. listen to the beauty of this as i sit and eat my pita chips and red pepper hummus.

xoxo.

krp.

swallowed in the sea.

2011-03-14T13:45:00.002-04:00

i can only blame myself,

you can only blame.

- coldplay.

mmm. chris martin. what a beautiful man with beautiful talent with a beautiful and haunting voice.

some beautiful things have been happening in the past few weeks and some mediocre things have been happening. but i'll focus on the positive -

i officially have a job for the summer. PTL. that stands for praise the lord. i started saying that a lot when we were flying back and forth for RLC in texas, and it's my new favorite catch phrase. i will be working in the office of admissions in williamsburg as a senior interviewer! there is nothing more that i have wanted than to have the opportunity to get this internship and now the day is finally here - i cannot wait for may 31st! (that's the start date!)

it's a little sad though, thinking that i spent my last summer in franklin for quite some time...and possibly the last one ever? friends are moving on, with a few graduating from college and moving on to jobs in the near future and others leaving for bigger and better places in the world, others joining the military, and then, there's me. here.

i've got some time to process these things - some time to be me, to rock it out, and to figure out who i am and want i really want from life - so that's what i'm going to do.

xoxo.

krp.

come round soon.

2011-02-24T23:29:00.003-05:00

the angels said i'd smile today,

well, who needs angels anyway?

-sara bareilles.

if you haven't figured out yet, i have a major love/obsession with sara bareilles. she is my musical idol. my favorite artist. the person who i can listen to regardless of what mood i'm in.

but besides that, i haven't blogged much in quite sometime. here it is, the end of february, and i think i've written something like 5 blogs (that is a complete guess and i have no idea how accurate or inaccurate that is). so, what's been going on in my life that's been keeping me from blogging for the pleasure of the 12 people that read this blog? (once again, that was a complete guess and i have no idea how accurate or inaccurate that is either)

to be real, nothing's been going on. i just haven't been in the mood to write, which i know, is strange. maybe it's because i've been writing a plethora of weekly papers for two of my classes and spending my free time catching up on tv episodes i've missed live on cable or talking to friends or actually doing reading for class.

but i've been spending my weekends rather busily. and my busily, i mean i literally have not had a free weekend while i've been here...large whomp whomp, i know. between a cappella auditions and friends visiting and meetings and retreats, i've been a little busy. this past weekend, i had the distinct pleasure of waking up at 6 am on friday morning and heading southwest to dallas, texas, to spend the weekend with 750 other members of tridelta for the regional leadership conference. granted, i've never considered myself a "true" sorority girl, but now that i'm back, i had a blast. who would have thought? i almost dropped mad bank on a really cute vineyard vines tote (but i am convinced i can find it online cheaper than it was at the delta shop). i learned so much at convention with all of my other membership development chairmen, and i bonded so much with all of the girls from my chapter. and, we got to visit rainforest cafe, which let me say, is significantly not as cool and way too stimulating when you're 21 compared to the excitement that i had abo

ut it when i was 10. but, we got the tree frog to do a delta with us :) see example below.

this weekend is even more exciting, but a little more familiar. i'm headed to corolla, north carolina, tomorrow afternoon right after i finish up my tour in order to celebrate my wonderful father's 58th birthday (good lord, he's getting up there). i am so excited to spend the entire weekend with my mom, dad, brother, sister, and her bfriend, alistar. it should be a wonderful weekend, full of love, celebration, happiness, and togetherness, something that my entire family doesn't get that often.

before i head to bed (i am getting up relatively early not to have class tomorrow to head to the outlets to grab some last minute additions to my dad's present from my sister and i), let me leave you with the beauty of this video. my beloved 11th grade english teacher, who i affectionately refer to as mcscruffy, posted this on facebook a while ago, and i love it. tony porter blows my mind in his "call to men" from his TEDtalk. enjoy.

xoxo.

krp.

all night long.

2011-02-17T19:27:00.003-05:00

well, my friends, the time has come,

to raise the roof and have some fun.

- lionel richie.

this song is a classic. there's no denying it. and it's made even more magical through jason mraz's cover of it at his concert. homeboy has moves. as evidenced by this.

here's to jason mraz, here's to having too much work to do, here's to going to texas tomorrow morning at the BUTT crack of dawn, here's to a (hopefully) beautiful weekend.

xoxo.

krp.

beautiful mess.

2011-02-08T00:03:00.002-05:00

your style is quite selective,

though your mind is rather reckless,

well i guess this just suggests that this is just what happiness is,

and what a beautiful mess this is.

-jason mraz.

this song is more beautiful than what i knew could exist. jason, work your magic babycakes.

here's to a promise that i'll write something with some substance at a point in the near future.

xoxo.

krp.

price tag.

2011-01-23T21:05:00.002-05:00

we just want to make the world dance,

forget about the price tag.

-jessie j.

reaffirms my belief that there is still some talent in the music business.

xoxo.

krp.

city.

2011-01-23T12:41:00.004-05:00

here in these deep city lights,

girl could get lost tonight,

i'm finding every reason to be gone,

nothing here to hold on to -

could i hold you?

-sara bareilles.

there are some days when you go to church, and you feel like the sermon was made for you. maybe others don't experience it, but i do.

and this morning, when i went to williamsburg umc for the first time in quite sometime (per my new year's resolution to get back in touch with god and go to church more often), and man, oh man, was it awesome. i knew i was in for a good service when the bulletin was decorated with one of my favorite verses, micah 6:8 - "and what does the lord require of you? to act justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your god." the pastor started his sermon talking about shoes - and i sat there, thinking, "oh great, this is going to suck?' but i was proven wrong - it was without a doubt one of the most interesting and moving sermons that i have ever, and i repeat, ever, listened to.

i have admitted this before - i think i used to go to church in order to socialize and see friends, and with this new year, i am looking to change that. going to williamsburg umc forces me to focus on my relationship with god, and forces me to focus on personal prayer and improvement, because i don't know anyone there other than friendly faces who occasionally greet me. and i think, in a way, this is good.

so - i'm STARVING - and although my spiritual appetite was filled by church this morning, my food appetite has not been filled yet - so it is off to fix lunch.

i'll leave you with a question that made me evaluate my life and where it was going that was asked by the pastor at williamsburg umc this morning -

where are your shoes taking you?

xoxo.

krp.

the mysterious beer thief.

2011-01-21T21:21:00.003-05:00

no, this is not a song title. it is a story that i'm going to tell...about a mysterious beer thief.

because classes at william & mary start SUPER late - and i do mean super late, as in, they just started on wednesday of this week (the 19th), i didn't come back until this sunday, the 16th. however, my friend sarah, wanted to come back a week early, and i let her stay at my house. thus, before she came, my mom and i drove down to williamsburg in order to clean (which wasn't that bad because my house wasn't super messy - other than the refrigerator which had turned off at some point during break aka gross) my house.

upon entering my house, it was clean. however, there was a mysterious note written on the refrigerator board that said "kylee - thanks for the beer! here's some money" with an undistinguishable signature and two dolla bills attached with a magnet to the board. then i noticed - there was no beer left in the half of a case (as in approximately TWELVE beers) that i left in my pantry over break. there were simply two budlight bottles in the refrigerator and a can of budlight. the mystery doesn't stop here.

it continues, to this week, after a family dinner, when i ran into the house to grab a few beers to enjoy while hanging out with friends. i grabbed them quickly, ran out, and met up with my friends. i drank the first one (a michelob ultra) and then went to open the budlight and pour it into a solo cup. i noticed it looked like water. then i realized IT WAS WATER. the liquid that came out of my budlight bottle was water. water, i tell you. before i went on calling budweiser and suing the company for water instead of beer, i investigated the other bottle. it too, my friends, contained water.

so, i am on the search for this crazy beer thief.

let me know what i should do - install cameras? roofie the beer in my fridge? i am open to all ideas...

xoxo.

krp.

ps - please note the sarcasm of this post - i would never actually roofie someone...

soulmate.

2011-01-19T22:26:00.003-05:00

who doesn't long for someone to hold,

who knows how to love you without being told?

somebody tell me why i'm on my own,

if there's a soulmate for everyone?

-natasha bedingfield.

beautiful.

xoxo.

krp.

between the lines.

2011-01-19T10:23:00.004-05:00

time to tell me the truth,

to burden your mouth for what you say,

no pieces of paper in the way,

cause i can't continue pretending to choose.

-sara bareilles.

this song blows my mind, and is so painstakingly and powerfully true that it makes me emotional. please, enjoy the magic that is sara bareilles.

read the lyrics - you'll understand.

time to tell me the truth,

to burden your mouth for what you say,

no pieces of paper in the way,

cause i can't continue pretending to choose.

these opposite sides on which we fall,

the loving you later as if at all

no right minds could wrong me this many times.

my memory is cruel,

i'm queen of attention to details,

defending intentions if he fails,

until now, he told me her name.

it sounded familiar in a way,

i could have sworn i'd heard him say it 10,000 times,

if only i'd been listening.

leave unsaid unspoken,

eyes wide shut, unopened,

you and me, always between the lines,

between the lines.

i thought i, thought i was ready to bleed,

that we'd move from the shadows on the wall,

and stand in the center of it all,

too late - two choices to stay or to leave.

mine was so easy to uncover,

he'd already left with the other,

so i've learned to listen through silence.

leave unsaid unspoken,

eyes wide shut, unopened,

you and me, be,

you and me always be.

i tell myself all the words he surely meant to say,

i'll talk until the conversation doesn't stay on,

wait for me, i'm almost ready,

when he meant let go...

leave unsaid unspoken,

eyes wide shut, unopened,

you and me,

always be,

you and me,

always between the lines.

xoxo.

krp.

gunpowder and lead.

2011-01-18T19:01:00.003-05:00

county road 233, under my feet,

nothin' on this white rock but little ol' me,

i've got two miles till he makes bail,

and if i'm right, we're headed straight for hell.

-miranda lambert.

tomorrow marks the first day of classes of my second-semester of junior year. holy mother of the lord, where did the time go? while i was home over break, i filled out a form called "notice of candidacy"... as in CANDIDACY TO GRADUATE. i struggled filling it out - and i'm not even graduating in may, i'm graduating in december. everyone keeps asking me "WHY WHY WHY?" and i know they're implying, "why would you want to finish college early?" and i have to remind them that although i am technically finishing college early, i'm saving approximately $8,000 for my parents, i'm not leaving, and i'm walking in the may graduation ceremony! also, i imagine how wonderful it will be to sit back and relax (and work at some job) my last semester of college.

as this is my second-to-last semester as a real college student, i have a slight bucket list of things to do this semester. they are as follows:

1. run this 5k.

2. do at least one portion of the triathlon (which i just realized via spell-check was not spelled triathalon)

3. take advantage of cw and go walk through it more often.

4. go to mug night. which i have yet to do. even though i've been 21 for quite some time.

so that's not really a bucket list. but i feel like i had these things i really wanted to do that just slipped my mind. oh well, i need to go pick up my friend from the airport anyway!

please enjoy miranda lambert KILLING IT on this song, which is one of my favorite "screw men they're horrible" anthems. although please don't take it literally, because then that would be bad -

xoxo.

kp.

love song for no one.

2011-01-14T10:12:00.003-05:00

searching all my days just to find you,

not sure what i'm lookin' for,

i'll know where, when i see you.

-john mayer.

for the past few weeks, boredom has consumed me. i've done things like sleep every day until heinous hours like 10:30, and sometimes, even 11:30.

however, this morning was different. homegirl was up at 7 am! i know, don't hold your breath - it won't be happening too regularly (minus this semester when i have tuesday and thursday classes that start at 9 am at the education school that i have to drive to?).

but why was i up before the usual 10:30? i headed back to my old middle school to stop by and see one of my old teachers (and now, one of my great friends) and chit chat with him. maybe, i'm weird and not that many people do this? but i can guarantee that, without a doubt, i revisit my middle school [almost] every break in order to see my sixth and seventh grade civics teacher. he was one of my favorite teachers growing up, for various reasons.

as a sixth grader, walking into this 33-year old's classroom on registration day, and seeing him in his pink button-down shirt (note - this was when wearing pink as a man became cool), i got nervous. for all of the wrong reasons. i was nervous because i (as an unattractive sixth grader) had to be in class every day with this incredible man. but that fear and nervousness quickly subsided as a i grew to knew my teacher - his passion, his heart, his devotion, his humor, everything. he is the only teacher i have ever had to laugh as i missed questions on tests, solely in order to force me to want to do better so i wouldn't ever hear him laugh. and you better believe that on that next test, i did better. and there was eventually no laughter. served him right... :)

he went through tough times and my heart broke as a high school freshman for him. i wrote him a note, and went to see him on registration day and he cried as he hugged me and thanked me for the note. i periodically dropped in throughout high school to say hello, and invited his family to my graduation party. our friendship has grown even more since my departure from my hometown and is even further strengthened by my visits over breaks and our hour-long chats.

i think it is so very important for women and girls in their 20s (and even before that) to have men outside of family in their lives who they can talk to about anything. as i talked with my teacher today, i realized how lucky i am. although i am single (and have been perpetually single), i have a plethora of great men in my life - men from church, men from school, men from growing up.

maybe this is why i have been single for so long? because men frequently don't meet my expectations? my ideal man is a combination of every wonderful and amazing man that i know - sensitive like my father, sarcastic like my next door neighbor, honest and genuine like my teacher, southern like my best friend, funny like my favorite sunday school seat mate at church, empathetic like my sister's boyfriend, and so many other qualities associated with so many different men in my life.

who knows when love will happen. i'll just have to keep on singing my love song for no one and hope that one day it turns in to a love song for someone special. fingers crossed. for something in the near future.

xoxo.

krp.

somewhere with you.

