A Week in Beach Town
The week in beach town is coming to an end, and I've had a fantastic time. Not in the rip' roarin', endless partying sort of way, but just genuinely a good time. It's been everything a vacation should be. There's not much of interest inMadeira Beach, but it's sort of a blessing. For people like Abigail and I, who are rather aggressive travelers, eager to see and do and absorb everything in sight, it's nice to not feel pressure to get out and DO. Instead, we've been able to thoroughly relax. It actually took me a few days to completely wind down , which - after finals and papers and a hectic 72-hour pit-stop in Buffalo - is perhaps not surprising. I have so enjoyed the complete and utter lack of responsibility - it's been heaven! Abigail and I make good vacation partners. We're very similar (as if four years of living together hadn't already proved that): we're both content to just sit on the beach and read the same book for 3 hours straight.

We did manage to find some points of interest, though only just today. We found a crepery! Which serves up a delightful assortment of both meat/deli crepes and dessert crepes. Today we sampled the strawberry and nutella (fresh strawberries!) and also the butter, sugar and cinanmon one. They were amazing! It was kind of good that we didn't discover this place any sooner - otherwise I'd be fat and poor right now. We also finally found a good coffee place - just a few places down from the crepery. Abby and I are both coffee snobs, so you know if it meets our standards, it must be good!

We're heading back to New Haven tomorrow night, for what is likely to be the craziest week of our lives: Senior Week.
- posted by Nicole @ 9:27 PM

 
Places to Deteriorate Pleasantly
Nicole came in from the balcony overlooking the intercoastal and sat down at her computer and the NYTimes online, vowing to read only the latest entertainment news coming out of the Cannes Film Festival. Abigail handed her a freshly made mimosa to go with her breakfast of scrambled eggs. It was noon. After breakfast, Nicole went to put her bathing suit on - a brand new brown bikini. She and Abigail - the only two creatures under the age of 40 for miles - had attracted a considerable amount of attention on their daily outings to the beach. Nicole searched for a bottle of sunscreen in the living room, which was strewn about with British and American modernist classics (Waugh, Scott Fitzgerald, etc...), assorted editions of world literature, and smutty magazines. As Nicole packed her bag for the beach, she knew F. Scott Fitzgerald was right: "There were so many places where one might deteriorate pleasantly."
- posted by Nicole @ 12:12 PM

 
Last Class EVER!
Yesterday was my last class EVER. I've been trying to decide how I feel about it, but realized that I can't really feel anything right now because the residual alcohol and the residual caffeine in my system are having a war and my body is losing.
- posted by Nicole @ 2:53 PM

 
The Hampster
The hampster, having not been exposed to elevated stress levels all semester, is suddenly confused....
- posted by Nicole @ 3:40 PM