The Office premiere

Michael hits Meredith in the parking lot (she was on foot, he was in the car) and sends her to the hospital. Dwight kills Angela's ailing cat. Jim and Pam? Well, you'll just have to wait ... ;-) In the meantime, check out this image ...

Oh, and you can actaully watch at http://www.nbc.com/The_Office/.

Love you!

Mom

Surfing in South Africa

This was from the world's record in South Africa in 2006.

Check out this link: http://photoblog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/09/02/343170.aspx
Love the photo!

9/25 update from mom

Hi, Jenna! It was really nice to hear your voice and hear all about your exciting adventures! Can't wait for the next call.

I went to the girls' soccer games today. They played Sammamish. JV almost pulled it out, but Sammamish won 3-2. I saw Krista score a goal in the second half (missed the first goal). Varsity lost 0-2. Lots of folks asked about you. Anne gave me a letter to mail to you. Hopefully, you'll get it in Cape Town. Mackenzie says "hi" and asked how you were doing.

Speaking of soccer, I saw Erik play last weekend. This is his first year. He has some good moves. Kira wanted to jump in and coach -- she saw lots of things she wanted them to do.

Kira started BCC this week! She sounds excited.

Seahawks pulled out the win in the last minute, 24-21. Alexander has a broken hand, but will continue to play. I didn't actually see the game, so can't give you any details.

Top Chef: Sara got kicked off last week. It's down to Casey, Brian, Dale and Hung.

It's been pretty cold for Sept. Lots of spiders outside. In fact, two are hanging about eye level at the front door. I've almost run into them a few times. Too bad they won't still be there for Halloween.

The puppies miss you! They've been enjoying their walks every day. Had to go to the vets today since I'm going to visit Grandma and Papa. Chloe knew what was going on about 5 miles away. She hid on the floor of the passenger side until I dragged her out. Emma even jumped back in the car when she realized where she was! They have three 10-week old pug puppies -- so cute! And, a few French or English bulldogs (not sure which) -- not as cute as pug puppies. I'll take a picture of the puppies and post when I get back.

Love you! Be sure to use your water wand for one full minute so you don't get sick again. And, use your sunscreen! Talk to you soon!

Love,
Mom

Kassie Update II

JENNA!
Hey miss you like crazy. dur.

At Wallgreens (the one-stop shop for just about anything) they've put their Luna bars on discount. 3 for $2!!! So I've been snacking on the Lemon Zest ones, partly because they're delicious and partly because they remind me of you :)
I'm acutally out right now so I should buy more. They've mostly been my breakfasts.

I've stopped trying to catch the school shuttle to get to class each morning. There's no point! I could catch the shuttle at 7:45, get there at 8, and wait until class starts at 8:30; OR I could sleep extra, walk to class at 8, and get there around 8:15. I sleep in until at least 7 so there's no point in me rushing. And walking the 10 blocks will help scare off the Freshman 15 haha. although I've been eating the oreos my mom sent religiously, so it'll probably even out. :P

Well the butt shots worked on my strep! I didn't go to sleep as early as I should have the following nights, so I was worried that it would come back. But! It didn't! Yay! When I go out with friends I order hot drinks just as a lil attempt at keeping it as bay :P

Fashion Illustration is going ok. My teacher is....super super nice BUT she gives us extra assignments, and none of the other illustration teachers seem to. But whatever! I'll learn more and it IS helping to improve my drawing.
We had to do a drawing of a view through a window. So I went to this cute little cafe down the street, ordered a green tea latte and proceeded to draw for two hours.
and here it is!

link to see the whole thing
Just so you have an idea of what I'm doing. I used a blue colored pencil instead of charcoal, and defined little pits with marker.

Introduction to Fabrics is going to be an easy A, I think. The first class was all stuff I ALREADY knew. muahahahaha. SO my two classes of that so far have been really boring.

