What a trooper.

Out of everyone in the house, I must say Howie is quite the man. Here's why.

Howie works at the front desk of one of the dorms on campus. The shifts are all late night shifts going from either 9pm-12am or 9pm-1am on the weekends. He works around 3 nights a week (I think), sometimes on nights were we even have practice in the mornings. This means that while we are all tucked in bed - Howie's at work. By the time he closes up and bikes home it's around 12:15ish. Then by the time he gets to bed it's a little later. He sets his alarm like the rest of us and wakes up at 5:45am.

I could talk about Howie's unhealthy coffee addiction (just the other day he had two cups at home and when I saw him in the business building he had just bought a third), or about how I think we should start weening him off the caffeine - but I won't. Let's just leave it saying the guy is a real trooper and very committed.

Black Velvet

Saturday was our team's "Black Velvet." For rowing teams, black velvet signifies the beginning of the season. For East coast teams it represents the time where the ice breaks and melts, and the team can finally go on the water - not a problem for us. Regardless, it is a special event for rowing teams across the nation.

The day was filled with activities - from practice in the wee hours of the morning, to the open boathouse and alumni row in the afternoon, to the banquet in the evening. I'd say the entire day was a success, and although this post isn't exactly about what happened at my house, it is about something important that happened out all of our lives. Here are a few of my favorite parts!

The open boathouse is always something memorable. For the past three years the President of our school, Father Engh, has come out to where we row on Black Velvet to bless our boats. Because his brother rowed, he understands things about the sport that many cannot. He makes it a point to try and get to know the athletes and to make it to regattas throughout the year.

Our team with Father Engh

The dinner is my favorite part of the day however, and this is where my girly side comes out. I never have an excuse to dress up. You can pretty much always find me in sweatpants or athletic gear. Just this morning I had time to shower after practice before class. I had time to put on a cute sweater with cute boots. When I walked into the kitchen Tobe asked me why I was getting so dressed up. Like wearing leggings and a sweater is fancy? Anyway, you've all seen the dress I was going to wear featured in the Shopping post! My friend Karla (also a coxswain) told me a couple days before Saturday that she had made makeup appointments for us, which was really nice considering I had no idea what to do in that area! Everything came together quite nicely. I loved seeing some of my housemates parents - especially Tobe's. And because of them, I was able to finally get the picture I've been trying to get since moving in.

Spencer, Tobe, Me, Dan, Howie

Just a little sensitive

As I mentioned in a previous post, the boys know about my blog. Dan, Tobe, and Howie all found out at the same time, while Spencer was out of town. They immediately read every single post from the beginning - and got a good laugh out of it. It's really not a big deal now since I'm pretty sure Tobe's the only one who ever really checks it! That being said, some people in my house (spencer) are a little too sensitive to just laugh about it.

When he got back from Hawaii - that's another story - the guys obviously told him about the blog. He looked at it, basically skimmed it, but refused to read it. He won't read it because he said he's afraid he won't like some of the things in it. He won't read it because out of everyone in the house, he knows he fights with me the most. Today he was icing his hip flexor since it's bothering him a bit. He was sprawled out on the sofa, you know, sitting legs open like most guys do acting like they need more room for their junk than necessary. The ice was inside his shorts, giving the impression that his area was quite large. I tried to snap a picture of it to blog about - but Tobe warned him. This resulted in angry Spencer. He stormed off and yelled about how he can't even ice himself in his own home without getting blogged about. He wasn't very nice.

Hopefully he stops being grumpy and a little too sensitive. :)

Games nights and long weekends.

Last Monday was President's day and therefore we all received a much needed day off. However, just because Monday is a national holiday, doesn't mean we get off from practice! Oh no. We still wake up at 6 and head on over to the boat house. This means that while everyone takes small weekend trips or goes out and stays up late, at my house, we don't. I decided to plan something fun because of this, and created a game night! I invited all our friends over and the night was filled with Taboo and The Game of Things. We ordered pizza and had a great time. Now for perhaps my favorite part of the night - Tobe.

