– I’m moved into my new house! I’m about 90% unpacked. I am currently searching for nightstands of some sort that have drawers so I can put a few more things away. And I need a chair for my desk. Our little home is much bigger than I remembered when I saw it for like 10 minutes and then agreed to sign a lease. We also have a huge backyard and a big deck so I’m thinking we should invest in some outside furniture.

– Today I had orientation for the Community Journalism Master’s Program. And oh boy I know my way around the journalism building now! I think this year will be really great. I feel like I always look at school in terms of a big year-long list of things to do, if that makes sense. But this year, even though I’ll have things I do have to do, I get to really explore topics I want to explore. Not like I couldn’t do that before … I guess this year I’m just excited about exploring those topics. Who knows. Anyways everyone was nice and I think this will be fun!

– I had to really speak Spanish for the first time this whole summer. I can’t believe I went that long without speaking. Well I spoke to Grandpa on his birthday and I’ve spoken online to some friends, but that isn’t the same. But I got to translate for a couple families at Tuscaloosa County High School’s open house. I really reallllly love that job.

– I got a french press! Yessss.

Oh, and I find it funny how when I go to church, the sermon will often be about something that has been on my mind. At Riverwood, Pastor Lein talked about the gifts God has given us, and how each of our gifts are essential to the entire body. God doesn’t ever give us the wrong gifts.

“If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear where would be the sense of smell?” 1 Cor 12:17

My sister was interviewed for Alabama Action at Echols Middle School

the botanical gardens in birmingham, across the street from our apartment complex.

The sun keeps hiding behind the clouds. It’s come out every once in awhile. And I keep thinking the day is going to stay sunny. Then it disappears again. Last night as I was heating canned green beans on the stove and sprinkling cheese dust over Kraft macaroni noodles, I listened to the waterfall of rain over Birmingham. Lighting flashed out of the corner of my eye and thunder rattled our windows. It’s stormed so much this summer — one of the lovely privileges of calling Alabama home. I can’t believe it’s already August. For the last four years, this has been the most exciting part of the year: after having driven for about four days, the Texas desert suddenly becomes dotted with trees, bushes and grass. More and more green takes over the landscape and soon you can hear the bugs that inhabit all that green. As we roll into Arkansas, the trees stretch high up and the air is sticky. Adrenaline and excitement pump through my veins as I anticipate seeing friends for the first time in months, starting a new year.

I suppose this August will be different, though. I’m not missing Alabama like I normally do.

As I pack up my life once again to move it back down to Tuscaloosa, I’m reflecting on the incredibly fast summer we had.

I went to Pensacola with James and his family. Even though I’ve lived in the South for about four years now, I still hadn’t seen the white sand and the clear water of the Gulf of Mexico. It was very lovely, but made me realize that most beaches are just the same. For some reason I was expecting some radical difference from the dirty LA beaches, with brown sand, and trash filled waves that leave yellow foam after they crash on the shore. To me, these beaches were just another version of those beaches. The water in Pensacola definitely wasn’t as dirty, though. And I got to see little fish dart every which way as I went over and under the waves that definitely weren’t as big as the ones at home.

A view from the pier we walked on as the sun set in Pensacola.

I think the scariest waves I’ve seen were probably in Chile. I remember those waves like picked up boys — boys my age with muscle and weight — and threw them down. I dove into one and had a wardrobe malfunction who nobody saw but a girlfriend of mine, thankfully.

Also– in Pensacola — the sand squeaked. That was a little trippy.

Tomorrow is the fourth of July! Last year I celebrated it outside of the USA. This year, I’ll just be celebrating it in a different part of the country than I have before! That’s always fun.