Visual Merchandising! The class from SO MUCH HOMEWORKland. Stephanie Lavender teaches this class AND my fashion business class. She's super nice but expects a lot from her students so there's alot of hw. She recognizes me tho! and seems to like me. Funny stuff tho, she calls me CASEY. haha. The first two times I corrected her, but now I don't care. I have a couple of friends in that class and they look at me funny. But whatever. She "knows" my name and not theirs. So ha. :P

I've made a few friends! woo! Only like 5 tho. and two of them are my roomates haha. I donno, I've been shy in classes. I talk a lot to the teachers but I'm like you with new people haha.

link to see the whole thing
Amanda, Sam and I!
I have yet to get a picture with Liz. But s'all good.
Samantha is small, cute and really spacey. We get along really well and she laughs at my jokes. :)

And I have a special friend ;)
Hardeeharhar
I've been dating this cool dude David.
link to see the whole thing
He often reminds me of you, actually. He's super quiet/shy like you.
And absoultely adorable. LIKE YOU. holla.
It's kind funny because he's not my stereotypical "type".
He's more rocker, I guess. Into AC/DC and Aerosmith whereas I'm used to "indie" rock guys or just good 'ol american boys.
not that he's not american. haha.
He's actually sitting right next to me so it's kinda awkward talking about him to you right haha.
We took that pic like five seconds ago. :P
He says "Hi".
I'll tell him you say hi back, k?
hardeeharhar.

ummmmmm I can't really think of anything else.
I'll try to take pictures of the city so you can see where I'm living :)
<3333333
be safe skipper!
love,
kassiekins


EDIT/////////9.21
Yeah so I didn't want to tell you all about David while he was RIGHT THERE.
He's awesome.
He's super, super sweet. He opens the doors EVERYWHERE and feels bad if I get to the door first. It's funny.
He's a total gamer nerd! Really into Star Wars and World of Warcraft.
Like I said, he's "rocker". Got that lil goatee and long-ish hair. But he looks good in it.
He doesn't drink, smoke or do drugs! He thinks they're idiotic. Which is awesome.
He drinks TEA. haha! Totally suprised me. At 2 different restaurants we've shared a pot of tea. It's nice.
He insists on paying for everything, which I think is super sweet, but c'mon! We're in college. Lemme grab the tab once at least so I don't buy you out of house and home, so to speak.
He's a Motion Pictures and Television Major, specializing in Editing.
He made me a CD of a bunch of music he likes, and I actually enjoy it. Big shocker for me. It's good stuff tho.
The other day he talked to Rachael on the phone for like 5 minutes. His answers are elaborate as yours haha which Rachael said was "awkward". But he earned points from her when he said he had a sister. You know about her weird thing with guys having sisters, yeah? Silly. She asked him, "So, you like my friend?" and he was like "a smidgen" why grinning his face off at me, but rachael seemed to take it differently. But it's all good.
You'd like him, I'm sure :)
The other day he and I went for coffee after classes at like 4:30. We went to Cup-a-Joe's just down the street. We both ordered a bit of food and something to drink. We were there, talking, for almost 5 hours. FIVE. Then we went to dinner and were there for another hour, then we hung out for ANOTHER hour meandering around Union Square. It was awesome.
Yeah, so, that's all I can think of. :)

Love ya!
Hope you're enjoying me posts. I'm trying to make them as "conversation-like" as possible. Workin out? :P

<3kassie

The Office -- What They Did on Summer Vacation

Check this out ... http://youtube.com/watch?v=HCDXIyRdwG0

Gives you a sense of what's to come.

:-)

9/18 update from mom

Hi, Jenna! I think of you every day, wondering what adventures you gals are up to! I hope you enjoyed your first safari trip. A few updates:

Puppies: Still silly. Chloe still refuses to sit on command. We didn't make it to the puppy park on Sunday because it rained all day (so much for our typically nice September!). They lounge around waiting for you to come back so you'll rub them and play with them.

Sports: Everyone lost. Seahawks (painful loss, 23-20. Hasselbeck and Alexander looked like a comedy act on the play that cost them the game -- missed handoff). Varsity soccer (lost to Bellevue tonight (6-0), not sure about JV score -- I'll get an update tomorrow).

Emmy Awards: No Office winners (several nominated), but some funny bits, especially when Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert decided to give the best actor in a comedy series to Steve Carrell after the actual winner didn't show. "Michael" actually came on stage and the three danced around and high-fived each other. Top Chef, Project Runway, Scrubs nominated, but lost, too.

Check your email and other sites: I've seen mail that Landmark folks and school friends have posted things on Facebook and MySpace.

Hope you're having a GREAT time!!! Miss you tons!

Love,
Mom

09/12 Dad, Lena, Vivilene & Derek

Hi Jenna,

Hoping all is well. Big hello's from all of us. We're missing you.

Not much new here. We did get our hands on "The Office" season 3. Very funny! It'll be interesting to see how the new season starts. Guessing Michael may have trouble adjusting to his underling turned boss.

