Getting back into the groove

I've been busy filling my time with getting back into the groove of my American life and spending as much time as possible at Midnight Oil.

When I wasn't warming my spot on the couch at Midnight Oil in the past few weeks, I was busy buying a car, editing photos, and taking photos.

Yesterday, I was lucky enough to photograph Nate and Erin Copeland's week-old baby girl, Kate Copeland. I'm fairly certain that baby photography is now my new favorite kind of portrait photography.



I'm sure after a few more sessions I'd get tired of that too, but hey, I like it right now, so that's all that matters!

My epic return

So, I guess it's about time that I officially reveal the fact that I'm back in The States. I arrived in New York City last Friday (Nov 30) and stayed with some friends until Monday when I took a train down to Philly and stayed with JCliff through Thursday. I made it back to Searcy last night and was biting at the bit to reveal myself, but only managed two surprise visits before it was too late to go knocking on anyone else's door, so the rest had to wait until today.

I've known I was leaving Greece for close to a month now, so the anticipation has been building for quite some time. I was determined to keep it a secret and made a point to only inform those that just had to know (like my mom, who would have started to get suspicious had she believed I was still just hanging out and being a jobless bum in Greece).

A huge element lending to the glory of my epic surprise return was the fact that I was coming back just in time to participate in the annual Christmas tree stealing out of Renee Lewis' office. Dustin Vyers has always been my partner in crime, and the first year (2005) started out as a war of tree snatching between the Student Publications Office and the Student Life Office. I, of course, immediately sold out and stole the Stud Pub's tree, showing my allegiance to Dustin and his cause.

Last year definitely raised the bar, as Dustin had accepted a job at Pepperdine and now lived in California. I connived as always, and stole the tree to send it off to Dustin at Pepperdine, who glady received it and later brought it back in person on a surprise visit to Searcy. During this visit, he and I secretly infiltrated Renee's apartment and stole her home Christmas tree, replacing it with the small one from her office with an attached Polaroid photo of us swiping the tree. Her reaction was priceless, as she had not expected Dustin to be in Searcy.

This year though, oh, this year would be good. I was living in Greece, and as far as anyone knew, wouldn't be coming back for quite some time. Our planning started weeks ahead, and since Dustin now lives in Texas, we had two outside recruits (Corey McEntyre and Nick May) vow their allegiance and scope out the tree situation. This morning was go-time, and as I sat in Corey's office (ironically enough, the Student Life office...he has Dustin's old job) in excited anticipation, plan after plan to lure Renee from her office failed, as she had a deadline to meet and would not leave for anything.

Stumped, and not wanting to stay in hiding much longer, Corey and I called and consulted Dustin, who decided that we should just rush in and grab it in plain sight. Agreeing, Corey pulled out a video camera and we headed out for the mission.

(*side note* As we were attempting to leave the Student Life office unnoticed, my friend Scott Light spotted me and as I started to run he ran after me yelling, "You can't just do that...you can't just come back and not tell anyone!!!!!! You CAN'T!!!" It was hilarious and wonderful and by far the best reaction I've had.)

After we escaped from Scott's scene-causing yells, we retrieved Corey's car and parked it next to the exit closest to Renee's office. Corey led the way, video camera in hand, and stepped into Renee's office. She was slightly confused and just about to inquire as to what he was doing when I dashed in, swiped her tree and high-tailed it out before she'd had a chance to even process what had happened. The rest was a blur, but I vaguely remember hearing her yell, "Wait...what? CHELSEA!?!?!!?!?!" before we busted out the door and hopped into Corey's car for our quick getaway.



This year's tree stealing shenanigans may never be topped.

Cutsie just ain't for me

For the girls' tea the other night, I volunteered to plan something for it, and went with an activity I'd done with my youth group in middle school. It involves paper or books with everyone's name and you pass them around the room for everyone to write something they love about the person in each one. It's slightly cheesy, but it has always been something I loved the idea of because no matter how cheesy it is, it's always uplifting to everyone.

Instead of simply having a piece of paper to write this all on, I dedicated a few hours to making little booklets for the girls...which turned out to be a really simple project that I'll probably use in the future for something else.

Behold...my girly-cutsie booklets...



It went over fairly well, and all the girls seemed to really enjoy participating. It ended up feeling more like a yearbook signing than anything, but hey, if they're happy, I'm happy.

I did get called out by DiMy afterwards about the fact that I'm really uncomfortable and awkward around the girls and completely at ease around the guys. To this day I don't know if I'll ever get over that, but that's just how I am...I just wish I could hide it better!

