New roommate...Lindsey Taylor!

After school ended, Katie moved out to live in a place with some other great gals for this coming next year and so even though it was sad to have Katie move out, we are excited to have Lindsey Taylor living with us for these last two months. And she's basically been an eighth roommate this whole year, so it's fitting. We introduce...Lindsey Taylor! 

 Note: these photos are from sophomore year...living in Armington. 

WE DID IT!

As of last Saturday morning, all the ladies in the Red House can officially call themselves Westmont College Almuni! The ceremony was absolutely wonderful and even two hawks floated above the ceremony as the speaker, Nancy Ortberg, imparted words of wisdom to our graduating class. The weather was superb but it was a little warm for our black gowns...oh well! The coolest part of the ceremony fo me was during the procession when us students were walking down from Kerrwood Lawn, faculty welcomed us onto the field by lining the path clapping and cheering for us all-some were even kneeling! I was astonished at the proud faces they gave us. It was certainly a wonderful and cheerful day to remember forever. Thank you for all your support!

*sorry this is real late.

Spring Sing

*Forgot I never posted this, so here we go! Sorry. :)

Last night we enjoyed our last Spring Sing...in the rain.

 The first time it's rained for Spring Sing in 20 years. Yep. 

Instead of participating (since we live off-campus blah blah) we ushered.

For those of you readers who don't know what Spring Sing is, let me explain. 

Westmont has continued this tradition since the beginning of our school, basically, where the men and women of each dorm each create a separate "skit" that explains some kind of dramatic (and mostly confusing) plot which lasts eight  minutes. The act includes men and women disastrously singing different lyrics to popular songs, dancing ridiculously, wearing insanely creative costumes, and holding enormous props. Also, there are huge panel backdrops too. And certain faculty participate in every skit, such as our President, Gayle Beebe. Then after all the skits have performed, the panel of select judges decides 1,2,3. Last night the top three were:

3. Armington Women 

2. Emerson (a first! This is the coed dorm) 

1. Page Men 

Just missing Katie! 

Graduation...so close.

In exactly a week from today, we will be walking across the stage at Westmont College with a degree in hand. Well not exactly, but we will be transitioning through the ceremony of graduation—we'll get our degree later after grades have been turned in. 

Currently, we are all sitting in our house attempting at finishing the last assignments and papers for the semester....although it is SO hard knowing we're going to graduate no matter what. Agh! However, we have each other to get through it all. So pardon us as we have not updated this thing in awhile...oopsies. 

So, we'll see you May 5th, 10:00 at Westmont College on the baseball fields donned in caps and gowns! YES. I never do hashtags but here we go: #senioryearnoregrets. 

Senior art project madness!

We haven't updated in awhile. Sorry to those that actually read this thing. 

Spring break was great for everyone and since then our house has become an artist's (actually artists's) studio. With Cailee, Katie, Izzi and Caitlin working hard on their senior projects (which are due on Monday!), the house has been full of creativity, paint, concrete and various art materials. I can't wait to see the finished projects! On Thursday of next week there will be an opening reception at the Westmont.  

In honor of the senior project deadline, here are some wonderfully cheeky tips from John Baldessari: 

One thing to note, we graduate in 38 days. Holy smokes. 

SPRING BREAK.

Spring Break 2012?

No.

As a interesting social experiment, I googled "spring break" and found a myriad of interesting (and gross) pictures of bikini-clad women, bro men dancing on (what I presume to be) Miami beaches...this is certainly not a Westmont spring break for us.

Well it's our last one evaaaa. Wow that's weird. We graduate in LESS than two months...woah woah. So exciting and kind of terrifying.

Caitlin and Iz are off to the hot sunshine desert in Arizona.

Justine is building a two story house in Ensenada, Mexico with 10 other Westmont students.

Katie is going to Arizona to see her family for a little, then coming home to do workkk on senior project.

Marie is flying to Seattle to be with her family.

Cailee is going on a fly fishing trip with Lindsey and someone else who shall not be named...

Rita is going to Santa Cruz to check out the grad school (she's accepted!) and then hanging in SB.

It'll be a good break. Happy Spring to you!

President's Breakfast

The ladies in our house got to attend the annual Westmont President's Breakfast!

Every year, Westmont has a large fundraiser and community event that features a prominent keynote speaker. Last year Condelleza Rice came to speak, and afterward answered student questions in chapel. The breakfast tickets go fast and I have always wanted to go, so Justine's family she nannies for is a very generous family and purchased a table for us to all to go together. The speaker this year was Robert M. Gates—former US Secretary of Defense during the Bush and Obama terms. It was certainly informing and exciting!

Best thing on the fancy breakfast menu was...

créme brulée steelcut oatmeal.

um, yeah that's an actual thing. SO good.

Nyan Cat...

Yes, that's a flying-rainbow-farting, pop-tart for a body kitty.

We think.

Have you ever seen this video?

Basically, it's what Junior High students are intrigued by...and so is our house. Oops. Just imagine us dancing like hyper cats around our kitchen.

Enjoy the Nyan cat never-ending melody.

Justine and Lindsey's Baking Adventure

Our good friend, Andrew Elia, is beginning to embark on a great baking adventure with Lindsey Taylor, Justine, and Geoff Jensen. They hope to open a baked goods shop in the future,

 and let me tell you from firsthand tasting experience, they know how to bake. Wowee. 

Andrew is a bread king as he makes his own bread and now he is teaching Linds, Justine and Geoff. 

Amazing.

 I wanted to write a post about them because they have quite a few baking "gigs" set up for the rest of this spring and this weekend was one of their firsts! For the Lit Moon (a local theatre company) production, Henry XI, Part III, they made these amazing brownie bites:

And melt-in-your mouth (my favorite) "sinful shhhhhortbread:"

*sorry the picture isn't that great, I took these. Justine is the real photographer.

Finally, the Almond Rochers:

They taste amazing, but Linds and Justine were a little bummed because they look like poop nuggets. Hah.
But they're SOOOO good.

I can't wait to watch from the sidelines and cheer them on as they explore their baking passions.
And I'll definitely be the taste-tester too. :)

Have a wonderful President's weekend!

Dishwasher Wars

Well here's one thing our house struggles with, the dishwasher.

This is because we are pretty sure it just blasts a lot of hot steam to "clean" the dishes, therefore we have to re-wash all the dishes again.

However: 

Some like it, some hate it—we won't say who's who...

So, Justine had a really funny idea to steal the bottom half of the dishwasher. 

And put it in the attic.

SUCKERS.

I obviously aided in this theft.

Although this was absolutely hilarious, we felt bad for being (passively?) aggressive and manipulative, so we put it back that afternoon. 

On a serious note, we've learned a lot about being honest with the small things that irritate us with each other and it has definitely paid off. 

Don't let frustration and bitterness with one another's living habits

 and choices build up like dirty dishes in the sink.