2011-01-10T21:36:00.003-05:00

i can go out every night of the week,

can go home with anybody i meet,

but it's just a temporary high, 'cause when i close my eyes,

i'm somewhere with you, somewhere with you.

-kenny chesney.

things have been a little crazy here. okay, that's a lie. they haven't been crazy at all. in fact, i've been bored out of my mind. which i guess is okay? but i need to come to jesus and realize that i need to stop sleeping until 11 am and my day consisting of the following (give or take one): watching a sporting event (bowl game, duke game, playoff game, etc.), redbox-ing a movie (i thoroughly recommend easy a and going the distance, especially the latter), and working out at the ymca (which is the most likely to be eliminated).

however, the ymca (or working out in general) is not the most likely to be eliminated anymore. why (you may ask)? because my sister's boyfriend, the infamous alistar roger harris, has convinced me to run a 5k in the beginning of march. for those of you that know me personally, you know that i am by no means a runner. my sister has always been the runner, the one who did a half-marathon, the one who runs to release her emotions, the one with the calf-muscles of a world cup soccer player. but not me.

but alas, i am too nice to be rude and refuse alistar's proposition - or should i say, forceful e-mails while i was in the same household, and thus, i am now running a 5k. so i am sure i will be complaining and being annoying for the next 8 weeks as i prepare for this 5k. but i'm secretly glad that i am running it - maybe, just maybe i'll find a secret passion for running (although i know this will not occur). and if alistar is reading this (which i am sure he is), my stance on the issue is that i am not glad to be running it, and i will continue to be elusive and silent but deadly. haha.

okay, this blogpost has been taking me sincerely too long to write, mainly because i am watching the national championship game (and rooting for auburn - war eagle, baby!) and not paying attention.

hope everyone's new year's and holidays were beautiful and wonderful like mine -

xoxo.

krp.

ps - the title of this blog is by FAR my new favorite country song. please check it out.

next year, baby.

2011-01-02T13:56:00.003-05:00

next year, things are gonna change,

gonna drink less beer, start all over again.

gonna read more books, gonna keep up with the news,

gonna learn how to cook, spend less money on shoes.

-jamie cullum.

here is the obligatory new year's post. i literally typed the word "year" into the search bar of my iTunes library and found this song sitting there, with so many great lyrics completely related to how i want to live my new year, involving reading more books, telling people how i feel, and dancing more (the song gives off such a salsa/cha cha vibe and i love it).

every year, i start off the new year doing the same things, making unrealistic new year's resolutions for myself, eating stewed tomato casserole and cornbread and stomaching a spoonful of black-eyed peas to make myself have "luck" for the upcoming year. why do i do this? i set goals like "lose 50 pounds" and "don't gossip" and "don't do so many bad things" which are all worded so negatively. jamie cullum's lyrics make me realize i just need to accept how i am, and work with that, try to be as positive as possible.

so instead of saying "lose 50 pounds" or something completely unrealistic, just say "be healthy." instead of saying "don't gossip," just say "be kind and genuine to others." instead of saying "don't do so many bad things," just say "live your life with a genuine purpose to do good for others."

those are my new year's resolutions this year. i'm tempted to not even call them new year's resolutions because i think that attaches some string of bad preconceived luck notion from me to them. and i don't want that at all.

looking back on 2010, it was great. a year filled with positive things like beauty, happiness, and strength, but also, filled with things like hardships and stress.

here are the things i remember about 2010 -

- the first year in a long time where no one considerably close to me passed away. that's a feat in itself. it gave me more time to reflect on those that i miss - grandma, papa, pat, carter, travis, chris...

- a year where i accomplished dean's list for a semester for the first time in a long time.

- a year where i proved myself by meeting new people.

- a year where i got my little in my sorority - it seems so trivial, but she is wonderful, and i am so happy.

- a year where i realized who my true friends were, and gained a new best friend.

there are many other things that i could probably think of, but going to bed so late on new year's has put me in a sleep-deprived state - one which i now plan to rid myself of by taking a nap.

xoxo.

krp.

ps - happy new year's - i can only hope that your new year of 2011 is filled with love, joy, and happiness.

against all odds.

2010-12-25T23:30:00.004-05:00

there's so much i need to say to you,

so many reasons why,

you're the only one who really knew me at all.

so, take a look at me now,

well, there's just an empty space,

there's nothing left here to remind me,

just a memory of your face.

-phil collins.

this.

beautiful.

perfection.

mariah.

xoxo & merry christmas.

krp.

you're not sorry.

2010-12-17T12:39:00.004-05:00

and you can say that you're sorry,

but i don't believe you, baby,

like i did before,

you're not sorry, no, no, no.

-taylor swift.

the art of the apology. how should we apologize?

should we send red roses?

personally, i hate red roses. and roses in general. i think that they're extremely cliché and boring. usual. typical. expected.

but that's unimportant. back to the art of the apology. one thing i absolutely hate about the technological revolution or whatever we want to call it is that we (myself included) as a human race have started to lose the ability to communicate properly with one another face-to-face. and let's be real. i have issues with this. one of my best friends at school constantly picks on me for being a "letter-writer" - aka when i have major issues with people i tend to write them a letter about it rather than confronting them face-to-face. however, i think this is more of a confrontation issue instead of a communication issue.

saying sorry is something that i would never choose to express in an e-mail or a text message rather than face-to-face. how is the person i am apologizing to supposed to know that i am sincere if i simply choose to send them an e-mail saying i'm sorry? true apologies come face-to-face, and for one of those - i am currently waiting.

if you learn anything by clicking "follow" on my random blog - learn to say the dreaded "i'm sorry" in person - i beg of you.

xoxo.

krp.

very merry christmas.

2010-12-11T19:34:00.003-05:00

all the blinds are pulled, every bed is full.

with the both of us, this house might bust, what a blessing,

you and me,

and all this family...

-dave barnes.

it is officially time to get into the christmas spirit - why, you may ask?

because i am done with exams. praise the lord.

i cannot even begin to describe how excited i am to be finished. i finished yesterday. and as put by my facebook status, "nine days, 62 pages, 3 bottles of 5-hour energy, 4 cups of coffee, significant amounts of hours of lost sleep, and countless mountain dews later - I AM DONE."

so much stress. so much caffeine. alllll finished.

thankfully, i am now beginning a caffeine detoxification week in my life. i am trying not to have any caffeine for a significant amount of time. how successful i will be i do not know. actually, knowing me, i should probably simply try to limit it to one per day, a successful petering off of my caffeine intake.

so, here's to me, tryyyying to be caffeine free and healthy for a while.

xoxo.

krp.

daylight.

2010-12-07T15:10:00.003-05:00

i've seen sad, dark times, and i've awaited for the sun to rise,

i've seen sad, dark times, and waited for rain,

and all i know - is whenever i'm far from home,

there are nights when words seem out of place.

-ron pope.

this song is absolutely beautiful, chilling, haunting, and extremely unknown. it popped up on my pandora yesterday, and i searched for it on youtube, and it didn't show up. so, look on iTunes for a listen, friends, because it is beautiful.

it gives me reason to push on, to keep writing papers, to keep studying. every year during finals i find myself stressed out to the max, with no time to do so many things. things i have not done in the past two days include:

1. showered.

2. worn a bra.

3. consumed beverages other than ones containing caffeine and water.

4. taken my hair out of its bun. or brushed it for that matter.

5. stopped thinking of how much i want exam week to be over.

xoxo.

krp.

love sucks.

2010-12-05T16:20:00.004-05:00

she got me going like a puppet on a string,

she cut me loose and made me think it ain't no thing.

now, she wonders why we don't hang out as much,

sometime's it's safe to say, love sucks.

-nathan angelo.

i've just returned from a weekend filled with beauty (both in the crisp snowfall last night and in the union of two people), but here's the deal - now i'm behind. i'm taking a break (for no more than 10 minutes, i've decided) to write this blog and give myself a reason not to curl up in bed and head to sleep. but i can't do that - not just yet! i can do this. i can do this. i can do this.

i haven't been posting very many actual blogposts lately, and i hate to say that. but my weekend was wonderful overall. although, i will openly admit that my friday was better than my saturday, as friday was spent with my beautiful and wise older sister in richmond in her apartment. there was something so strange about it, the two of us eating dinner and drinking wine together, feeling so grown up, yet hopping into the same bed and gossiping just like we did when i was 6 and she was 13. for moments like these in my life, and more importantly, for people like these in my life, i am so grateful.

here's to hoping that you're not drowning in work and can keep your head above water -

xoxo.

krp.

love like woe.

2010-12-01T17:05:00.002-05:00

she's got a love like woe,

girl's got a love like woe.

the ready set.

need a break from studying for exams? look no further than this precious video from the UCSD men's soccer team. i might be obsessed. esp with the ginger.

enjoy.

xoxo.

krp.

another year has gone by.

2010-11-28T20:33:00.002-05:00

another year has gone by,

and i'm still the one by your side,

after everything that's gone by,

there's still no one saying goodbye,

even though another year has gone by.

-celiné dion

as this thanksgiving season comes to a close, and the one of advent and christmas begin, i start to realize how sincerely and utterly blessed i am. so i decided to make a list of just some of the things i am thankful for.

my family. as tiny as it may be, i love that our thanksgivings only consist of me, my mom, dad, sister, brother, and uncle sitting around and sharing our love with one another.
my friends. i cannot even begin to count how many of these i have - and for that, i know i am blessed. whether they're my old franklin friends that i've known since i was two, or my new best friends that have stepped into my life since college, i am grateful. being away and growing older slowly teaches you who your true friends are - they are the ones that you make an effort to see on breaks, the ones you drive out of your way to see, the ones who make you feel beautiful and wonderful and most importantly, loved.
diet sun drop & sweet tea. my providers of caffeine and joy. the namesakes of this blog. drinking you on a sweet summer day or on a brisk winter one as i drive down a dirt road, something just feels right, and i can't begin to describe it.
the 12 people that follow my blog. maybe one day it'll be 75. maybe one day it'll still be 12. but for that i am thankful.

spread your love. be kind. be beautiful. be thankful. but most importantly, just be.

xoxo.

krp.

halo.

2010-11-22T13:33:00.004-05:00

standing in the light of your halo,

i got my angel now.

-beyonce.

so after seeing ingrid michaelson in concert, i started to follow one of her bandmates - allie moss (who rocked it out) - on twitter, who thus led me to her mom's blog - which is seriously awesome.

and her mom posted this video that i can't help but to share with ya'll - it's seriously amazing.

please enjoy this sicknasty cover while you prepare for thanskgiving break.

i know i cannot wait to head home later today, back to my hometown, where i was raised, to hang out with all of the people i love the most.

xoxo.

krp.

belief.

2010-11-21T12:10:00.003-05:00

belief is a beautiful armor,

but makes for the heaviest sword,

like punching under water,

you can never hit what you're trying for.

-john mayer.

i haven't written in quite some time - maybe that's because i've been insanely busy, maybe that's because i had last week that was progressively more quiet than prior weeks and i just didn't want to do anything but dwell in the time present and sleep and just simply, be.

here is a checklist of the things that i have to accomplish in the next few weeks -

1. scan and mail all of our forms and checks to our community partners for haiti compact.

2. write thank-you notes to all of the people who mailed me checks for fundraising for the haiti compact.

3. write a 10 page paper on a contemporary moral issue that i have not chosen yet.

4. write a 3-4 pager on abortion.

5. write a 15 page paper on disability in language.

6. write a 15 page paper on the william & mary haiti compact.

7. complete a 2 page paper for a final take-home exam.

8. take an open-notes religion final.

9. go to a wedding in roanoke.

10. be alive by december 10, 2010 when i depart williamsburg.

so even though i have approximately 50 pages of writing to complete by december 10th, i'm actually trying to be on top of things. i have already outlined both number 5 and number 6, and just e-mailed my professor about number 3 with suggested moral issues. and i'm about to go over outlines, do consent forms, and make sure [sidenote - just got a response from my professor! doing my final paper on domestic violence as it is related to infidelity] that i'm on point for everything i need to do while i'm home for break (which is a LOT of stuff).

but this weekend has been overall really great. on friday, i went to see one of my good friends (slash roomie from freshman year), caroline, sing at jm randall's, a jazz bar in williamsburg. she was absolutely wonderful, and it was so fun to just go and see her sing (with my other friend, glennis) and see her parents again (who i hadn't seen since freshman year). then, just sat around and caught up with my roomies and my friend, steph (the one i went to stay with in naples). then, yesterday, i was up early (8 am!) to clean for the tailgate we had. friends from home were here and it was really great to see everyone. last night, i laid low and stayed at home - got some sleep, and was up early this morning (9 am!) to do some more work!

productive weekend? i say YES.

thanksgiving break is so soon - and i cannot wait.

xoxo.

krp.

the chain.