Tobe didn't play with us most of the night because he's an engineer and his nights are spent doing homework and blah blah blah. On top of the homework, he wasn't feel too swell and took NyQuil. After taking NyQuil, he decides to join our game. I think it was a combination of being tired, sick, and the medicine that did it, but Tobe was basically acting delirious. He was literally giggling throughout the game. I laughed and tried to snap some pictures.

Shopping

When you live with boys you have no one to give you advice on clothes or any other girly things. We have a Crew banquet coming up this weekend that marks the beginning of our season. It's a formal event with a dinner and all the alumni come. I always get really excited about it because it gives me an excuse that I never really have to dress up! All of the boys in my house will be wearing suits looking all handsome. Parents come in from all over (which is another thing I love) and we have a party afterwards. For the past two years I've worn a dress I already owned - I'm all about the re-wearing. But this year I decided it was about time for me to buy a new dress! I went shopping with my friend Laura one day on the weekend. We shopped for four hours. I bought nothing. It was miserable. I'm not a big fan of shopping in the first place, I know, quite un-ladylike. It drives my mother crazy. The point is the day was a huge letdown. The next day, in class I might add, I was looking online at this little store hoping to find something. I did!! The problem was they only had two dresses left, one of them in my size. Now, I can't go to the store by myself, I at least need one person to come with me!! It turns out that pretty much all of my girl friends were either in class or doing something. So I turned to the next best person, Howie. He agreed to come with me on the condition that he need not give me any advice. Needless to say, he gave me advice. And smiled and told me he liked the dress. He did all the things a girl friend would do and even zipped me up!

Here's Howie holding up the dress so I can send the pictures to my friends.
(real pictures will follow after Sat!)

Girl night + 1??

It's nice to know my housemates are confident with themselves.

My friend Kelly and I decided it was about time for a girl night with the two of us. It was a Saturday night so my other housemates were all out (Tobe being with Jessica!). Kelly came over, and we decided to watch "Just Friends" starring Ryan Reynolds. Just your typical romantic comedy/"chick flick" with the two of us.... plus Dan. Wait what??? That's right, plus Dan. Dan loves Ryan Reynolds. Ryan Reynolds is his man crush. So Dan was lovingly added to our night in. It was great. While Kelly and I laughed and quoted parts of the movie - Dan chimed in. He is probably one of the only guys I know who could actually make it through the entire movie with Kelly and me. It was the perfect night in. The best part? The night fully satisfied my need for a girls night in, even with Dan being  there.

We are all kids at heart

There are times when Spencer and I get along. Most of the time we are bickering - but it's like a brother and sister constantly annoying the other. Anyway, Spence and I had this big finance test today. We stayed in last night to study and both woke up early to study some more. We pretty much figured we knew everything with an hour or so left before class. It just so happens that (for February) it was a wonderfully sunny day. It also just so happens that we have a pretty awesome back yard. There is a little tree house, a stone pathway, lots open grass, and a beautiful tree that is currently blossoming pretty pink flowers. So, I opened our back door, went outside, and started to play.

When I say play, I mean play. I climbed our tree, skipped from rock to rock, went in the tree house - it was great. I had been so stressed all week about the test I was going to take in an hour that it felt incredible to just enjoy myself. I went back inside (singing to my music that was playing) and asked Spence if he wanted to come play with me. He looked at me like I was crazy. He said he was busy. (When I looked at his computer he was on youtube). I told him he should sing and come outside with me because it would make him happy - but he said he didn't like singing and that it didn't make him happy. He told me that I was such a child. I told him he needed to have fun before our test and to not be silly, everyone likes singing! Finally with enough encouragement, (or perhaps to get me to stop bugging him) he came outside.

I got Spencer to climb our tree. Later on I heard him whistling a song. Then on our way to class, I even caught him singing. So you see, everyone does like singing - and if you just give them time to show it, everyone is a kid a heart.

A new lover.

So these are the kinds of things I love. I love when the guys like a girl and start to be all cute about them. This has happened with Tobe. (hopefully he doesn't kill me for this since he can now read it!)