Fall is in the air. Days becoming cooler. I'm in Bellevue today, getting ready for an office move. New location is apparently much nicer than where we've been.

Grandma, Cathy & Lavon will be visiting us in Wenatchee this weekend. Will be fun to see them.

All for now. We look forward to hearing from you. Remember to take lots of pics.

We love you!

9/10 update from mom

Miss you! Thinking about how your classes are going. I'm going to start reading "Cry, the Beloved Country" tonight so that I can at least feel like you're here doing homework.

Love Kassie's post below -- be sure to read it.

A few updates:
Family: Grandma said she bought a map of South Africa so she can track your travels. Andrea’s in Japan with Bob. One of Grandma’s friends told her she had no one to blame but herself for having two granddaughters in Africa and another in Japan at the same time. Grandma definitely passed on the love of travel!
Puppies: They miss you! I’ve been taking them on walks in the morning and afternoon so they get out. Then they spend the late afternoon/early evening on the deck barking at birds, planes and everything else. The weather’s been really nice the past few weeks, so we’ve been taking advantage of the deck. Tomorrow I’m taking the puppies on the walk with Judy and Ann. And, and check out Emma’s long-lost cousin, http://www.king5.com/video/index.html?nvid=173996&shu=1.
Seahawks: WON!!! 20-6 against Tampa Bay. They looked pretty rough the first quarter. Defense looks really good. They did better than offense -- unusual. OK, Tampa Bay isn’t supposed to be great this year, but a win is a win.
Tennis: Novak choked. He was up in the first set 6-5, serving 40-0 and ended up losing the first set. Roger came back from 5 set points to get to the tiebreak and then one the tiebreak. Second set, Novak up 4-1, lost in a tiebreak. 7-6, 7-6, 6-4.
Novak: You MUST see these: http://youtube.com/watch?v=qR9pj6Op_KU and http://youtube.com/watch?v=xYA_7RUSarU&mode=related&search=. Novak impersonates Sharapova, Nadal, and others. Really funny! But, he should have spent more time thinking about Roger than his impersonations. :-)

I hope you’re having a FABULOUS time!!! Work hard! Talk to you soon!

Love you! Mom

A Kassie Update

OMGGGG JENNA COME BACK TO THE US AND VISIT ME.
I'm really glad we have the same winter break.
Anyway.
I started classes last thursday! wooo! I had my Fashion Illustration 1 class and Intro to Fashion Buisness.
Illustration seems like it will be neat. The teacher (who is super nice) has us doing different techniques than what Kathy had taught us. For example, we cannot do any SHADING. No SHADOWS. I don't know what to do with myself because SHADOWS and SHADING were Kathy's two huge things. That I remember, at least.
We also use live professional models! In the nude. I was suprised. It's actually a neat idea, they say that "you need to learn how to draw the body so you can understand it, and therein understand how clothes fit and drape the body."
My buissness class seems like alot of marketing. Alot of talk about visual merchandisng. But the teacher is nice. So far it's one of those classes where very few kids talk and actually answer questions. I feel bad becase the teacher'll ask a question and end up just standing there. It's awkward! So I ended up talking. Alot (shocker, I know). It was only me and about 3-4 other people out of a class of 30 answering. and most of us were sitting in the same corner. Funny stuff.
For that class I have to read 27 pages (1 Chapter) by this Thursday, I have yet to crack open the book.

Roomates!
Woooo!
I got super lucky to have sane, hygenic roomates.
The first day I arrived I had a cool roomie named Brandi.
See, housing overbooked by about 500 students so kids were arriving with no permanent spot to their name.
So Brandi was temporary for about a week until they moved her to a NICE building with apartment-style rooms.
Amanda, my other temporary roomie, became permanent in my room just a few days ago. She's from ITALY. So cool.
And then Friday my ACUTAL roomate, Liz, arrived. She's super cute and nice.

Etc!
I have some favorite restaurants already! wooo! If you ever visit you can choose which to go to.
I colored my hair! wooooohoooooo! I did red at the bottom of my hair, and a streak on top. Bright cherry red. Amanda did it. It looks badass. :)

And today guess what!
I went to the nearby hospital to see about this pesky sore throat I've been having.
Swallowing is the most excruciating pain ever. Probably except for childbirth.
Anyway, they told me I have STREP THROAT.
Dayum. Lame.
The crazy part is that they gave me two shots in my butt instead of a pill prescription.
One shot was a anti-biotic and the other an anti-inflammatory.
The nurse said the antibiotic would hurt more, so he did that one first.
He lied. Ow.

