SUMMER!!

It's officially summer vacation!!!! My exam was yesterday morning and I spent the rest of the day grading and writing comments. Next week we have 3 days of faculty meetings and lots of parties: department and full faculty.

On my first day of summer vacation, I got a much needed haircut. I think my last new do was last fall? Can't even remember. Here are before and after pictures:

It's always so fun and bouncy the first day because of the professional blow dry and all of the fancy hair products. Aside from shampoo and a 14 year old blow dryer (remember when we bought that red one Mom? $12 was really a deal), I truly have no hair products. Who has time for that??

Before this self-pampering appointment, I might have had a meltdown in our living room. Why? you ask. This is why:

I can't seem to turn these right side up, but it doesn't matter because it's exactly how I feel. 

I hate this mess so much.... ooohhh how I hate it. Just days ago, there was nothing but a few empty boxes for our impending move, but then: The Purge.

My school has held The Purge for 3 consecutive years now: it's a mass free flea market from 350 dorm students, from trash to perfectly good stuff. There were probably 400 binders, boxes upon boxes of ramen noodles, 200 pairs of shoes, tons of toiletries & laundry detergent, dozens of shower caddies, a billion textbooks, two dozen lamps, etc. You get the point. 4 years ago: all of that was in the trash. TRASH!!

Well, we scored a bunch of great stuff that you can spot in the pictures (if your eyes can sift through the mess): three storage containers, three under-the-bed storage containers, two pairs of shoes, tons of unopened food (ramen, cans of soup, boxes of cereal, swiss miss... all for the dorm next year), tons of paper products (plates, cups, plastic silverware), an electric water boiler (dorm), a blue ottoman, and tons of school supplies. Whatever doesn't get picked over by students and faculty gets donated to thrift stores. It goes on for a week while kids sort and pack up their rooms and leave campus, so every day there's more stuff that appears. It's nuts. 

Anywho, we are crazy to add more stuff to our miniscule appartment just to move it all to a different one... but we can't help these great finds!

In the meantime, we're going to enjoy this peaceful and empty dorm (and lounge with big screen TV)!