Free travel is upon us, so the students are emptying out of the Artemis and getting on their way. I'm not jealous one bit...it'll be ridiculously cold.

I suppose that's about all for my update...I hope those of you who are in school are hanging in there through your finals!

Tis the season

I usually get a freddoccino (an awesome cold frothy coffee drink from Everest), but when I walked in the other day and spotted their new Christmas hot cups, I had to opt for a cappuccino instead.

What do you think...best Christmas packaging ever?



The little tidbit on the cup says "Now you can be Santa Clause" or something of that nature. I'm not a fan of it...but I can handle it since it's in Greek.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

My favorite homeless man in Athens is getting into the Christmas spirit.



Some of you might remember him from my art show...I had a large b&w portrait of him called The Traveling Belgian.

A Thanksgiving feast fit for a king

The past few days have been filled to the brim with preparation for Thanksgiving here at The Artemis. My tasks included making homemade marshmallows to top off the sweet potato pie, baking peanut butter cookies to welcome the students back from Israel, and making pecan pie bars. I also helped Fofi prepare cream of mushroom soup and fried onions to make green bean casserole and peeled chestnuts for the stuffing...and that was only the day before Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving day was just as busy, but luckily there were more people to help out. I mostly spent the day setting up and later doing an innumerable amount of dishes. We had a total of sixty-seven people sharing the meal with us, so The Artemis was packed to the brim.

It was definitely one of the best Thanksgivings I've ever had. Sadly, I have no entertaining stories to tell, so I'll share some photos instead...


My homemade marshmallows...they didn't come out as fluffy as I'd hoped, but they definitely tasted like the real thing.


One of the beautiful turkeys...and sweet potato pie in the background.


DiMy making some last-minute adjustments.


My homemade pecan pie bars.


I hope that all of your Thanksgivings were filled with lots of wonderful food and love!

The Fire is So Delightful

As much as I loathe how dependent our society has become on the internet for our source of anything from information to entertainment, I'm, admittedly, just as addicted as the next person, if not more.

I do everything from keeping up with my favorite tv shows, learning how to pick locks to researching new cookie recipes to bake for the HUG students when I get bored.

Last night, as I sat draped in a blanket and a snoring Callie the Cat, I realized that the thin fabric and whiskered creature were no longer enough to help me maintain a decent body temperature. I sat for a few moments, shivering from the chill that had crept into my bones, and contemplated what I should do. The HUG students have been in Israel since last Monday, and the heat was turned off until they return, so turning on a radiator wasn't an option.

Should I pile on more blankets, go take a hot shower, make yet another cup of tea?

The answer was obvious...I would build a fire.

There is a lovely fireplace in the dining area, which isn't a very cozy room to begin with, but after I dragged a big comfy chair over and strategically arranged some pillows, I was ready for the fire-building to begin.

Now, I've been on my fair share of rugged camping trips, all involving bathing in rivers and eating trout cooked over an open fire for every meal, but one of the things that apparently didn't ingrain itself within the confines of my brain was how to build a proper fire.

I had what I needed...dry logs, small sticks and newspaper, but try as I might, the newspaper simply burnt to a crisp and the sticks and logs remained untouched by the flames I so desperately needed to warm my freezing body.

I then did what any other internet-reliant person would have done...I Googled it.

Surprisingly enough, I came up with an abundance of fire-building how-to's and set to work after reading no less than five of them to be properly prepared for the task ahead of me.

Doing exactly as I'd been told, I balled up three pieces of newspaper, then I stacked small twigs and sticks in criss-cross formations above the newspaper and finally laid a few logs on top of my architectural masterpiece. Convinced that I'd have a fire going in no time, I held out the lighter and ignited the balls of newspaper.

Slowly but surely, the flames licked through the paper and moved onto the twigs, and then quickly spread along the bottom of the logs I'd so carefully chosen for the job. Success!

Five minutes later...my fire came to an abrupt and disappointing halt as the flames snapped out and left only a few glowing embers below. I spent another ten minutes pushing around the logs and embers, and blowing furiously in hopes of reviving my short-lived fire. When all that was left was a small fleck of red pulsing beneath the ashes, I gave up and hoisted my comfy chair back to it's spot and resigned myself to using Callie the Cat for heat once again.

Not twenty minutes later, a loud pop echoed through the room that sent Callie jolting from my lap. Curious as to what had caused the noise, I cautiously eased up from my chair and walked into the dining area.

There, crackling and popping in all of its flaming glory, was a thriving fire. Thoroughly confused, but incredibly pleased, I chalked it up to the fire gods teaching me a lesson in patience and perseverance, moved my comfy chair back into place, and spent the next hour getting toasty by the fire.