2010-11-10T00:22:00.002-05:00

so glide away on soapy heels,

and promise not to promise anymore,

and if you come around again,

then i will take, then i will take,

the chain from off the door.

-ingrid michaelson.

sometimes, i am so proud of where i come from, that sweet dirt road that leads me home, the smiles that sunshine brings to me when i am drinking a diet sundrop and blasting country music, and the happiness of a fall bonfire.

but, i am devastated and disgusted to show you this. i have never been more ashamed to live in virginia in my entire life.

why, in 2010, do we still think that things like this are even remotely acceptable?

i'm ready for some serious change.

xoxo.

krp.

so this is goodbye.

2010-11-05T13:43:00.003-04:00

so your phantom follows me,

like a child would his mother,

or a lover who never said goodbye,

so this is goodbye.

-william fitzsimmons

four years ago, today, at this very moment (1:45 p.m.), part of my world was shattered. i don't remember exactly where i was, but i'm pretty sure i was driving home from a church luncheon, a luncheon where i found out that my best friend's little brother had been killed in a car accident, along with two other boys and the driver (a father who was a member of my church). the tears were streaming down my face, the sobs were choked, for some reason, "chasing cars" by snow patrol was playing, and my world had been crushed.

before that, i'll admit, my world wasn't perfect, but it was certainly close to it. junior year, great friends, great teachers, great moments, when my biggest worry was who to take to homecoming or what to wear for spirit week or when i would get a car. never in a million years did i imagine that my biggest worry would be making sure that my best friend in high school was okay after losing her little brother to a freak car accident.

never will i forget the chilling moments in the church fellowship hall, hearing the bloodcurdling scream of mrs. stephenson as she heard the news, watching all of the color drain from rebecca's face, and the feeling of not knowing what to do, thus, running away to the prayer garden and crying out 'WHY? WHY?' to god and not knowing what to do, and then, holding rebecca as her parents tried to decide what to do, calling christine and telling her to hurry home, spending every waking hour at the stephenson's house trying to get rebecca's mind off of things, the upcoming weeks of sorrow and sadness, the horror of it all.

and i sit here, four years later, tears streaming down my face, thinking of who carter would be today, the 18-year-old college freshman he would be. the dates he would be going out on, the pranks he'd be pulling on his dorm-mates, the truck he'd be driving.

and i have to understand, that maybe he's doing all of those things in heaven, sitting and watching over rebecca and her family, watching over all of us.

we'll never know why, but i will forever miss carter, that sweet smile, those silly pranks, and wonderful and compassionate heart of his.

xoxo.

krp.

the ones with the light.

2010-11-03T18:25:00.003-04:00

we will never change the way we are here,

i like that we are kind of strange, so won't you stay?

-joshua radin.

my life has been some kind of wonderful lately - from a magical 21st birthday celebration to a beautiful concert with joshua radin and the script (and a best friend!) to my mom coming last night for dinner! let's recap it all -

21. on friday, october 29th, i headed to the bars (there are only three of them in williamsburg...let's not get crazy), and waited patiently to head in at 12! i spent the first two hours of my 21st with my big (in ∆∆∆), a freshman friend, and others who wandered in and out throughout the night! it was beautiful and wonderful, and even though i was hungover the next day, one of my best friends from home came on saturday night to celebrate with me! around 20 or so people joined me for dinner at south of the border on saturday night to celebrate, even making me a cake! it was awesome! birthdays really make you realize how blessed you are...if anything, it made me so grateful for all of the people who i call my friends.

concert. seeing joshua radin (AND MEETING HIM and getting him to sign a cd) and the script was completely and utterly awesome. both had such energy and it was even better that i could just listen and be there and absorb everything. the drive wasn't bad at all (especially since i made andrew drive) and the concert was completely worth the slight tiredness the next day. songs to check out? josh radin's - the ones with the light (as mentioned by the title of this blogpost).

mama. my mom came last night for a belated birthday celebration that included wonderful shopping and dinner! we headed to the outlets, hit up j.crew, banana republic, and a few other select stores and then headed to one of my favorite williamsburg restaurants for dinner - the blue talon bistro, located in the heart of colonial williamsburg on prince george street. it ended up that it was wine night, which meant 50% off all bottles and glasses of wines - which was wonderful. my mom and i split a bottle of a crisp pinot grigio. it was wonderful for her to come and allow me to feel so grown up with her!

that's all for now -

xoxo.

krp.

grenade.

2010-10-31T17:09:00.003-04:00

i'd catch a grenade for you,

throw my hand on a blade for you,

i'd jump in front of a train for you,

you know i'd do anything for you.

-bruno mars.

beautiful.

xoxo.

krp.

we r who we r.

2010-10-27T22:36:00.004-04:00

you know we're superstars,

we r who we r.

-ke$ha.

i've posted many a post before about the danger of bullying, in all of its forms - gay bullying, teen bullying, all bullying.

i'm sure many college readers know the likes of college acb and juicy campus - horrible and hurtful websites that cause countless students unnecessary pain and ridicule. for those of you that don't know, these are websites targeted by colleges/universities where students can anonymously post about whatever they choose - whether this be about their favorite beer or their favorite party spot on campus, it usually ends up about one of two things: sex or greek life.

as a member of a greek community on campus, i hate when other students participate in the petty and childish banter that is gossip - whether that be saying 'sorority x is full of sluts' or saying 'fraternity y is full of a bunch of cokeheads' - it is not our business to ridicule them - it is our business to help them.

who cares about the sexual activities or promiscuity of the person next to you in class? who cares about what people choose to do on the weekends? who cares how much time you spend in swem? who cares what you get on your paper? who cares where you hang out with your friends? why do we continually spread this gossip bullshit about others (sorry for the word, mom) when we constantly see the negative results that it has?

do we not pay attention to the suicides that have been happening nationwide because of gay bullying? cyber bullying? this doesn't stop after middle school anymore. it doesn't stop after high school either. it continues sometimes for the rest of our lives...and to be a person who posts senseless and anonymous things on college acb or juicy campus because they don't have the sense to realize the pain that is causes others?

when will we learn? i don't want another student on the william & mary campus to be the reason that we have to pay attention.

what happened to the morals your parents taught you? play nice? if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all? cooperate with others?

i am truly disappointed in the society in which i live for setting such a negative precedent for people to come. i don't want to be in a world where people are so negative and catty toward each other, and i certainly don't want to raise my future children in a world where hateful words are said all the time, where slurs are thrown about like nothing is wrong, and where people are purposefully vindictive.

if you get nothing out of this blogpost, then get the fact that tomorrow - maybe you should try to be a little nicer - maybe you should try to phrase your words a little better - maybe you should just do.one.thing to make the world a better a place.

xoxo.

krp.

back to december.

2010-10-27T16:19:00.005-04:00

so this is me swallowing my pride,

standing in front of you saying i'm sorry for that night,

and i go back to december all the time.

-taylor swift.

so. i have been a tay tay fan for a while. from tim mcgraw. to fearless. to white horse. to change. to mine. and even to her new album. but seriously, now.

WHAT THE HELL?

rumor has it that taylor is now in a relationship with jake gyllenhaal. and also dated john mayer. what the heck what the heck what the heck. i am literally in shock. taylor swift was born in december of 1989, meaning she is nearly two months younger than me. jake gyllenhaal has long been one of my favorite actors - from brokeback mountain to jarhead - he's awesome. and has always been so far out of my reach. why? because he was born in 1980 (and obviously is in hollywood - and i'm not, unfortunately). 9 year age difference. doesn't seem to matter now. how how how how can you go from dating reese witherspoon to dating taylor swift? seriously. pick some other southern blonde woman.

and john mayer? really? i know he's dated everyone and all of their moms, too, but seriously - he was born in 1977 (yes, i did my research). not trying to hate on age differences, but it is not fair that tay tay got to date him and jake gyllenhaal. no thank you, ma'am. and then to write a song ('dear john') about john mayer? way to be a big baby? seriously. write a song about it - but don't title it with his NAME? have some respect, girlfriend.

not sure how i feel about taylor swift anymore...

xoxo.

krp.

whip my hair.

2010-10-19T19:41:00.003-04:00

don't let haters keep me off my grind,

keep my head up, i know i'll be fine.

keep fighting until i get there,

when i'm down and i feel like giving up.

- willow smith.

yes, i just quoted the 9-year-old willow smith in my song choice for the title today, and i do not regret it.

please enjoy this sesame street mash-up of it.

xoxo.

krp.

the universe is laughing.

2010-10-18T12:36:00.003-04:00

cause i want to hold on to it,

but there's nothing to hold,

and the universe is laughing,

cause all a boy can really do is watch a boy unfold...

- the guggenheim grotto.

this saturday night, i had the pleasure of attending the ingrid michaelson sold-out concert in charlottesville, virginia, and was introduced to an amazing new band who opened up for ingrid named the gugghenheim grotto. two irish guys who love jamming out on stage together and are so musically talented i can't stand it.

if there's nothing more that you do today, look up the guggenheim grotto. you won't regret it.

xoxo.

krp.

creep.

2010-10-17T23:41:00.006-04:00

i'm a creep, i'm a weirdo.

what the hell am i doing here?

no, i don't belong here.

and i don't care if it hurts.

- radiohead

i want a perfect body, and i want a perfect soul.

i want you to notice when i'm not around, when i'm not around.

you think you're so special.

and i wish that i was special.

words that haunt me. thanks, radiohead. and guggenheim grotto for making me fall back in love with this song.

xoxo.

krp.

eet.

2010-10-15T02:34:00.003-04:00

it's like forgetting the words to your favorite song,

you can't believe it, you were always singing along,

it was so easy and the words so sweet.

you can't remember, you try to feel the beat.

-regina spektor.

a beautiful quote i read when writing a disputation on homosexuality for tomorrow -

the danger of refusing to celebrate love is real.

- eugene rogers

live and breathe that. every. day.

xoxo.

krp.

basket case.

2010-10-13T14:41:00.003-04:00

you're beggin' for the truth,

so i'm sayin' it to you,

i've been saving your place,

and what good does it do?

now, i'm just a basket case.

sara, your words continue to speak to me in all times of my life, and this has been a song on repeat for the last few days. my last week was filled with free time, coffee and chais with friends, laughing, watching movies, and a long weekend filled with sundrop, cornhole, driving down dirt roads, and being with the people i love. and this school week has arrived, with its language & society midterm, a high expected rate of consumption of the wonderful five-hour-energy shot, five hours of meetings about haiti in a single day, a 4 page disputation on homosexuality due, and so much more. my saving grace appears to be a wonderful concert on saturday in charlottesville - i am absolutely over the moon excited to go see ingrid michaelson in concert. she runs a close second to sara bareilles and i have heard rumors (from reliable sources, *cough my sister cough*) that she is absolutely amazing and hilarious live. and this is what i am excited to see. her jamming out on her baby guitar, integrating poker face into soldier, and so much more.

i am so excited that these next three weeks hold so much for me! yet at the same time, i simply wish i could skip to november 3rd (exactly three weeks from today) so that all of the crazy things would be over. but not only am i headed to an ingrid michaelson concert on saturday, i am so excited to go see the script and josh radin perform on the 1st of november at the norva with my best guy friend from freshman year. he is seriously awesome, the script is seriously awesome, and josh radin is seriously awesome. i introduced him to the script freshman year (cough cough before they got big) and he introduced me to josh radin freshman year.

two days before this concert, i turn twenty-one! how crazy is that? i am literally in shock that the time has flown by so fast and that this milestone of a birthday is upon me. while i was home on fall break, i visited a great friend (and former 6th/7th grade civics teacher), and he told me, "remember, just because you're turning 21 doesn't mean that you have to drink it all in one night." i am looking to take this to heart, and also was so glad i got to have a heart-to-heart with this awesome guy. he is one of three teachers that i can honestly say has had a lasting and amazing impression on me throughout my life, and because of this, every break i have from school, i take an hour, go visit his class, and talk to him about life. and it's something that i regularly look forward to, and that i would hope he enjoys as much as i do. i met my other former teacher (6th/7th grade english) and also former tennis coach for dinner at my favorite local mexican place on friday night with one of my best friends from home. it was wonderful to catch up with her as well. i guess i need to get on my game and catch up with my third and most recent favorite teacher (11th grade english) and find out about his life!

i guess, maybe i'm trying to say to cherish the relationships that you had with teachers growing up, and validate their skills as educators by visiting them when you're home!

do it!

xoxo.

krp.

check it out.

2010-10-05T15:08:00.003-04:00

all these haters mad because i'm so established,

they know i'm beast, yeah, i'm a savage.

- nicki minaj & will.i.am

in light of my last post and of all of the ridiculous things that have been going on with gender and sexual orientation this week (and for the past three weeks, for this matter), i figured i would repost this crazy article from New York Magazine.

here's the link - take a second to read it, watch the heinous video that is only saved by anderson cooper and his refusal to take the answers of andrew shirvell at face value, and join in the fight against gay bullying that needs to be won...

check it out here.

continue to pray, as i do, for the kids everyday, who are victims of gay bullying, and who don't have a voice for themselves.

xoxo.

krp.

kids.

2010-10-04T14:21:00.004-04:00

control yourself,

take only what you need from it,

a family of trees wanted

to be haunted.

-mgmt.

in my youtube browsings this week, i have found the following video, which is beautiful and wonderful and somehow, perfect. please enjoy this - as a gift from me to you, friends.

xoxo.

krp.

the truth.

