So, summer is almost over, thank God, i want to be back in school (i am an uber nerd deal with it), even though it means being farther from my boyfriend. the kinda awesome guy i met in may is actually more than kinda awesome, and he gets along great with my family which is awesome. The fact that he is in the SCA as well makes things that much better because its easier to get rides to the same places to see each other. Speaking of SCA, Pennsic War is coming up, it is by far (at least to me and many others) the highlight of my year/summer. Mainly because i get to see a bunch of people i don't get to see very often and also get to spend an entire week away from the real world. My vacation is awesome, even though my parents think i am insane for going out in the heat and the lack of electricity for an entire week. I am looking forward to getting to fence and take classes, especially since i have found that the people teaching some of the classes i want to go to are also professors elsewhere and i can pick their brains about becoming one myself. I am an academic, still dont know how that one happened : D
summer also stinks since the last few weeks have been mother nature slamming my area with storms. I had my last day at my internship last thursday and there was sightings of a tornado just north of where i was. i didnt see too much damage up there, but my car needed its windows resealed apparently, i had a lovely little pond on my floor boards on the passenger side. I will miss my internship, tomorrow is the first day that i dont have to go in, and i am looking forward to my first day off with just me and my kindle in what seems forever. I love books, and with my kindle the free books they have are awesome, but then i want to get the rest of the series and dont have the money to spend on them :( My mom and me went through my clothes the other day and i got rid of maybe a sixth of what i have, and saddeningly the majority of what went is all stuff i have had since high school. I was quite attached to some of them, the rest were mostly hand me downs that my sisters, failing to take into consideration that i am a twig, gave me. Mom also helped me start packing for pennsic, apparently my rushing around like a chicken with its head cut off like last year is not an option.
Lastly my doggy is getting up there in age and seems to be following me with health problems, we have been trying to get the back end of her to stop causing her such problems since she was a puppy, she has what the vet calls hot spots, she bites them incessantly and its gotten so bad that she barely has hair back there :( beans has been my baby girl since we get her when i was eleven and she was six weeks old i think, and she has been my dog ever since she "guarded" me against my parents the first night i came home from pittsburgh after my surgery to have a broviac put in so the chemo wouldnt hurt my heart. She became my shadow through all of that. My doggy is awesome. she gives me the "i am so mad at you but i missed you" act when i come home from college. She loves me one minute then gives me the glare the next, but when it comes down to it, she doesnt go to mom and dads room when i am home, she comes to mine. I love that i have a room that is mine at home again. my middle sister took over when she moved back in so i have been carting my stuff back and forth all college.
I have applied to my first graduate school. I am nervous but excited, and have decided to graduate in the fall. I had originally been planning to go the entire year, but i am ready for a new challenge and need to see what i can do in graduate school. my list of schools have everything from University of Penn to Columbia, and even some of the state schools. Suprisingly Catholic University of America in DC made the list, they have a Byzantine studies program, and i would love to take it.

Ok, so I haven't really said anything about the illumination I do, I enjoy recreating illuminated manuscripts. According to others I'm good at it, and since I am way worse than my own worst critic I am going to err to their judgement. My goal for the summer months is to get some of the scrolls I have designed made, I base them off of some illumination from pre1600 Europe, and others are just ones that I want to do. Painting lets me focus and block all else out, something that I can only do when I am reading most of the time. 

I created a scroll based off of the above image, everyone said it was good but I'm not so sure. I want to work on my skills over the summer though ^.^ First summer since starting college that I will be home for, and I am looking forward to some much needed time with my family. When I went to school I never thought I would want to go home I was so deadset one getting the heck out of there, but I miss my family, and I really really really miss my doggy. Beans (her real name is Angel Lynn) is my baby, even if she is almost 10. She will always be my baby but I am facing the reality that she may not be around much longer :( When my moms dog passed it took a long time for her to get over it, and she still misses Bug (her name was Ginger Lady but she wouldn't come to Ginger not that I blame her lol.) and I can't believe that I miss her too, she hated any of us girls who got close to mom, but if mom wasn't home we were her best friends, my moms 

new dog Beau is like that. We haven't given him a middle name yet, somehow all of our dogs end up with multiple nicknames. 

Haven't posted in a while, might as well i guess. Been home for the summer, and surprisingly loving it, the stress and drama isn't here. We got hit by a really bad storm here last night which meant having to keep the basement from flooding, the area under our back porch kinda channels it to the back door :/ thankfully our power only dimmed after we had a close lightening strike, apparently my father is amused by my reaction to it it made me yelp. I normally love storms, but this one reminded me of one when i was a kid, and all i could remember is my sister tackling me as i was trying to get our dog so we could go to the basement. A tree in our front yard came down on our porch at our old house. part of the same tree hit our car, surprisingly only denting the hood of it.

I love my internship, but so many files, the entire research collection of papers and other materials needs sorted, and i am trying to do it according to library of congress. I have so much new found appreciation for those that put the museum collections online. So far at Drake Well i have cleaned, cataloged, and organized some of the collections, done so much filing, made card catalog cards, and done so much typing that it has greatly improved my typing skills. I love working with the collections, but since it isnt my time period of choice, it does kinda make it boring at times. I found a file on the local Native Americans and can't wait to go through it. I am also doing a research project on ancient and medieval uses of oil (petroleum is why drake well exists after all), and some of it is actually kinda fascinating to read about. Apparently Babylon used natural asphalt in its construction, and ancient Baghdad used pitch if I remember right.

I've actually gotten to go to a few events for the SCA this summer, which makes this summer better than last, where i only got to go to pennsic. I really cant wait for pennsic, an entire week with friends :) I have a new guy in my life, and he's pretty cool i guess ;) he makes me laugh a lot which is kinda amazing for me. He also loves that i am goofy but serious. He came out to visit and met my parents, and they all got along pretty well, but my youngest nephew didnt like that there was someone here for his aunt. He came in the house, got me to pick him up, and until his mom took him to leave he stayed in my arms glaring at the new boy lol. he laid his head on my shoulder and glared, and my lil monster (he is adorable but has a redheads temper lol) normally wants to play when he gets to nannys house. I really like this guy, which suprised me at first, he was a jock in high school, and i am like the supreme geek. I am a book worm and everything. Hes pretty awesome, and it sucks that he lives over on the other side of the state :(

I love that i get to spend time with my nephews this summer, i missed a lot being away at school, the oldest is now 6, the middle is almost 4, and the youngest is one and walking. I miss my niece horribly, she lives out of state right now and i havent gotten to see her since they left in march :( My family  means the world to me, and when i was younger i didnt realize how much i would miss them.

I have new fabric for a roman style doublet for the SCA fighting that i do, its going to be based off of a roman lorica segmentata.