sorry this is way long

we've been splitting our time between great falls and the spot, so it's somehow been a simultaneously leisurely and busy week. here are some highlights...

- we bought a crab trap and have been catching our own lunches. though it's kind of satisfying to provide for ourselves, i was also a bit disturbed when we had to steam them alive. it almost made me turn to vegetarianism. almost.

- my hair is really blue now.

- in traffic on the way to the kennedy center to see "hairspray," i passed the time by reading aloud to mv from "harry potter and the goblet of fire" (my favorite). and if that weren't nerdy enough, i also did separate voices for the various characters. AND they all had accents. i was decent at the french accent, but it was hard to make all the british people sound different. hagrid came out irish somehow. and i had no idea what bulgarians would sound like, so they kind of ended up italian. but it was hilarious, and mv and i were crying with laughter in the car. when mv reads, her characters all have the same posh british accent, but her narration's much more dramatic. we should join forces to make books-on-tape :)

- on the harry potter/nerdy note, we got our copies of the newest book yesterday, but didn't get to start reading it until 10 at night. we raced through it, each complaining when the other got some extra time to read ahead, but most of the time, it was me trying to catch up with my-van, crazy-super-fast-reading-speed-demon. but we both finished by this afternoon, and needless to say, it was a great book, much better than the last. i won't go into more detail for those of you who haven't finished it yet. anyway, i'm just upset now that i finished the book so fast and i will have to wait for a few more years for the next (and final!) installment.

- after we finished reading, we checked the water for jellyfish, saw it was clear, and took our first dip in the river. the water is brackish, so it's only a bit salty, but there are some uncomfortably warm patches that irked me a bit (you know what i'm talking about). we also took the kayak out again, but brought the dog along this time, sitting in between me and mv. at first, he was fine in the middle, but then he wormed his way into my lap and started to explore, peeking over the side of the boat until it tipped and he fell into the water. of course he can swim, but we quickly scooped him out of the water and deposited him back on the dock. that was picabo's first, and probably last, kayaking trip.

- i'm getting my stitches out tomorrow. well, my stitch. only one is left in there, the rest came out accidentally.

- the rest of my time is spent packing and clearing out my room. i can't believe that in a week, i will be on my way to LA, to start the next phase of my life. agh!