2010-10-03T20:39:00.003-04:00

tryin' to be perfect,

tryin' not to let you down,

honesty is honestly,

the hardest thing for me right now.

-kris allen.

i am devastated this week as news continues to pour in of various things - updates on silly drama, news of suicides because of bullying, football wins & losses, and more.

as i sat down to dinner tonight at buffalo wild wings with one of my best friends at school, ally, we came to realize that we are stuck somewhere sincerely awkward. somewhere between the confines of teenagedom and the fear of adulthood. somewhere between youth and adulthood. somewhere that we are not sure if we like or not. somewhere that seems not real. somewhere that is acceptable for us to spend our weeks panicking about papers and tests and projects and our weekends focused on what mixer or date party we have and how late we should sleep. somewhere where we have authority figures presiding over us, but have so much freedom. somewhere that we never want to leave. during our 2 1/2 hour dinner (partially because we both are natural talkers and partially because our waiter was super slow), we caught up on everything - from boys to family to life to football - we talked about it all. we talked about things like marriage and friendship. it was a wonderful detox from a family-filled weekend.

family weekend was this weekend - and it was glorious. my parents (and both siblings) headed to williamsburg for the third year in a row to be with me and to enjoy the weather - which finally improved itself. on friday, they joined me for dinner at the fat canary at 5 pm - and i can honestly say - it was beyond delicious. i had the 'heritage breed pork chop with gruyere bread pudding, swiss chard, apples, walnuts, and bacon' and it was even more wonderful than i could have expected. after that, my parents headed home, and we reconvened the next morning when they surprised me by doing some yard work - from cutting the grass to planting some pansies, my front yard now looks delightful - thanks to the wonders of parents & siblings.

afterwards, we headed to lunch at one of my favorites - baker's crust - (such a wonderful chain) and then headed back to my house to get ready for the football game, where william & mary beat villanova (*the number one ranked team and reigning national champions!) 31-24. after, we came back to my house and enjoyed a quick dinner - my mom brought barbeque, homemade coleslaw, and turkey chili. so - evan and i munched on some barbeque (which is my favorite food on the entire planet) with some of joan bunn's famous homemade rolls and my mom's magical coleslaw while mom & dad chowed down on some delicious turkey chili (which didn't have beans - my mom is the best).

after a brief dinner, we headed to "w&m sings: a family weekend tradition" - which is a yearly concert held on family weekend where all 11 a cappella groups on campus sing - including mine - passing notes. we sang our new "enya medley" and "c'est la vie" by b*witched - i know, such a wonderful throwback.

then, in exciting news, i woke up this morning to help orchestrate the annual 5k william & mary alan k. buzkin 'marrowthon' with the rest of my steering committee - it was wonderful! we had tons and tons of families and students run - and we were so grateful to everyone who participated!

now - i am sincerely tired - and need to look ahead to this week and figure out midterms & planning for the rest of the week since fall break is quickly approaching (it's next weekend!).

what a wonderful weekend - however, keep the families of tyler clementi, asher brown, billy lucas, and seth walsh in your prayers - as well as those who suffer on a daily basis because of gay bullying.

xoxo.

krp.

breathe again.

2010-10-03T00:01:00.004-04:00

so, i may or may not have dedicated an entire blogpost already to sara bareilles' new album, kaleidoscope heart. and i may or may not have been listening to 'breathe again' on repeat for the past four days. which may or may not have resulted in my play count skyrocketing from 10 to 44 in a period of 24 hours. whoops.

i thought i'd post the lyrics, because per usual, sara has outdone herself with these, my dear friends.

car is parked, bags are packed,

but what kind of heart doesn't look back -
at the comfortable glow from the porch,

the one i will still call yours?
all those words came undone,

and now i'm not the only one,
facing the ghosts that decide -

if the fire inside still burns.

all i have, all i need,

he's the air i would kill to breathe,
holds my love in his hands,

still i'm searching for something.
out of breath, i am left -

hoping someday i'll breathe again,
i'll breathe again.

open up next to you,

and my secrets become your truth.
and the distance between -

that was sheltering me,

comes in full view.
hang my head, break my heart,

built from all i have torn apart.

and my burden to bear is -

a love i can't carry anymore.

all i have, all i need,

he's the air i would kill to breathe,
holds my love in his hands,

still i'm searching for something.
out of breath, i am left -

hoping someday i'll breathe again.

it hurts to be here.
i only wanted love from you.
it hurts to be here.
what am i gonna do?

all i have, all i need,

he's the air i would kill to breathe -
holds my love in his hands,

still i'm searching.
all i have, all i need,

he's the air i would kill to breathe.
holds my love in his hands,

still I'm searching for something.
out of breath, i am left hoping -

someday i'll breathe again,
i'll breathe again.

for you sara bareilles, i raise a toast - of a glass of a tart white wine that has that perfect aftertaste, crisp, clean, and beautiful, just like you.

xoxo.

krp.

ps - i don't actually have a glass of white wine in my hand - it was a metaphor.

it's that time for an album review.

2010-09-28T16:53:00.003-04:00

so although i rarely do album reviews (i think the only one i've EVER done is asher roth's debut cd), i have found a cd that is truly worth it.

my sister and i often discuss our "girl crushes" in the music industry, people who we, without a doubt, love and admire. hers in brandi carlile. mine? sara bareilles. and with the release of sara's new album, my love for her has been cemented. thank you, sara, for the beautiful piece of work that is "kaleidoscope heart." i've listed my favorite songs from the album...

1. kaleidoscope heart. the album's title track is flawless. an a cappella track with vocal looping done by ms. bareilles herself, it is literally chilling to listen to her soulful timbre sing these even more beautiful words. although it is only 1:02 long, it does not disappoint.

2. uncharted. one of two of my favorite tracks of the album, this is the most perfect driving song if there ever were one. it expresses the uncertainty of the future, and it is reassuring for us as listeners to know that sara has been where we are. warning: if you play this song, you may not be able to stop.

3. gonna get over you. my other favorite album track. i have been clearly where this song is and sara does not disappoint, friends. she does her usual trick of wrapping up heartbreaking lyrics in a catchy little melody that you can't stop but sing all day long. she blows me away with her writing skills. who else can come up with words like these?

4. hold my heart. my favorite (i know, another one? geez, kylee.) slower track on the album - the words are powerful, the percussion of the piano and claps make beautiful music, everything about this song is simply divine. there is something about it that is so raw that makes it irresistible to me.

5. king of anything. this was my SUMMER JAM, without a doubt. i am seriously jealous that another a cappella group on campus is doing it because i cannot tell you how badly i wanted to do this song with my group. sara kicks it, and let me tell you - if you can't sing along to this one - go somewhere else and get happy! because it is so catchy and happy and wonderful!

11. not alone. i don't know what it is about the key that this song is set in, but it is magic - gives a rather mysterious tone to the song, and sara adds to that beauty by effortlessly hitting every note and run that she put in here!

12. breathe again. so although this didn't make the cut as my favorite slow track of the album, it runs a close second. it represents a feeling that is so real to many of us, and i know that i have felt this way, and sara makes me feel as if she is right next to me, coaxing me to breathe again.

so there you have it, my favorite tracks from sara's new album - kaleidoscope heart.

xoxo.

krp.

ps - i could've written an entire album review because i love EVERY SINGLE SONG, but i decided to just do my top favorites.

perfectly lonely.

2010-08-31T19:05:00.003-04:00

nothing to do, nothing to be,

a simple little kind of free.

nothing to do, no one but me,

and that's all i need.

-john mayer.

in hearing this song when i pre-ordered the battle studies album by john mayer (which i think is insanely underrated, it is fantastic), i wondered if this was actually a feeling that existed? how could anyone be perfectly lonely? is that even possible?

and then, today, in the need for some mellow music and live jams, i searched john mayer "perfectly lonely" live on youtube, and this came up -

and let me tell you how happy i am that he says at the beginning of this video - "this song is about a feeling that lasts about as long as the song does." reminds me that everyone is lonely at some point in their lives.

thanks john, for a little dose of reality.

xoxo.

krp.

ps - i'm in the process of making porcupine balls right now for dinner - so delicious! i'll post the recipe at a later date.

my stupid mouth.

2010-08-30T23:07:00.003-04:00

oh, it's another social casualty.

score one more for me.

how could i forget?

mama said, think before speaking.

-john mayer.

my wishes:

1. to play guitar as well as john mayer.

2. to be contently happy with my life in the future.

3. to experience a love that is unmatched in passion and devotion and happiness.

4. to be great at something, great enough where people come to me as the obvious go-to person on that subject.

5. to write a book.

6. to have a family.

there are more, but those are the only ones i could think of at the moment...

xoxo.

krp.

cannonball.

2010-08-28T02:11:00.005-04:00

i was born when i met you,

now, i'm dyin' to forget you,

and that is what i know.

-brandi carlile.

i'm sitting here, in my bed, at 2:11 AM, thinking. some nights, i simply sit here, and think. it's refreshing, to reflect, whether it be upon the day, the night, the week, or my life in general. it is comforting to have this time to myself to think about the past and dream about the future.

and as i'm sitting here, wrapped up in my brown corduroy comforter, i'm reflecting on the past. and instances that have defined who i am. and instances that have challenged me to the very core.

one of those instances was dealing with the death of four members of my community - three teenage boy scouts, and one adult leader. one of these scouts happened to be my pseudo-little brother, a sweet boy named carter thomas stephenson, who made me giggle more than anyone i've ever met, who annoyed me just like a little brother would, and who had the best big sister anyone could ever ask for. and as i lay here at 2:14 am (now), i am reading the tidewater news, and just stumbled upon an article about a neighbor of mine dedicating a tree in the park to him. and this is so beautiful to me. here's a quote from the article -

The newly planted tree, a Japanese dogwood, is only about 5 feet tall.

It needs three tree stakes to keep it upright.

It doesn’t have any flowers and, like most baby trees, doesn’t make much of a shadow on the ground.

But some day the tree will grow to cover its corner of Meadow Lane Park, delighting passersby with the sights and smells of its flowers, its thick strong branches for climbing and sitting, and the shade of its lush leaves.

Ann Manning Cutchin hopes the tree will also give one pause to remember the little boy who used to run around this park and climb its trees.

for a community like this and someone giving this in the memory of that sweet boy who used to run around in the park, i am eternally thankful.

11.05.2006 - i will never forget.

xoxo.

krp.

stereo love.

2010-08-23T11:20:00.004-04:00

can i get to your soul?

can you get to my thought?

can we promise we won't let go?

-edward maya.

if there is one thing that this specific song makes me think of, it is discoteches in italy. everywhere we went, it seemed that this song was the chosen one to be played. from the infamous 21 to twice to even maybe space (i did not go to that discoteche), this song was everywhere. it screams italia to me, and more than anything makes me miss those sweet and almost perfect 6 weeks of my life earlier this summer.

classes officially start on wednesday - how scary is that? junior year is officially here. i don't know exactly how i feel about that, but i do know how much i realize that i have been growing up. actually playing a part in orientation this year has made me realize how awesome and wonderful freshman year and the entire process of orientation was for me (and i'm sure for all others involved). from the party at the rec center to the mentalist last night, it's been awesome so far - and i can honestly say that i love all of the people who i have been blessed with the opportunity to work with - love my PFOA staff.

time to go hang out with my hall!

xoxo -

krp.

secrets.

2010-08-16T01:02:00.003-04:00

tell me what you want to hear,

something that were like those years,

i'm sick of all the insincere,

so i'm gonna give all my secrets away.

-onerepublic.

just checked out the new onerepublic album from the library, and let me be the first to say - i am more than impressed. it is wonderful.

tomorrow (or technically today, as it is currently 1:21 AM - aka i totally need to go to sleep), i leave franklin for my junior year of college. i know - you're waiting for me to say "JK!" or "whaaaat i played ya'll," but that is not happening - i am literally leaving tomorrow. i can no longer say that i'm not halfway done with college. where has the time gone? how have these sweet and beautiful moments passed by so quickly? where did freshman year go: the late night chats in the kitchen of barrett, the simplicity of life in a dorm, the comfort and security of living with 175 other amazing people who cared about you? where did sophomore year go: the infamous and catch name of the cottage, all-nighter with danny, finding out what friends you actually have time to still be friends with, being silly in linguistics classes, realizing that i'm almost a junior? and here it is. i'm on the cusp of junior year.

let's hope it doesn't completely kick my tail.

xoxo.

krp.

waka waka.

2010-08-12T12:57:00.003-04:00

although there has already been a blogpost entitled "waka waka" (although that was in reference to netta in italy and the constant playing of that song everywhere we went), i cannot NOT share this will everyone (which means basically the 10 subscribers and my mom who reads this even though we live in the same house hahah - love ya momz!). i stumbled upon (in my frequent you-tubing, which is literally a habit) a poster named "itsmepaulina" who is PHENOMENAL. i have had this sole video on repeat for about the past hour, which is sad. because i have had to hit play again every four minutes. it's a mash-up (which we all know i love, another post dedicated to that soon) of "waka waka" by shakira (and freshlyground - whattuppp!) and "wavin' flag" by k'naan (even though it's the lamer world cup wavin' flag version). anyway - check it out. subscribe to her. she's insane. here's the vid! enjoy peeples!

xoxo.

krp.

mine.