Well, I hope you enjoyed that lil update!
I've got a few pictures of this and that on Facebook/Myspace that I'm too lazy to load up right now.

I have class in hours, but the room is too damn hot to fall asleep.
I'm seriously in shorts and a tank top and my roomies are in sweats and they're COLD. It was also like this pre-strep, but it's still obnoxious.
Acutally, I tried to fall asleep at like 11 but couldn't. So I did the homework for Fashion Illustration I was putting off until morning. Then I did a sudoku. And now I'm writing this to you! Yay!
I am going to hate myself in the morning.

Love and kisses! yay!
Chut up!
<3333333333333Kassie
Stay safe skipper :)


****EDIT**** 5:33 PM
PHOTOS!
YES!
sorry they're all backwards. Macs are like that.

firstly:
my haiiiiiiiiiiir:

nice, eh? cherry cherry pie ;)

Now my dorm! It's actually pretty decent :)
Our sitting area:

The room came with everything but the big blue chair. Liz bought that. And the couch isn't actually purple, that's the topsheet from my set. I never use them and the couch had grey stains and holes. So I was like EW! It looks pretty slick now.
And that pillow is Amanda's! It goes great. Crazy cool.

Across from sitting area:

Our "pantry" (because we have yet to get a fourth roomate so we took over her closet), random stuff, amanda's shoes, amanda's closet. :)

La Corner de Liz et Moi!

I have the top bunk. That's her desk. Her comforter and my sheets are the same purple. and her sheets and my comforter are ALMOST the same blue. CREEPY.

My desk!

It's like a little nook, because it's in a corner. hells yea. did you see the moulin rouge thingy? It's the mousepad you gave me! :D

And My bed!

woooo! and my penguin lamp. and my kick-awesome pillowcase.

I hope you enjoyed that! :) love ya!

9/6 update from mom

Not much going on today.
Pooka has a tummy ache. Didn't eat her breakfast or dinner, but happy to eat the chicken used to disguise a pepto-bismo tablet (although she found part of one and spit it out). Picky eater.
The Office: Dundler Mifflin web site, check it out! http://www.dundermifflinpaper.biz/
Tim Gunn: New show starts tonight. Make it work!
Tennis: Novak moves on to the semis. Nadal out in the quarterfinals. (Figured you'd like that).


Football: Peyton Manning (remember the SNL skits?) threw 3 TDs, Colts won today.

9/5 update

Got mail that you arrived in Johannesburg and took a 2-hr drive to the climber's hostel. Hope you're having a great time!

Puppies: Silly as ever. They're pooped out right now. Emma snored so much yesterday, Becky thought something was seriously wrong with her--aside from weighing a ton. :-)
Family: Erik started school today. Andrea got a full-time job offer! Malia loving where she is in Africa.
Friends: Kassie called hoping to talk with you before you left. She starts classes tomorrow. I emailed you her new email alias. Chatted with Danny; he asked how it was going.
Soccer: Interlake JV lost 0-2, varsity lost 0-3 yesterday. :-( Remember last year when Coach JP fell flat on the ground because he was so stressed?
Tennis: Venus Williams to play Justine Henin. Federer beat Roddick today.
Top Chef: Howie sent home.

Love you! Mom

9/4 update

Everyone asking about you!

Puppies: They miss you! Emma got a bath today because she was itchy. She spent at least 15 minutes rolling around the floor trying to get dry. Pooka was very interested in watching Emma get her bath. Silly puppies.
Family: Becky and Justin are here. Good to see them! Pooka keeps barking at Becky. Don't know why. Karen, Mark, Erik, Bob's parents and I helped Andrea and Bob move into their new condo yesterday. Paint colors look great!
Weather: AWFUL. It POURED most of the morning. The heavens took over crying for me because you're gone. :-)
Soccer: First Interlake soccer games tonight at Newport.
Tennis: Serena Williams lost to Justine Henin at the US Open.
The Office: Year 3 released today. I'm going to wait to watch until you get home. It will be tough not to open it and watch.
Tidbit: So tired last night that I started to ask you to take the puppies out. Then I realized you were in DC. :-(

Love you! Mom

Another family pic

Family Photo

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