He has a girl. It's pretty cute. For Valentine's Day he surprised her by putting flowers in her room while she was in class. Then she brought him cupcakes. Then he took her out to dinner. I love when she comes over! It's super exciting (I'm probably the only one who thinks that!). But regardless. Tobe acts all cool - as if it's no big deal - but really I think he's smitten. Scratch that. I know he's smitten. He's starting to bring her over more and more now. Really I just love having other girls in the house.

The other day Jessica brought her dog over after Tobe and her had taking the dog on a walk. I like Jessica, and I approve. Major points to Tobe for not picking a silly girl. But hey, if he did, what could I do anyway??

The weekends.

On the weekends, this is what they do. I've seen them watching shows together in Tobe and Dan's room - perhaps even taking little naps with each other. Here they are (plus Drew who is on our team and basically lives at our house) sitting on Tobe's bed watching Dan play Sky Rim.

Sad day.

Until this point I had been careful. Scratch that, I had been meticulously careful. The boys had no idea that I was blogging about them. All of our friends knew - everyone on our team, my family. Then Tobe borrowed my computer decided to snoop around and found it. They have now read every post. I was happy because they laughed and didn't care to much. In fact, I think they kind of loved it. I think they were a bit flattered, but I'm sure they won't admit it. From now on, they will probably think twice before doing anything they think will end up on my blog, but I promise everything I say will be true!

They love the drama

Let me start off by saying that one of the major perks of living with boys is that there is hardly any drama. Girls in general are much more catty and vicious than guys. We take everything personally and know how to hold a grudge. We are experts are the whole "passive aggressiveness." In my experience, guys are much more straightforward and blunt. That being said, living with boys I've learned that although theymay not be as involved in the drama girls are, that doesn't mean they don't love it.

I've had walked in on my housemates watching thing like "Keeping up with the Kardashians" or "Teen Mon" before. They sit around making fun of what's going on, but really they're hooked. It's funny because it's shows I don't even watch. The other day, however, the funniest thing happened. We were all eating breakfast in the living room and someone (I forget who) was scrolling the channels. This someone stopped on "Battle of the Exes" on MTV. If you haven't heard of this show - don't worry - I hadn't either. But apparently everyone in my house had. It's a show where people who have "hooked up" on other MTV shows get paired as a team and have to compete in various challenges. They all live in a house together, which is obviously full of drama. We all sat and watched together. Not only did we sit and watch it together, but the guys explained who everyone was and who had already hooked up again and what not! They knew everything. They may be in much drama - but they sure do love to watch it unfold.


Kind of a silly side story - Spencer had to leave early to go to class before the episode ended, and this is our conversation while he was in class:

He was really into the show.

Worse than girls

You know how guys make fun of girls for going to the bathroom together or calling each other about what they're going to wear later that night? I think we can all agree that most of the time this is true, but don't be so quick to point the finger boys - because I've found that boys can be worse than girls....

I'm sitting at home alone right now. Where are the boys you ask? Shopping. This isn't a joke. They love to go shopping together. They are at target now getting who knows what. It's funny because sometimes they are worse than girls. Dan will say "I'm going to Safeway" (our grocery store) and suddenly everyone responds, "Wait for me man!" or "I'll come too!" Sometimes they even plan it. The other day I heard them talking in the morning about how after their classes they were going to go to Trader Joe's. We also live close to 7/11, and Howie is a big fan of the Slurpies there. He'll pass by my room and tell me he's going to 7/11, and I'll say something like "Ok see you later." Then I go outside my room and realize they're all gone. They'll come back and I'll ask Spencer or Tobe or Dan, "Hey what did you get?" To which at least one of them replies "Oh nothing." I mean really? To be honest it's pretty cute, and I've realized that boys like spending time with each other too - even if they won't admit it.

New Episode!

If you haven't already, please check out the television show "New Girl." There is a new episode on tonight, and I think it's one of the funniest shows currently airing! Sometimes I feel like I can exactly relate to the silly things that occur on the show. :)

Ew.

This morning I woke up to this.

In fact, most mornings I wake up to this. I'm pretty sure it's Tobe who has to pee in the middle of every night. The first time it happened, I nearly fell in. Now I'm use to it and double check every time. I've decided it's much less effort to just flush the toilet myself than it is to complain to them. Plus, they do put up with my girly needs - so I figure I'll give them this.

