writing prompt: Describe your childhood home. Write down as many details as you can remember. Compare it to the location you call home now.

i used to be a "walker" in elementary school. at pinewood, kids were divided into 2 very distinct categories--walkers and bus riders. because i lived about a 1/4 mile away in a townhome community, i was dubbed a walker and thus spent many a season of my childhood walking to and from school wearing backpack and pigtails. my house was #10, the perfect number when you're a kid, and had a huge tree on the front lawn which my brother, sister, and i learned to maneuver around when playing outside. the lawn was on a slant--i remember that distinctly--and we used to drag our big, red plastic sled out from the basement in the summertime and sit in it rather than in the grass. as a result, the lawn suffered; i can still hear my dad yelling about how the sled flattened the grass, leaving behind a muddy bald spot once it was time for bed. the sidewalk was frequently used as a palette for my chalk drawings and hopscotch boards and that very concrete was what scraped up my pogoball and bigwheel tires.

my best friend, maggie, lived directly across the court. our neighborhood was essentially an open-ended box, with three rows of houses in a "C" shape facing a hill that was perfect for sledding in the winter. that hill seemed so steep when we were little; i see pictures of it now and laugh because it's nothing but a slope. maggie and i would play with our barbie dolls endlessly, alternating basements, and occasionally venturing outside to play on the sidewalk. we used to fight over the same brunette ken doll, and to this day i don't understand why because the blond one was obviously better looking. there was a 'common area' in the middle of the court where many kickball and tag games were hosted. we all especially loved it in the summertime because we could play until 9pm before being called inside by our parents.

my basement was the most special place and the one area of my former house that holds the most memories. christmas always happened in the basement. to this day, i still close my eyes and see an over-decorated tree and a room full of toys that my dad stayed up assembling until 2am. one of my favorite times spent in that basement was with my mother, opening up the huge cardboard boxes that arrived from jcpenny's every winter, filled with new clothes she had ordered us. we would check each item off the receipt and i was so excited as she pulled out each new item, so freshly wrapped in plastic, for me to wear to school. i remember thinking how cool it was to have all this new stuff arrive at once, so compactly and in such bright colors. my mother liked corderoys and rainbows. the pictures throughout my childhood speak for themselves.

i associate that townhome with my childhood because it is, essentially, where my formative years were spent and where i have some of the purest and happiest memories of my life. we left there when i was about to enter 5th grade and in my mind, that marked a distinct conclusion of a chapter in my life. it's as if there is a clear black line in my mind separating my childhood from what became my adolescence. i don't know if everyone's view of their childhood home is seen through such a magically tinted lens, but i can't think of one time where i wasn't happy in that house. sure, we grew out of it--the walls started to sort of close in as we ran out of storage space--but nothing could compare to it. things like the rainbow wallpaper i had in the bedroom that i shared with my sister. our beds were jammed up against the walls and there wasn't much space to walk around, but it was comfortable. things like the tiled basement hallway, where we used to race matchbox cars and where we kept our toybox. that toybox broke, inevitably, because my brother and i insisted on sitting in it to play with our toys. and then there was the jam packed storage closet where i accidentally found a birthday present before my actual birthday. i still feel bad about that, if you want to know the truth.

after much debate, discussion, and tossing around of options, the halloween costumes have finally been decided. mike, his roommate mike, and i are dressing up as mario, luigi, and princess toadstool. i got my costume in the mail today and it's REALLY pink. i'm talking princess to the extreme here. it's actually rather obnoxious in all its pinkness. i'm sure my observant readers noticed that it's actually the sleeping beauty dress, but it works quite well for toadstool too. honestly, when i pulled the costume out of the box, i laughed outloud for a couple minutes. and then i tried it on and laughed even harder. poofy doesn't even begin to describe this thing. regardless, we are going to rock it out in our group costume. you should see the boys' in their plumber overalls. SO great.

i'm kind of excited because it's been years since i've dressed up for halloween. and what better way to get back into it then to dress as a frickin' videogame princess? i suggested going all out and recording the theme song to the game and then playing it when we enter the party. how kick ass would that be?

tomorrow should be fun. tuesdays are our t.v. night, where mike and i hang out and watch scrubs. tomorrow night's episode was directed by zach braff, which means it should be extra-special-cool. oh! and the great pumpkin is on beforehand! does it get any better than linus camping out in the pumpkin patch?

i think not.

there are not adequate words to describe how excited i am about this...

i just got home from the matt nathanson show and i'm totally psyched because i talked with matt afterwards and gave him my blog address. i told him that i always check out his journal and he immediately asked for mine. i wrote down my email for him too. i'm keeping my fingers crossed for either a comment, a tagboard message, or an email. any of those would make me all warm and fuzzy inside.

oh, and did i mention that matt totally rocks? i love that man. he is my musical fantasy boyfriend. uh huh, that's right.

here you go: pictures from my trip.

i have been too tired and too busy to sit down and actually write about all that happened while i was away. suffice it to say though, i had an excellent time. i ate lobster bisque for the first time at a restaurant overlooking the water. i climbed a lighthouse. i learned how to play darts, and now mike and i are absolutely obsessed with the game (to the point where we stopped on the way home and bought a dartboard for mike's apartment.) i sang elton john songs on the car ride up the maine coast with katie and justin...while mike snored in the backseat. i lounged in a jacuzzi with very powerful jets. i watched the sun set in connecticut. i ate mike's delicious homemade french toast for breakfast on our last day in maine. i played perverted mad libs for 2 hours straight in the car on the way back to portland. i explored the interior of a submarine and climbed inside a huge ship. i ate at a really bad restaurant where there was mold on one of my oyster crackers. i thoroughly enjoyed the complimentary white terrycloth bathrobes in our bathroom @ stonington. i slept in a room with an automated fireplace (this was quite romantic.) and finally, i spent lots of quality time with someone who grows more special to me every day.

we had a blast. i didn't want to come home. i can't wait to go on vacation again soon.

more pictures to come once i get my 2 rolls of film developed...