2010-08-08T22:58:00.004-04:00

do you remember we were sittin' there by the water?

you put your arm around me for the first time.

you made a rebel of a careless man's careful daughter.

you are the best thing that's ever been mine.

-taylor swift.

something about taylor swift (whom i affectionately call tay-tay) makes everything better. she makes me reflect on myself and on life in general. and also on relationships and love. which isn't necessarily a good thing, considering the lack of those in my life right now. but for some reason, i feel like being reflective, and i started thinking about how i ended up at william & mary. and my college application process. and how i only filled out one solitary college application. and how i was so happy with my extra essay that i added. so here it is. my optional essay submission for the college of william & mary. the prompt was about defining yourself and how you were unique...here it goes.

i’m more liberal than conservative. my favorite flavor of ice cream is coldstone's cake batter. ilove pumpkins. i love when people play with my hair. to me, nothing’s better than driving down a dirt road with the windows rolled down as i drink diet sundrop and sing along to country music. i think that black and white photography makes everything better. my grandmother’s strawberry pie could make all my troubles melt away. i wear my rainbow flip-flops, even in january. john denver’s music is timeless. i listen to the soundtrack of sound of music on a regular basis. when my brother wins medals at special olympics, i smile. every wednesday and thursday night, i watch private practice and grey’s anatomy. when i get a kill during a volleyball match, i tend to make mean faces at the other team. i cried when i watched power of one. i wish i could be as cool as nelson mandela. if it were up to me, teachers would be paid better. i love laughing so hard that my stomach hurts. nothing makes me feel more sick than looking at mushrooms. when i went to pennsylvania in the third grade, i adopted a baby goat and named it kyle. when i’m all alone in my house, i go to the piano and play “don’t stop believin’” by journey. i hate not knowing whether you fit in or not. my dream vacation would be in cape town, south africa. making food for other people makes me smile. my friends think I have a big chin. callillies are my favorite type of flower. i wish i could play the guitar. i can’t stand drinking milk that isn’t skim. i think that skype is the best invention ever. i don’t only have one best friend; i have different ones from different parts of my life. i love the smell of coffee but hate the taste. when i think of my life in the future, i can’t imagine it without children. when leaving dinner for my freshman homecoming, i fell down the steps in front of 15 of my closest friends and still have a scar. i spent this summer at governor’s school, i thought i’d hate it, but i loved it. i could drink POM peach passion white tea every day. i believe in God. sometimes i hate being almost six feet tall. i don’t like to count calories. when i’m babysitting, nothing is better than having a baby fall asleep in my arms. i wish i could go back to africa and work at an orphanage for a while. wearing high heels makes me feel empowered. i can't see myself anywhere else other than william & mary.

not much has changed. calla lillies are still my favorite flowers. however, i can play the guitar now...

xoxo.

krp.

undo it.

2010-08-05T23:53:00.003-04:00

you stole my happy, you made me cry,

took the lonely, and took me for a ride,

and i wanna undo it.

-carrie underwood.

as i sit here in my tiny and uncomfortable twin sized bed in north topsail beach, north carolina, next to my sister who is watching 'trippin'' (the old cameron diaz series from mTV), i am somewhat transported back to old beach days, when my sister and i would sit with sandy bodies out on the screened in porch eating lunch complete with ranch dip and grape kool-aid.

it's hard to believe that 15 years later, we're sitting, trading that ranch dip and kool-aid for margaritas and peppers, but maybe that's hard to believe because we've grown up. when did it become okay for me to be about to begin my 3rd year of college? am i settled in yet? have i found my niché in the william & mary community? do i know who i want to be? will i find that one great love?

too many questions and not enough answers, my friends.

and to that i say, good night.

xoxo.

krp.

NO SONGS - but lots of sweet tea and sun drop.

2010-08-05T14:22:00.004-04:00

this week is vacation week. which means i have spent my week doing two things:

1. drinking lots of sweet tea and diet sun drop. without a doubt i have had more sun drop and sweet tea this week alone than i have had in a LONG time.

2. laying out every single chance i get. there is no better feeling than absorbing some sweet sun into your skin, making you darker, and hearing the ocean waves crash up against the shore.

i'll post laster - but here's a beautiful picture that i think fits my family and our personality perfectly.

xoxo.

krp.

honey, baby.

2010-07-30T20:53:00.003-04:00

i saw you there standing under the mango tree,

a beautiful woman who looked so fine to me...

-three plus.

lover, lover.

2010-07-27T13:43:00.003-04:00

i know you used to love me in every way,

but now i'm givin' it up, and i'm tired of cryin', babe.

-jerrod niemann.

favorite summer country song. by a male country vocalist. goes to. jerrod niemann. he and martina mcbride are currently in a tie for best summer country song. between "lover, lover" and "wrong, baby, wrong" - i can't seem to pick a favorite one that makes me happier when it comes on the radio. so here's to you to decide. versions of both. cast your vote.

1 - "lover, lover" by jerrod niemann. (also please notice how attractive he is. nbd.)

2. "wrong baby, wrong" by martina mcbride. still rockin' at age 44.

the end.

xoxo.

krp.

stuck in a moment.

2010-07-22T00:39:00.004-04:00

you've got to get yourself together -

you got stuck in a moment -

and you can't get out of it.

-u2.

in the 10th grade, we had to write a research paper on one of time 100's "top most influential people of the year." i wrote about bono, of u2 stardom. i didn't write about him because he writes beautiful music (although he definitely does). i didn't write about him because he rocks wraparound sunglasses like no one else (although he most definitely does). i wrote about him because he makes a difference in the world that we live in. and i love that about him.

but on a music note - i sang karaoke last night. at applebee's. in my small hometown. when everyone (or the majority of everyone else) was drunk. however, i was not. soberly, i got the balls to sing "let's give them something to talk about" by bonnie raitt (which by the way - is my go to karaoke song). and by me soberly getting the balls, i mean my friend lauren telling me over and over that i should sing. so i did. and people thought it was good! and apparently i stole some girl's song. but whatever. she can deal with it.

the crowning glory of the night, however, was when i was put to sing "pictures" by kid rock & sheryl crow with a karaoke king from applebee's. yes, my friends, i sang about 'fuelin' up on heartaches and cheap wine,' which i may have done a little of in italy.

so there it is. karaoke is my new jam. maybe the leafe has it? that would be wonderful.

xoxo.

krp.

if i die young.

2010-07-21T11:55:00.004-04:00

if i die young, bury me in satin,

lay me down on a bed of roses,

sink me in the river, at dawn,

send me away with the words of a love song.

-the band perry.

i haven't had much time to write, but let's be real - i haven't been doing anything, so who knows why i haven't had much to write? i've mentioned rex alphin before - he serves as someone who i look up to in terms of writing skills and the ability that he has to make words flow seamlessly together and become poetry absolutely blows my mind. so here's a little something he wrote called "bigger than ourselves" that was published in the western tidewater magazine and posted on tidewater news's online website -

We need them. The human experience yearns for them. Life craves them. That which exists bigger than ourselves. That which extends beyond our fingertips and stretches past our own encapsulated existence. Past self-fixation tied to our problems, our inadequacies, our broken dreams.

Sunsets. What does man have to do with them? They simply are. They exist apart from human endeavor, as regular as heartbeat, showcasing themselves every evening. Predictable and dependable, they do as they wish, irregardless of us. In spite of us. Apart from us.

As if someone said, “I will give them a show. It will change daily and be colorful and spontaneous. It will be for their pleasure, their enjoyment, to help fulfill their desire for beauty, to remind them — daily — that this world has been, is and will always be. It will not be told to them. It will be shown to them, such that they will see it, experience it, feel it. They will not see a picture, nor a representation, but rather the actual thing itself, that they may know reality, authenticity, truth. It will be continually creative, such that it is alive. Any particular occurence will be nonrepeatable and nonduplicated. I want its audience to embrace the uniqueness of that particular moment and savor it for what it is, to realize their smallness in light of such bigness. And to find comfort in that.”

Oceans. What does man have to do with them? They simply are. Their vastness declares continuity, largeness and perpetuity. They speak to us, sometimes in whispers, sometimes shouts and sometimes roars.

As if someone said, “I will cast a liquid upon the land and put it into motion. It will never cease. Never. It will have a mind of its own and will rebel when schemes to control it are devised. It must be respected, or it will show its fury and demonstrate its power. And it will be real. Tasted, touched, felt, heard, experienced. Its motion will be perpetual, reminding its observers that some things go on and on and on, regardless. It will be one of those rare occurrences that can utterly, undeniably be depended on. It will fulfill a need in its audience, to realize their smallness in light of such bigness. And to find comfort in that.”

And so it is. These grand, majestic, unending occurrences, exposed to our senses, inviting us, if you will, to the Grand Ball. Shall we dance?

you should feel free to check out his website - it's pretty wonderful. http://www.rexalphin.com/The_Nature_of_Things/Home.html

xoxo.

krp.

dynamite.

2010-07-15T17:16:00.003-04:00

i throw my hands up in the air sometimes - saying eyyyo, gotta let go.

i wanna celebrate and live my life saying eyyyo, baby let's go.

-taio cruz.

it'll be a short one - don't feel like writing much - but here's a great cover of a sweet summer jammmm.

these girls are mad awesome.

xoxo.

krp.

find your love.

2010-07-14T02:02:00.003-04:00

i'm more than just an option - refuse to be forgotten,

i took a chance with my heart - and i feel it taking over,

i better find you love...

and i better find your heart.

-drake.

what is all of this "find your love" nonsense? who still believes in love at first sight? in love that exists because of destiny? in one true love? do you? i used to...and for good reasons. as a little girl, i grew up in a fairytale world - one where mom was the perfect educated woman who was an excellent cook and an even better mom and one where my dad spent his time working as a doctor and volunteering with my mom in the church.

and here we are. twenty years later. living in the exact same situation - maybe my mom is more relaxed and my dad puts in more hours at the office, but i can't say much has changed. except for my siblings and i.

and here i am. sitting here. twenty years later. as "that girl." the one who surrounds herself with wonderful friends but no love interests. the one who people go to for love advice even though she doesn't have that much to base her sought-after advice off of. maybe i enjoy it. there's no drama (at least not in my life) and i get to learn from other people's mistakes rather than making my own.

but who's to say i'm foolish for hoping for that one great love. the one great love that will satisfy my thirsty and aching-for-love soul for the rest of my life time? the relationship that melds best friendship and sensuality? when will that happen? soon? before i turn 50?

here's to praying, friends.

xoxo.

krp.

delayed devotion.

2010-07-11T15:24:00.003-04:00

when i drop you boy, you'll need another toy,

one that won't stand up for herself...

-duffy.

when looking for inspiration or the perfect song to get over "that guy" - look no further, ladies. i introduce to you - delayed devotion by duffy off of her epically wonderful debut record 'rockferry.' here's her to prove how awesome she is!

anyway - i'll post more when interesting things actually happen - which they have not. so far, at least.

here's to hoping.

xoxo.

krp.

ps - plenty of sweet tea and sundrop flowing around here to make me happy! :)

waka waka - this time for italy.

2010-07-06T15:13:00.003-04:00

so i am 100% officially back in the united states - and missing italy a WHOLE lot. it's hard to not wake up every morning (although my bed is much more comfortable here) in my room with jen, pop in and eat bread and tea with nonna and anna, take the number 12 bus into town, sit and joke with people in francesca's class, eat lunch from the mercato centrale with fresh fruit and even better cheese, head to leadership class in an unknown location, eat dinner with the family, and head out for a night of good beer and good company at old stove. that was a typical day in italy. and here is a typical day in southern virginia - doing nothing.

i learned a lot of lessons in florence - life lessons, lessons about italy, and lessons about dealing with other people. and i think all of these lessons have helped me so far, even just in my return to virginia to my small town. i learned more than anything that i am independent, completely capable, and can function one hundred percent on my own, even in another country with people that i've never met before. i traveled completely by myself, which even just a year ago, would have freaked me out more than anything else i know. and i did it. i bought my tickets, rode on trains throughout the coast of italy, stayed the night in a hotel in zurich, flew for almost 13 hours by myself (from florence --> zurich, zurich --> jfk, jfk --> richmond). all by myself. i even made some friends from switzerland on the flight back - three sweet danish men - one about my dad's age, one about 35ish, and one who just celebrated his 13th birthday. they gave me some interesting conversation on the way home that was fun. and hey - speaking of being independent - i learned that i can find out a way to communicate with someone who doesn't speak the same language as me and get by day-to-day enough so that when i leave, i cry my eyes out because our relationship has been that special to me.

there are many quotable things from firenze - and i cannot even BEGIN to remember them all. but as sam and xtina and i were dying of insanity and riding a 3 hour train from hamburg to hannover, we compiled a list of quotable quotes and wonderful memories. and here they are -