Bake into their hearts.

Man oh man can these boys eat. It doesn't help that they work out so much with practices twice a day every day. This means they are constantly eating - literally. I'm not sure there is ever a time when at least one of them at home isn't eating something. I think of them as my garbage disposals. And let me tell you, all of them have a sweet tooth. Since I've been here I've made a total of three cakes, some brownies, and various types of cookies. The other day my friend Karla and I decided to make homemade chocolate chip cookies and stuff them with Oreos.
This was the result:

As the boys walked into the house (they had all gone on a run together, cute huh?), they instantly came into the kitchen and flashed their charming smiles. Dan said, "I want our house to smell like this forever," and Howie said, "Please tell me we can eat those." Of course the cookies were gone within the night. If ever I'm in a rut with them, or if I ever feel like I hadn't been the nicest person - I bake for them, and somehow find my way back into their hearts.

Lazy Days

Do you ever just have those days where you literally just want to hang around all day in your pj's? Not only that, but you also have no urge to do anything productive? Even the simplest tasks such as putting your cereal bowl in the sink or picking up your shoes from the living room become difficult tasks. These are the ultimate lazy days - and they are also reasons why living with boys can sometimes be quite rewarding.


The other day I didn't want to do anything. It was a Sunday, and I was tired from practice, tired of school, and just plain tired in general. I lounged around all day with the guys and didn't even shower. I made eggs for breakfast and didn't clean the pan right away. Then I snacked on some yogurt and didn't throw the container away. I took off my shoes in the living room and left them there all day. It was great. When I had a girl roommate this would never have happened. Well, let me rephrase. It would have happened, but I would have had a whole lot of yelling coming at me. If I was ever late for class and changed in a hurry, leaving my clothes in a pile, I was in trouble. If I ever accidentally left toothpaste in the sink and didn't wipe it up within seconds, I was in trouble. Living with these boys is sometimes kind of refreshing. They are by no means messy. They are probably the cleanest  guys I know, but let's just say they understand lazy days way better than girls do.

Isn't he cute?

Continuing on this morning's post, here's a few photos I've snapped of Spencer in the past month . . .

In class wearing a giant sweater and flip flops.

Spencer on his first day of work!

Just playing Call of Duty

After practice enjoying a cup of coffee.

Sometimes, you just wanna kill 'em

I am with my housemates an insane amount of time during the day. We wake up at 5:30 together to go to practice on the water together for 3-4 hours. We then all make and eat breakfast together. After our classes we have a second practice on land from 5-6:30ish. After that we go home and usually eat dinner together. From that point on we're together until its time for bed - then we do it all over again. It's no surprise then that sometimes, I want to kill them. I literally want to throw my heaviest books at their face. Or possibly strangle them. Obviously I don't actually want them to die, just suffer for a tiny bit.

The other day this was Spencer. If there were ever any two people who were going to fight in the house, it would be me and him. Part of my job at practice is to correct technique/form and to relay to the guys in the boat what it is exactly our coach expects and is looking for. Now let me preface this story by saying that Spencer is a good rower. He is our stroke seat and is by all means one of the best rowers on our team. It just so happens that this day he was messing up. It was obvious he was "breaking his outside wrist" or "feathering his blade with the outside hand" (I apologize for the rower talk). Our coach noticed it first and told him to correct it. No change. Again he tells him to stop breaking the wrist. No change. Finally he tells me to tell Spencer, to which I get the response "I'M NOT BREAKING MY WRIST." Instantly the next stroke is perfect.

When we get up to the boathouse after practice, Spencer is all grumpy and whatnot because I yelled at him. He then tries to explain to me that he wasn't "feathering with his outside hand" he was just "breaking his outside wrist" - WHICH IS THE SAME THING. I basically ask the question to the entire team whether or not they agree with Spencer or me, and they all agree with me. Spencer doesn't talk to me for the rest of the day. In fact, he doesn't talk to anyone for the rest of the day because he's so freaking stubborn. This eventually resulted in an all out shouting match at the end of the day. Like I said, sometimes, you just wanna kill 'em.



(and perhaps they want to kill me).