It’s kind of weird though, I feel like I’m sort of on an extended vacation. Like when I get into Tuscaloosa, I feel like I’m at home, but I have to go back to Birmingham… where I’m on vacation. Anyways last night after seeing ‘The Hangover’ at the Summit, Andrea, Stephen, Brynnie and I decided to find the Vulcan and wander around the trails below it. It took us awhile to find it, but I was kind of impressed that I at least knew the general direction it was in and how to sort of get us there. We didn’t get to go up very high or get real close to the Vulcan — the largest cast-iron statue in the world, by the way — but we did get to see the spectacular, glittery view of Downtown Birmingham through the web of tree branches on the dark trail we wandered down. It was beautiful. I’d like to go there at some point and watch the sunset.

I read somewhere online that Crestline Bagels is the only bagel shop in Alabama? Can that be true? I mean, we DID have Einstein’s Bagels at Riverside on campus. So.. maybe that fact isn’t entirely true. Anyways I’m going there on Monday for breakfast I decided. Or maybe tomorrow. I feel like I haven’t done too much here this summer so far.  I was home in California for almost two weeks, so my goal is to experience as many things that Birmingham has to offer that I can. Like, I think it’s fun to look at the travel section of The New York Times, for instance, and see what they advise travelers to check out.

Oh and last fun thing — Andrea made us fried green tomatoes and peach cobbler for lunch today! Ah so delish. With a little hot sauce and ranch on top, ha. Just so amazing. No pictures of anything, though. So sorry.

Anyways, Regina Spektor’s new album “Far” is coming out very soon. I like everything I’ve heard so far, although I don’t love any of it as much as I have loved all of her other albums. I posted her video below. I think it’s very cute.

I went out with a couple girls I studied abroad with last night (Marlayna and J.lo) and I thought it was interesting that most people that learned it was J.lo’s birthday were like, “oh you’re a gemini!” Am I the only one who never even thinks about that stuff at all? I think reading horoscope is weird because anything any of it says can usually apply to anyone who’s willing to listen to it, to anyone who wants it to apply to them. That’s just not the first thing I think about when I learn when someone’s birthday is. If that makes sense.

Oh well, boring.

I’m in California right now and loving it, despite the weather. I’ll be here a few more days then head back to our lovely apartment in Birmingham. It’s so nice to be with my family. I really dont’ know how I go so long without seeing them sometimes.

Oh and I now feel more technologically hip than I have in a while with my new MacBook Pro (graduation gift )  and my iPod Touch, haha.

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you know what’s just a great great album? well there’s a couple right now that i very much enjoy. one is brand new… and that is “radio retaliation” by thievery corporation. i also like “since i left you” by the avalanches. that one has been around for awhile but i guess i’m finally starting to listen to the entire album.

“Some days you eat the bear; some days the bear eats you.” This is what my mother has repeated to me my whole life. It means sometimes days suck, sometimes you kick ass. Joan Armatrading came up with this line, I suppose.

This blogs title: i think this world smells so good.

Well that’s a little self-explanatory. If there’s anything just wonderful about life, it’s our ability to smell — whether those smells are defined as disgusting or alluring. The thick, heavy (sometimes burnt) smell of Tuscaloosa. The mezcla of the smell of raw fish that has been sitting out too long and the sweet aroma of pan coming from the pastry shops mixed in with urine and feces from stray dogs littering the streets of Valparaíso, Chile. The smell of whatever those orange flowers are outside our window in Altadena in the morning that mixes with coffee and hazelnut creamer as the sun filters through the leaves onto the olive green sofa in the living room, with the LA Times in hand.

Alright, sorry, I’ll stop. I seem to be stuck or something — on the verge of snapping out of it, though. Soon I hope. So what will it be? Grad school?

I could travel. I could live on the beach of some Latin American country, free lance writing. Learning how to write about traveling, food and wine. I could be bettering my Spanish, too.

I could work. Hm. Anyways, it seems to me that classes have taken the lowest priority for me now. I really like my job at the CW. There’s so many other things I’d rather do than do my homework. While that sounds unsurprising to some, usually I don’t get much done besides homework once school has taken over my life, but I guess with big changes looming so close, I feel the need to just try things, read things and write things to get myself to some point.

I miss Chile.