- "YOU GUYS - THIS BUILDING IS FAKE!" - christina
- "WOWWWW - this street is SOOOO nice." - christina
- SHAKE AND BAKE - me, maggie, grace, and netta - the original four - what was dreamed up in a bar in venice
- the bus ride home from chianti - andrea singing red hot chili peppers and queen, spencer & chuck (and the rest of the back of the bus) chugging to the face, our tour guide who had a nose stud
- move in day when jen and i thought we were dead because we knew no italian
- nonna & teo - ENOUGH SAID.
- dancing in the streets to waka waka after our final dinner
- lunch with deeps & bill in pisa and learning about bill's thirst for tequila
- rome - campo di fiore aka no vatican on saturday
- venice - sam & maggie = godsends, counting on the way home, head on the table, NASTY dinner
- "NO! DO NOT SIT IN THE CORNER, DENEÉ! you will never be married!" - francesca
- explaining to francesca the mysteries of a BJ shot
- people in our programs' accents for italian - the russian & the dumb american (maggie - you KNOW what i'm talking about)
- courtney's affection for hairy chests
- the day spencer showed up still drunk to class and started repeating everything francesca said
- drinking wine on the arno the very first night
- the love octagon
- "little justin biebers, guys!" - christina
- spencer's toast on deeps's bday and especially his toast on the last night
- "ARE WE IN GERMANY OR IN ALASKA?" - sam
- "it smells like germany." - me
- hotel patrizia aka the HOSTEL patrizia
- how ally studies maps in her free time and is our guide to every city
- "i'm not annoying - i'm CUTE, okay?" - christina
- our walk to the train station in germany and realizing we were in the middle of NOWHERE
- il latini - three jugs of wine later...
- "TEEEEEETH - TEEEEEEEETH" - christina
- "i haven't heard that word since the civil war." - me
- the "incident" on the hike
- courtney pretending to be sam's lesbian lover so massimo would leave
- sam choking on her snore
- xtina & her kabuki bar bathroom fiasco
- WHO DID IT? the mysterious far on tuesday at hotel AC
- "THE ROOM WAS A DOUBLE, NOT a triple." - mean man at hotel AC
- the jazz bar with all of the bras hanging from the ceiling where we watched the south africa vs. mexico game
- the train rides in germany: the one filled with screaming small children, the one where the felt like harry potter on the hogwarts express, the one where (when in transit from one platform to another) the man was rambling to me in german

that's all i could think of - but i thought i'd close my blog experience in europe (but not my blog forever obviously - it just won't be about europe anymore!) with two of my journal entries.

18 giugno 2010

for the last time, i am sitting here in this uncomfortable twin bed, listening to the loud and constant hum of traffic outside and roasting like a whore in church from the heat and lack of air-conditioning. and i have never been more certain of a fact that i am of this one - i will miss this. when i awake in six hours (god help me), i will not want to leave. i'll want to sit and listen to telegiornale in the morning while anna runs errands, play with teo, watch love soaps with nonna, talk with jen at night, crack up in italian class, sit and eat my cannollo courtesy of deeps, shake and bake with the crew, swing dance in the streets, i want it to never end. in a perfect world, i would live here and all of my family & friends would live down the street. but it's happening. i am leaving tomorrow and even though i am going to germany and i am beyond excited, i want to stay here. it's time to go to bed, but maybe i'll write more on the plane.

xoxo.

kylee.

19 giugno 2010

i officially left for germany today. which means i left firenze and via masaccio for the last time (other than flying out of the FLR airport on the 28th). i woke up at 3:50 am (i KNOW - too damn early) and finished packing my backpack, got ready, and got dressed. anna woke up and we sat and had some biscotti and caffe together. charlotte even left jen and i little chocolates from belgium that she picked up on trip and a note. then, anna helped me with my suitcase downstairs and waited with me until my taxi came at 4:45 (she called for one last night). then we said goodbye, i hopped in the cab, and i (unexpectedly) started crying as the taxi pulled away. i don't usually cry at goodbyes - and this was strange for me. then, i mailed my postcards, met up with sam & xtina. last night - dinner was absolutely wonderful, bittersweet, and hilarious. anna fixed pasta shells, turkey with peppers (DELICIOUS), bread, green beans, and then gelato (pistachio, chocolate, peanut butter, and cream with orange). we gave anna and nonna their presents (which they loves) including a card and a bottle of prosecco. nonna kept saying williamsburg was beautiful, and when i woke this morning, the "virginia is for lovers" sticker was already on the fridge. how precious? anna thought our card was hilarious (mainly because we had to scratch out what the card really said) and also impressive because it was in italian. then i told her that my teacher had translated it for me and she thought that was hilarious. then, i said goodbye to nonna who told me that i was "sempre cara" aka i would forever be dear to her, which meant so much to me. jen stopped me from crying - close call. i cannot begin to describe how wonderful of an experience this was for me - by far one of the best trips i've ever take. to florence - chin chin and salute - you brought me the best five weeks of my life. ciao.

xoxo.

kylee

that's all for now - goodbye firenze. goodbye europe. hell-o boring summer in VA.

xoxo.

krp.

NAPOLI.

2010-06-26T04:54:00.002-04:00

so before i head off for the day to pompeii (which i am SO excited about!) - i figured i'd post a quick little blog while steph and the rest of her fam are eating breakfast...

naples is absolutely beautiful - definitely beautiful in a different sense than the other european cities i've visited, but still pretty in its own rights...more like a combination between NYC and LA...

like i said, on thursday, we went to ischia, and it was 100% beautiful. after playing around at the spa (or thermal park as we explained it to KC and collins so that they would want to go in the future), we walked around the city for a while - grabbed some gelato, and shopped. i bought the first thing for myself in italy (other than my leather bag which was some sort of a necessity so i don't really consider it something i wanted) - a really cute shirt from this store called kitte in ischia. at approximately 6 when the italia soccer game ended - there was a deafening roar on the island, more like a guttural moan from the depths of every italian soul, so disappointed that their team did not advance. we went and picked up some things for dinner at a market where the man who gave us our prosciutto told us that italy had said "buona notte" to their soccer season (aka good night). ischia was really cool overall, there was a really neat sandal shop where i would have bought sandals if only italians wore shoes that were my size. i swear - they all have itty bitty feet, or force their feet into sandals that are too small for them - which means their toes look like they are hanging off cliffs - chevas - you would DIE here with all these women wearing shoes like that.

then, yesterday, i slept until 9:45 - which was BEAUTIFUL. hadn't slept more than 10 hours in a month and a half and if you know me - you know i love excess amounts of sleep. steph and i headed into town (which took forever because various metro lines were down) and stopped for lunch at this great pizza place. i had pizza margherita con prosciutto and a beer, which i thought was just going to be a bottle - but FALSE. it was half a litre. whoops. we had a lot of water too, though, so no worries there. we walked around naples for a while, and then popped into the archaeological museum, which was really cool - it had a lot of excavations from pompeii and the famous bull statue with a woman being tied to a bull (which i don't remember the significance of) but it was pretty awesome. all carved out of one block of marble and it's MASSIVE.

then, we went to the commissary on base, picked up groceries, and headed to dinner with steph's dad and kc, her brother. her mom had to work :( but dinner was DELICIOUS. so much food, and there was the most precious puppy running around (who got in trouble for being near us). then, we came home and watched shutter island, which scared the crap out of me, but thankfully, the end resolved everything and i am proud to say i watched the whole thing!

off to pompeii -

things i would kill for right now? a large sweet tea or a diet sun drop. any source of caffeine other than coffee.

home on monday/tuesday -

how crazy is that??

xoxo.

krp.

mini update!

2010-06-24T17:09:00.003-04:00

hello to all!

for a quick update - i'm officially in naples right now, staying with a good friend from college (shout out steph) and her family on the naval base until monday right now!

we had an insane day - i arrived last night at napoli centrale at around 8:30 and we headed to base, where i had to get a homestay pass, and then hung out for a little while and we headed to bed.

this morning, it was up early! we went to negombo spa, which is more like a thermal water pool park than an actual spa, but it was AMAZING. please please look it up online. it was on the island of ischia, which was absolutely beautiful. so cute, very similar (according to steph and others) to capri, but a little less heavily populated with tourists. it was amazing.

sadly, italy lost in soccer today. which you would have known if you were here, because as the game was finishing, deafening screams were echoing across the city...

okay, time to head to bed - exploring naples is tomorrow! and then saturday, we are off to pompeii! i am very excited -

home on monday - where did all of this time go??

xoxo.

krp.

arrivederce to florence and hallo to germany!

2010-06-20T12:14:00.004-04:00

i am here in gemany, sitting in sam´s friend, jess´s apartment and it is wonderful. i´d been told by many that hannover was a rather quiet town, and although it is, it´s absolutely adorable. apologies if my typing is messed up - the y and z here are switched and it´s making my job of blogging more complicated!!

recap recap time! let´s start with the last dinner for our group which was on thursday of last week - so hard to believe that that was over half a week ago! our final dinner was at a super cute restaurant called alfredo sul arno. we met and took some pictures (which sam, xtina, jen, and i were mildly late for because of a late bus). the dinner was really good, not as good as il latini on the first night, but still good no less. plenty of good wine and good food to go around and everyone was in high spirits! after dinner, andrea and deeps each gave toast. i´m not even going to trz to front that i didn´t tear up in those, they were both so awesome. then, spencer followed up his toast from deeps´s birthday with an epic 5 minute toast and he and chuck then proceeded to give out awards. thankfully, i did not receive one.

then, we all went out together. on the way to the bars, the art historz professor (otelio) invited us up to his apartment to have some more wine. well LET ME TELL YOU it was beautiful. on the 6th or 7th floor of an apartment building that literally looks out on one side to the duomo and the other side to the palazzo vecchio. it was absolutelz beautiful and he was so sweet to do that for us. then, we all headed out to some of our collective favorite bars, and then danced the night away at 21, where we were just about the only people there for a while, which was nice, because it was kind of a final hurrah for us!

the next morning, i got up for school, headed out, and checked my final test grade with francesca, and watched the rest of an italian movie with my class (which i did not see the end of aka people need to let me know if claudia and martinelli ever got together again). sam, xtina, jen, allie, annie, and i all headed to this cute lunch place and got some GREAT pasta to say goodbye to firenze the proper way! after that, we shopped around and finished getting gifts for everyone, stopped at grom for the last time ever (so sad about that) and i bought my train tickets for naples! so excited to see stephanie and her family!

then, that night jen and i finished packing (because we actually started ahead of time- i know, be impressed mom!) and had our final dinner with anna and nonna (and teo too of course). we had pasta shells, this delicious turkey thing with peppers and vegetables, green beans, and bread. and to top it all of we had gelato from anna´s favorite gelato place - orange cream, pistachio, chocolate, and peanut butter. YUM. after that, jen and i gave anna and nonna their presents and they adored them. anna took down our contact info and we took down hers, and we took pictures. she called me a cab for the next morning (because i had to leave at 4:45 nbd) and jen went out for a last hurrah. i woke up the next morning at 3:40 (cringing thinking about it) and anna even got up (even though i told her not to) to make me a cup of coffee and sit with me. i drank to cups of coffee, ate some biscotti, and headed out the door with anna helping me with my suitcase. we waited for the cab, it came, and i said goodbye and no joke, started crying as it pulled away. wiping my tears so the man driving could not see me.

i waited for sam and xtina, we hopped on the train, and arrived at pisa aeroporto soon after. we ran through to check out bags, hopped through security, then discovered that the airport was closed until 11 because of bad weather. OH WAIT JK they opened back up our flight and we got onboard. after the worst flight of my life, we arrived in the hamburg airport. WHICH IS A JOKE. so little. like maybe the size of the franklin municipal airport. we discovered where the nearest train station was and headed there in the BLISTERING COLD. who forgot germany was going to be freezing when she packed? that wouldbe this kid. after 3 hours of tripping outbecause we were in the middle of no where and had no cell phone, we arrived in hannover, where jessica met us! we headed back to her flat which is ADORABLE, got settled, and went to kebap 44 for dinner. one thing that i have started to like since florence are doners, they are delicious. i had a lamb doner last nightttt YUM. we walked around hannover in the HORRIBLE weather and grabbed some stuff at the grocery store and headed home. we then just sat around, talked, and watched a movie called scoop with woody allen, hugh jackman, and scarlett johannson in it. i am the first to hate scarlett but she was magnificent in this movie. it´s hilarious. so funny. definitely a movie i am watching again when i get back.

then, headed to bed! this morning we woke up, took xtina to the trainstation, and headed to a photography exhibit called the festival for young photojournalism, which would have been great if i hadn´t passed out after the first exhibit. i don´t know what it was from, but i went to sit down on the stairs because i was hot and the next thing i know i was waking up on the floor with a german man in my face asking me if i was okay and speaking to me in german. thankfully jessica saw and headed over and sam came too and they got me my sandwich and and an apple and a random woman gave me her water bottle and after a little break i was set. mazbe blood sugar? the air was also SUPER stuffy and i´ve been traveling, but if anything,it made me realize how wonderful jessica is and how nice everyone is in germany. i sat and cooled off outside while theyfinished up the exhibitand then we came home and i rested. sam cooked pesto pasta for dinner and it was delicious! jessica had to go to work, but i think sam and i might head out later tonight to watch the soccer game. we´ll see!

thinking of everyone and i´ll be home next week?? how hard is that to believe? naples on wednesday!

xoxo.

kylee.

VENEZIA. you were beautiful.

2010-06-16T10:27:00.003-04:00

so venice is officially over. sad day sad day. i am sitting here, back in linguaviva where wireless and laptops are plentiful (thank you jesus) and where the k key sticks a lot and the space bar only works sporadically. so please excuse my typing here...

left for venice on friday and arrived mid-afternoon. let me say that it was easily one of the most beautiful places i have ever been. the canals everywhere, the sunsets, the pizza (holla pizza 2000). these are the things i would love to remember...

-pizza 2000 (best place ever) eating pizza on the canal and getting splashed by the boats.
-watching the south africa game in a pub with bras on the ceiling and cheering them on!
-murano and the BEAUTIFUL glass
-burano aka best island ever with the beautiful houses of every different color, getting a purse strap tan, and eating a wonderful three course meal right on the water with some good friends.
-the gondola ride with deeps and andrea aka gracie and andrea sitting in the loveseat
-the crappy but HILARIOUS dinner at ristorante omnibus...

i would love to forget the following:
-saturday night CRAZYY
-the pigeons
-the boat ride from ferrovia to san marco that almost made me throw up
-the man with the creamsicle jumpsuit on the train home who made us laugh hysterically but was RIDICULOUS.

miss everyone -

hard to believe i'm leaving this place so soon.

xoxo.

FINALS TOMORROW AHHHH.

krp.

CINQUE TERRE!

2010-06-15T08:29:00.002-04:00

so apologies – i legitimately wrote this like a week and a half ago. sorry for the late post!!!

so here’s the deal – i can officially now say that i have been to heaven and back, my friends. cinque terre yesterday was marvelous. MARVELOUS. amazing. stupendous. beautiful. words cannot describe how fun and awesome it was. but let’s recap on the past few days before i go into all of my mind-blowing details…

somehow june has arrived upon us here in firenze, and i can honestly say that i cannot believe it. the fact that in two weeks, i will be departing from this place (and on to germany and naples!) is something that blows my mind everyday. where the hell did all of the time go? things that happened last week include my first trip to grom (best gelateria in all of firenze if i do say so myself), forcing myself to eat a typical tuscan meal of white beans, canned tuna, and potatoes (because i was being polite – see mom?), getting a new member of the via masaccio fam with charlotte – the 20-something phD student who moved back in this week, climbing all almost 500 steps of the duomo, and seeing david.

david and the duomo deserve their own little paragraph because they were both so crazy. we woke up early tuesday morning to meet at the duomo and climb all of the stairs. thankfully it was a little chilly so it didn’t get TOO hot on the way up, but definitely still awesome. after climbing all of the stairs (and taking a brief look at the murals and frescos of what happens if you go to hell aka people eating you on the walls) and maneuvering through tiny passageways that almost made me slightly claustrophobic, we made it! and let me be the first to say that the view was more than worth those 460-some steps. we literally could see all of Florence. that afternoon, my leadership class (same group i climbed the duomo with) headed to the accademia to see david, michelangelo’s renowned statue, that i learned is well-known for a reason. for some particular reason, i had a mental image in my head of david, and the real thing far surpassed it. i thought he was around 6 or 7 feet tall. FALSE. he is 16 feet tall and the statue itself is over 20. everything was insane – his arm muscles, the veins in his hands, his sternum, the definition of the ribs – michelangelo truly was a master artist, turning a piece of marble that was deemed “impossible” to work
with into one of the most easily recognized statues of our lifetime.

wednesday – we headed to pisa. before that, we headed out for ‘ladies’ night’ at a favorite bar, old stove, by the duomo for drinks, and somehow over 15 people from our group came! it was awesome. anyway. back to pisa. yay for european holiday that celebrates the declaration of italy as a republic and its breaking away from its status as a monarchy. pisa was EH. the tower was okay, not anything impressive (other than the whole leaning thing). i actually liked the duomo and the baptistery better than the tower there. when inside the baptistery (sp?), there was a demonstration of perfect echo sound, which was awesome. you could literally build a chord with just one voice. it was cahrazayyy! after that (and a massive rainstorm), we headed to a little teeny tiny place with deeps and bill (his brother, who is from Salisbury, md – shout out liz and kate) for lunch that was delicious. i had a tomato salad, aka just fresh tomatoes with olive oil and salt and pepper (YUM YUM YUM – mom you would be so proud) and a regional delicacy called “agnolotti” which are ravioli stuffed with meat (don’t know what type it was? think it was beef? could’ve been rabbit though). anyway, it was like vegetable stew with ravioli. yum. deeps bought our table a litre of the house wine which was the best i’ve had since i’ve been in italy. AND it was red. beat that. be proud, sissy!

anyway, headed home from pisa on the longest bus ride EVER (on which we met backpacker boys from northern virginia who looked creepily like drew and ashton stephenson), and ate a special dinner. sorry that i talk about food so much on here – but it’s all awesome. anna fixed her family’s meatball recipe which is one that i will never be able to beat. it was amazing. the rest of the week was pretty chill – jen and i succumbed to our burger cravings and discovered this place called adi’s diner that was amazing. burger and fries for 4.50 euro and pictures of the owner with every single rapper ever (minus weezy and jay-z, two of my faves) on the wall. hilarious.

on friday night, we grabbed a little more americana culture and saw sex & the city 2. aka you need to go see it now. loved it so much. more than the movie, i loved all of the sexual men in it. danish older man? yes, please. nicky? okay, great. but nothing beat the RETURN OF AIDAN! anyway, enough about that. so here’s where i talk about yesterday and cinque terre!

after being slightly late, we all packed on the bus and headed to cinque terre. i debated between the hike (which we were told was more like a “stroll”) and the boat, but decided on the hike even though the two huge blisters on my feet were killing me, because Christine told me the views are unmatched by anything she’s ever seen. and she was right. we hiked from the the 2nd town to the 4th, and that took a little over 2 hours, and by over 2 hours, i mean 2 hours of me dying. i have never, and i repeat, never, been a hiker, but even people who regularly hike in our group (like jen) were struggling. had to take a few breaks, take off my t-shirt and just rock the bathing suit and cami, and wear the only athletic shorts i brought on the trip (my sister’s yellow soffes from like 10th grade which i brought to sleep in). but after struggling for a long time, we made it to the beautiful town on verranza. in the middle of this however, i ran into none other than meredith goodloe who i tourguided and tribe ambassadored with all of this semester who was hiking too. SO RANDOM. anyway, so after i almost passed out on the hike and feared for my life after almost falling off cliffs 90 different times, we headed to get lunch in verranza, where we sat down at a little trattoria right on the mediterranean (i think?) and ate a wonderful lunch. everyone changed while waiting for our food to come out, and the spaghetti con frutti de mare (fruit of the sea – aka seafood!) was delicious. fresh spaghetti with mussels, clams, shrimp, and crawfish – YUM. don’t worry, mr. a – i took a picture for you with my mussels because i promised you i’d eat some while i was here! plus our waiter was sexyyy. anyway, after that, allie and i camped out on some rocks and pretended we were ariel and then swam around. and that’s literally what i did all day, pretend i was a mermaid, swim around, play in a little natural waterfall, slip on algae-covered rocks, and love life. it was wonderful. to top off a wonderful day, i got a little fragola e pesce gelato (strawberry and peach!) and we headed home.

today has been a day of relaxing. jen and i thought we were going to go out last night, but we were literally exhausted from our busy day, so we were lame and went to bed at around 10. slept until around 8:30 this morning and i can literally say it was wonderful to get over 10 hours of sleep for the first time since i’ve been in italy. we got ready, i actually straightened my hair (first time i’ve done anything to it the whole time i’ve been here), and got on the bus and grabbed a sandwich from a little bar near santa maria novella station. after being harassed by a man making kissy faces at us, we headed back home, and i just finished writing my 6 page journal entry autobiography about leadership for deeps’ class. now, time to study for italian! yayyy! and i am also starving – this whole dinner at 8 thing is affecting me…maybe i can go sneak some biscotti from the kitchen! :)

internet here SUCKS.

2010-06-10T11:54:00.004-04:00

hello all! internet here has been rather sparse - aka this is the first time i've been on in a week! crazy! anyway, i wrote a blog all about last weekend that is currently sitting on jen's computer so when she gets wireless, i will post that!

last weekend was cinque terre - most BEAUTIFUL place i've ever been. and tomorrow is venice. so excited. not much time left!

i'll post sunday, promise! slash maybe monday.

xoxo.

krp.

romaaaaaa!!!

2010-05-31T07:10:00.000-04:00

WHEW. that’s all i can say to sum up this weekend and past few days. crazy crazy crazy! i’m going to try to make this relatively short because my last blog post was WAY too long. sorry about that, ya’ll. wednesday night was wonderful! we had a DELICIOUS dinner with anna’s friend Victoria (who actually spoke English – holla at that!), one that included salad, bread, pepperocini (roasted veggies!), roast pork, and wine. i noticed later that anna literally only has three cookbooks. cooking is in their blood and veins here – i love it so much. later on, after dinner, we met up with some friends at a bar called old stove and that was super fun. we had limoncello (which i am determined to make at home at some point) and sat and talked – even ended up meeting a new friend from chapel hill (i looked past the fact that he was a student at carolina – be proud, ya’ll). we even walked home (yay me for navigation) and then fell asleep. on thursday, we only had one class (Italian) and then just hung out for a while after a DELICIOUS lunch. i had pesto pasta – (becca you would have DIED because the pesto was so good) and it was awesome.

friday morning, jen and i got up early at caught the 8:05 bus into town and bought leather sling bags from the leather market. they are awesome and literally were such a great investment for rome (and the rest of our lives, duh). thankfully, my credit card fiasco had been remedied by that point (thanks, daddy!) so paying was easy. we got some extra euro for rome and then met up with the rest of our crew at santa maria novella and headed on our way to roma! we checked into our hotel – slightly nicer than our other hotel, but hot and stuffy like no other. however, on the way, we stopped at this “rest stop” aka palace called autogrill, where bunches of people got pizza, jo almost got thrown up on by a hungover Italian, and jo and i took pictures of salami bites for brian (shoutout to you for liking wawa pepperoni and cheese). finally, made it to rome, did the hotel deal, and started walking around. i had NO idea how easy and walkable rome is. it was amazing that we saw the spanish steps, coliseum, trevi, and so much more all in one night. then, we headed to dinner – which was DELICIOUS. even if we did get lost on the way there. i also realized i have used the word delicious about 95 times. problem. lasagna (which rivaled my mom’s), veal (try new things, right?), potatoes, bread, salad, and wine and some fruit salad along with my fave persecco made for a good night! we stopped by the trevi fountain on our way home and i am so glad we revisited because it is MAGICAL at night. so beautiful. i’ll post pictures if i get a chance (but i doubt i will). i stayed out with the crazy crowd and barhopped for a while and then headed back to the hotel.

saturday was good – walked around and saw a bunch of insane shops and hung out and watched the sunset on the Spanish steps which was really cool. then, my group of friends decided to do a bar crawl – which was hilarious, because i just followed them around and didn’t drink. so many wonderful memories and even more wonderful pictures. best memories include the bus that we took with approximately 500 people on it, chuck and his girl, ben and his girl, jo and her boy, spencer and his baby, TOO many stories from that night.

sunday am we woke up, ate breakfast, and went back to sleep. however – we were surprised to be woken up at 10 by hotel people screaming at us to get out even though deeps (what we call professor dipaola) told us we would be safe until 11. but no worries – we just got up and headed to the forum, palatine temple, and the coliseum, which were INSANE. literally was mindblowing for me. it was awesome to see everything that we talked about for the longest time in latin class in high school.

after that, we hopped on the bus for the BUS RIDE FROM HELL. it was horrible. nbd that the bus had NO AIR CONDITIONING that was working and the back was literally 100 degrees. i had to move up to the front to sit with professor Dipaola in an extra seat, but it wasn’t much better. finally, andrea got the bus driver to allow him to open the emergency exits on top and another window, but that wasn’t much better, but still – SUCH a relief to shower when getting home today. sitting with deeps was fun though – we chatted for a while, found out he did work at SPM when i was in middle school (oh hey) and even remembered eating at fred’s! i got so excited. he also told me some other cool stories and is just an awesome guy in general. it was his birthday on saturday, so jo got him a card and we all signed it and spencer made the BEST toast ever. it’s on video that will be on facebook soon i know. i was crying i was laughing so hard.

anyway, after the worst bus ride ever – jen and i hopped on the bus home and headed back to via masaccio…which would have been a perfectly fine ride if some drunk woman hadn’t gotten on the bus, sat in front of us, and then threw up all over the place, making our last 15 minutes SUCK because the bus smelled like vomit. number 1 – it was 5:30. why were you drunk? number 2 – you were at least 39 years old – you should know how to contain yourself. anyway, that sucked, and jen and i literally still are in shock that that actually happened. then we both came home, unpacked, and showered. which was the best shower i’ve ever taken (minus the one after my joburg flight). then, we watched a league of their own with anna and nona (and teo – the dog), which was funny to watch in Italian. then we had dinner and i’m now typing this blog so i can just copy and paste tomorrow at linguaviva and then we are heading to BED. whew. what a weekend!

plans for this week? class class class! pisa! Italian holiday on wednesday! please let me know if you have any suggestions for the following places: pisa, cinque terre, venice, naples, or germany! let me know! kylee.ponder@gmail.com – holla at me!

ps – i miss beef. there is nothing i wanted more today than a huge dollar sweet tea from bojangles and a burger from five guys.

xoxo.

krp.

florence florence florence!

2010-05-26T04:55:00.001-04:00

quant’e bella giovenezza

che si fugge tuttavia!

chi vuol esser lieto, sia;

di doman non c’e certeza.

translation:

how beautiful is youth

youth which is so soon over and gone,

let him who would be happy, seize the moment:

for tomorrow never may come.

-lorenzo de medici

ciao di firenze, italia! that means ‘hi from florence, italy!’ i apologize for not updating (aka only posting one blog so far while i’ve been here), but i literally have not been to an extended source of internet for more than five minutes since i was at the internet café on saturday. which was a super long time ago (at least it seems like that). this is the reason why i am now sitting in my homestay on my roommate’s (shoutout jen) computer typing this in a word document so i can post it on the blog tomorrow while i’m at linguaviva (my language school). here is a recap of all of the things that have happened since then which is a ton. ps the quote from above is from Lorenzo de medici, my personal favorite medici!

saturday – after the internet café, i headed back to the hotel patrizia (which was more like the hostel patrizia, but that’s another story) and took a nap, and read a little bit more of the rise and fall of the house of medici which actually (surprisingly) ended up being remotely interesting. props to the author of that. anyway, after that, i got ready, and then all 39 of us (including andrea and professor dipaola aka ‘deeps’) headed to cena (dinner) at il latini, which is apparently one of most well known ristorantes in all of florence. and let me tell you – there is a reason why it is so wellknown, numero uno being the food is SQUISITE (delicious). let’s break it down (dinner that is). first of all, there were HUGE (and i mean huge) bottles (more like jugs) of red wine on the table, which was their house wine with their own lable. how cool, right? anyway, that was delicious, and somehow my table of ten went through three bottles, but that’s another story. we had some champ wine drinkers who were males that went through a lot. so for antipasti (appetizers) we had the following: some chicken liver thing that i did not eat, cantaloupe with fresh prosciutto (which was delicious even though i hate cantaloupe), insalata caprese which is tomatoes and mozzarella, and bread with olive oil. primi piatti consisted of some ziti with meat sauce, the most delicious spinach ravioli that i have ever had, and an awesome bean soup. yes, i said it, awesome bean soup. never did i think those words would exit my mouth. anyway, then, we had secondi piatti, which consisted of pork, beef, and chicken. they go ALL out here at dinner. it’s all about pacing yourself. after i ate some pretty good pork, i thought i was done. WRONG. they proceeded to bring out dulce (dessert), which we initially thought just consisted of biscotti, except once again we were WRONG. they brought out almond lemon biscotti, and some port to dip it in. not a fan of the port. i didn’t taste it other than dipping though. then, they brought out an entire dessert tray and persecco, which is my new favorite drink in italy. so good – it’s basically like a cross between sweet white wine and champagne and it was so wonderful. sweet and good and perfect for dessert. funny memories of dinner include christina’s inability to have any alcohol tolerance because of two reasons – one: she is asian; two: she weighs approximately 95 pounds. so the combination of the two led to an interesting dinner table.

after spending 95 years writing about dinner, i need to be a little more succinct in my writing. so here’s the rest of the weekend up to today!

sunday – woke up and finished packing and showered and got ready for our host family departure, which i was internally freaking out about. left the hotel in a taxi on our way to via masaccio 140, and arrived shortly thereafter. little did jen and i know that our host mom (anna) would speak no inglese. literally, NONE. the two of us unpacked in order to not think about how much we were freaking out – two southern girls with NO Italian experience with a 50-some year old woman and her mother (nona) and a precious little puppy. after unpacking, we broke out jen’s dictionary in order to say
the following: one – “what time is dinner?” which is ‘que hora la cena?’; and two – “where is the nearest bus stop?” which is ‘dove la vicere fermata autobus?’. we meddled through that conversation (which used a lot of hand signals) and determined we needed to find fermata duedici or fermata tredici (stop 12 or stop 13). we found stop 12, made our way to santa maria novella statione, and then proceeded to get lost and stopped at mcdonald’s for lunch. yay america and chicken nuggets and fries. we found linguaviva (our language school) and decided to take the bus back, which was a good idea, because it took us an hour to get back (compared to the ten minutes it took us to get to SMN). it was a beautiful bus ride, up through the hillsides, but thankfully, we found another bus route that gets us home in 10 minutes. i felt like as we were riding, i was diane lane in under the tuscan sun. after coming back, we napped (which we have done literally every single day) and read and then had dinner at 8. we were both pretty seriously freaking out about dinner, because let’s be real. a dinner between four people – two of whom speak no inglese, and two of whom speak no italiano. it was wonderful though. we had spaghetti con pesto – which jen and i thought was it, however we were wrong again. there was insalata (salad), pollo (chicken), green beans (can’t remember the italian word for that haha), and panne (bread). and for dessert – fragola and kiwi (strawberries and kiwi). and of course there was vino, but jen and i felt a little awkward about it, so we had a small glass each. it was a funny dinner – mostly consisted of me using my latin skills to translate and jen using her spanish skills to reply.

monday – yesterday was the first official day of classes and what a day it was!! we woke up at around 7 (this whole not sleeping in thing is catching up with me every day around like 18:00) to take showers only to find anna in the only bathroom. so, we had to wait until 7:30 (keep in mind we had to catch the bus at like 8:05), we both showered, dressed, and literally scarfed down breakfast and tea and went to the bus stop and caught the bus 12 to linguaviva. then, i had my first italian class EVER! my teacher’s name is francesca and she is absolutely hilarious. i’m learning so much! that class lasts from 9-12:30, but don’t worry – there’s a 30 minute coffee break in the middle – aka reasons i love italy. i then sprinted to web puccini to fix my cell phone (which was being stupid and not calling internationally). i then checked my facebook and email (long enough to see that rachel had facebook messaged me twice which i didn’t have a chance to read – but shoutout to you rach). we then had our first leadership class ever which was AWESOME. jen and i both love it. deeps is a little intimidating, but he totally knows it and owns it. we used leadership as a basis to talk about our own experiences and it was wonderful. during introductions we had a hilarious conversation which went a little like this:

kylee: hi, my name is kylee and i’m a rising junior. i’m a linguistics major and a sociology minor hoping to go into the school of ed. my fun fact is that my hometown is the capital of pork, pine, and peanuts!

deeps: pine, pork, paper? where are you from?

kylee: haha, small town on the virginia-north carolina border called “franklin.”

deeps: franklin city?

kylee: yeah?

deeps: oh! i’ve done some work in the school system there.

kylee: oh, god bless you then.

deeps: haha public school for you i assume then?

kylee: oh yes. public school all the way!

anyway, i thought that was kind of funny. lisa and mr. spenge – if you’re reading – shoot me an email and let me know if you remember a “Michael Dipaola.”

after class yesterday, deeps threw jen and i on to the bus that would end up taking us home more quickly than our hourlong ride the first time. we got home, headed to the supermarket, where the man who checked me out was ruder than EVER. no grazie. then, we came home, ate some strawberries, and did homework. then, we had dinner and it was AWESOME. salmon, bread, salad, zucchini and potatoes, and some vino. ps – i like anna as our host mom even MORE because she has white wine instead of red, which is rare here. dinner was delicious, and conversation went even better than before. except when she asked us where our families originated from in europe, and i said scotland, and tried to throw in native american, but she wasn’t picking up. i then said “indian” and she got so excited and told nona, so now they all think my lineage is from the country of india. nbd. after dinner, for dessert, we had fresh cherries – which, interestingly enough, i had never had before. they were SO SO SO SO good. new favorite thing. i never knew italy was known for its cherries, but apparently it is?

today was exhausting, but awesome. anna is really becoming like a mom, and her niece manuela showed up yesterday, and speaks a little English, but is never around. apparently some of the homestays are treating it like a business transaction, which is not how anna is at all. i think she considers us a part of her familia, which is wonderful. she does little things like laughs at us when we can’t get pronunciations right or pats us on the back and smiles in the morning. we actually sat and ate breakfast this morning, and it was good. during our break, courtney and i headed and got tea (me) and cappuccino (her) from a little café right around the corner from linguaviva. we headed back to class. then, had doner for lunch (kind of like a gyro, except Turkish) and literally was the BEST THING EVER. consisted of pork kebab meat, lettuce, tomatoes, cabbage, french fries (random i know), and some white sauce all packed into a flatbread. that plus more french fries and a soda all for five euros was quite the deal, and so delicious. i’m very proud of myself because i’ve been trying so many new things here! after lunch, my class met at a palace of the medicis and it was beautiful and exquisite. the amount of gold leaf is literally unparalleled. cannot even begin to describe it to you. i’ll post pictures later when i have a chance (if i have a chance, that is). then, jen and i headed home, napped, and ate an early dinner because anna insisted that we go to a concerto in the palazzo duomo (if you don’t know what the duomo is, check it out, it’s insane – we’re climbing it next week!), which we did. but it ended up just being live feed instead of a live concerto so we came home after grabbing tea and a cappuccino at the mccafe (haha more mcdonald’s). i ordered all in italian (so proud of myself), but the girl could tell i was american so she asked me questions back in english, which kind of pissed me off, but whatever. we can tell when Italians speak american english, so obviously they can tell when americans speak italian.

anyway, tons and tons of things have been going on. rome this weekend! can’t wait! slash am also really nervous.

more later when i get a chance!

xoxo –

krp.

firenze.

2010-05-22T08:16:00.002-04:00

the song post titles will stop, but only while i'm in italy - i promise!

so newsflash - I'M HEREEEE! flying was a drag, but i think it was simply because i flew completely by myself for the first time. ps if anyone wants to know changing terminals in jfk is a DRAG. i had no idea how to do it, realized i needed to, and proceeded to walk outside (like my caribbean homegirl from security told me to) and curse to myself about finding terminal four which was across the street. thankfully, after about 15 minutes of frustration, i found the "airtrain" and hopped on. little did i know i was headed to wrong direction, but, hey - i eventually got there. and it didn't even matter that i struggled with that AND had to go through security again because i literally had to wait for 7 more hours for my flight.

then, i was on a flight with my homeboy from india who was a little on the larger side. god loves to put overweight foreign men next to me. he proceeded to complain about his seat (which was the extra seat aka the one with all of the leg room aka no reason for him to complain) and drink too much complimentary wine and sleep falling on me. no worries though, because he was mildly funny and told me that he was "fatty" and apologized. it was great. also - swissair (my airline) has to translate EVERYTHING into three different languages which is crazy. so all instructions and announcements were made in german, english, and french, and also later in italian. best part about flying in and out of switzerland? flying directly over the alps and swiss country. BEAUTIFUL.

i arrived in florence, manipulated my way through florence where they didn't even stamp my passport (weird right??) and got my luggage and got into a taxi, where my italian manly man drove me to the hotel patrizia and i checked in!

what can i say? firenze is absolutely beautiful and i am loving everything about it - we hiked up to the piazza la michelangelo last night and after 15 minutes of climbing (in flip flops and in the same clothes i flew in), we reached the top. and i cannot even begin to describe the utter beauty and amazement that describes what i saw. literally gave us a view of the entire city.

last night after walking for what seemed like forever, we went to a small trattiore and ate some dinner, which consisted of rigatoni alla mescane (spelling, please??) which was rigatoni with eggplant and tomatoes. delicious. see rebecca (my sister)? i do like trying new food. i also had a glass of red wine (that was 4€ which i thought was expensive but maybe i'm simply a cheap person), which was much too dry for my taste. afterward, we walked a little more and went and sat by the arno with some wine and talked. it was insanely beautiful watching the sunset.

after heading to bed after being slightly jetlagged and exhausted, i woke up this morning at around 7:45 and showered (which felt SO good minus the horrible water pressure of the shower) and got ready for the day. i headed downstairs for breakfast, which consisted of a crusty (but delicious) croissant, juice, and tea. after that, we had a sort of orientation, which included us getting some important forms like our bus passes. after that, we headed to web puccini, where i got my cell phone rental for the month (which already needs to be charged, lame lame lame). then, we walked around a little and just grabbed some gelato at a precious gelateria. i got fragelo (strawberry) and it hit the spot. tonight, we're having a large welcome dinner at a local restaurant that is rumored to have great food and great wine. i'm super excited because professor dipaola said it's more like a feast than a dinner - loads of antipasti along with first and second courses and dessert. yum yum yum. and the best part is that it's paid for!

so much more to come and i cannot begin to describe how excited i am for the next month. i probably looked super creepy on the airplane yesterday because i was smiling to myself, beaming with excitement of being here. it still feels surreal - maybe once i unpack at my homestay and know where to go in the city, it'll sink in!

stay posted - i'll try to write as often as possible and please comment or facebook me to stay in touch!

ciao -

xoxo.

krp.

kiss from a rose.

2010-05-19T14:40:00.003-04:00

now that your rose is in bloom,

a light hits the gloom on the gray.

-seal.

here it is. the last blog post before i jet set off to italy! maybe it's the fact that i haven't actually put anything in a suitcase yet or the fact that i'm just not ready in general that makes it not seem like i'm leaving tomorrow, but it's hard to believe that in two days, i will be in florence.

TWO DAYS. that's it.

i wanted to simply remind people that blogging will be less frequent - but hopefully more INTERESTING. stories to tell, stories to tell.

so here's to italy - beautiful men, good food, even better wine, - here i come.

prepare yourselves for kylee ponder.

xoxo.

krp.