Ok, so there haven't been many updates for a few days...so I'll post this! ;)

Hahaha.....oh Will!

Weekend, Great Weather "It Smells Fressssshhh" ~Leah

Hello four corners of the world... everywhere where the Dollhouse is. Leah and I have spent a weekend here by ourselves, while Kate is visiting Kiki in PA and Hannah is working in NOVA and Catherine is running her Shamrock half-marathon. We miss you all! Congrats Catherine for your best race time yet! Catherine just ran a half marathon, running with a less than 9 minute per mile time with almost NO training (and oh yeah, she was sick). Good job you!
Leah and I have been keeping ourselves pretty busy. Friday night was P.S I Love You at Grafton... it was surprisingly good. It was a chick-flick, but one with substantially deeper themes than most. I (and all of the other girls who were cheering and ooh-ing and aw-ing in Grafton) highly recommend it! Saturday Leah and I went on a country walk, encountered some really sketchy Harrisonburg-ers, came home and saw Lisa Puckett's band Dear Dear play at Wilson, opening for Mae. It was so good! I've seen Mae play before, and this was the best time I've had at one of their shows! Good friends, good music = good time. I'd write about the school work Leah and I are stuck with doing now, but who wants to read and remember that? Not I. Bye guys! (and good luck tomorrow Kate:)

This is how we do

This week we celebrated Catherine's 22nd 'Birfday!' We drove her to class on the "birthday bus" (Durango) and later that day invited her to the "Tudor Pizzeria" where there was authentic Italian music, Bruchetta salad, and Martin's pizza! She had small group that evening so we arranged for her co-leader (The one and only ROCKET!) to drop her off for the last event of the day...Clementine Cafe! It was this point in the festivities that made me realize how we don't know how to do the bar scene at all. Haha, just thinking about that night makes me laugh-let me explain. Don't get me wrong, I don't think its a bad thing that we don't have that skill...its just hilarious!

1.
Situation: Some guy tries to flirt and ask if we took his beer away.
Our response: We all just pointed at his beer that was moved down the bar
Outcome: He left

2.
Situation: Bartender asks us for our IDs
Our Response: 2 of us didn't even have them with us (won't mention names)
Outcome: 2 of us were left at the bar while Catherine and Sarah drove home to get 'something'

3.
Situation: Guy comes up out of nowhere t see if we want to play trivia for the night
Our Response: Sarah looks at him and blurts out loud "WHOA." as he startled her.
Outcome: After we couldn't stop laughing, he left

4.
Situation: Bartender asks Catherine what other exciting things she is gonna do that night
Our Response: Catherine says "Probably gonna go home and eat some more food"
Outcome: We all realized how funny that was and how serious she said it, that we couldn't stop laughing and the bartender had no idea what was going on...oh well!

There were probably more situations that evening, but these were by far my favorite. We rarely go out...can you tell? Haha, oh well....this is how we do!

P.S. WE MISSED HANNAH :(

St. Patricks Day Humor from Daddy Joyce

Flynn staggered home very late after another evening with his drinking buddy, Paddy. He took off his shoes to avoid waking his wife, Mary.

He tiptoed as quietly as he could toward the stairs leading to their upstairs bedroom, but misjudged the bottom step. As he caught himself by grabbing the banister, his body swung around and he landed heavily on his rump. A whiskey bottle in each back pocket broke and made the landing especially painful.

Managing not to yell, Flynn sprung up, pulled down his pants, and looked in the hall mirror to see that his butt cheeks were cut and bleeding. He managed to quietly find a full box of Band-Aids and began putting a Band-Aid as best he could on each place he saw blood.

He then hid the now almost empty Band-Aid box and shuffled and stumbled his way to bed.
In the morning, Flynn woke up with searing pain in both his head and butt and Mary staring at him from across the room.

She said, "You were drunk again last night weren't you?"

Flynn said, "Why do you say such a mean thing?"

"Well," Mary said, "it could be the open front door, it could be the broken glass at the bottom of the stairs, it could be the drops of blood trailing through the house, it could be your bloodshot eyes, but mostly.....it's all those Band-Aids stuck on the hall mirror.

And so it begins...

Well, it is true that I am now in Northern Virginia for this capstone. (But of course I will be driving back to the 'Burg any chance I get:) It has most certainly been an interesting past couple of days with a rush of unexpected and uncontrollable emotions. I think it has just been due to realizing the inevitable of what is going to happen in just a couple of months, and the uncertainty of knowing how many more days I will actually have with my dear housemates, living in the Dollhouse, and hanging out with all the other sweet JMUers in good ol' Harrisonburg. It's weird, and it's scary. (But of course really exciting!) The near (and getting nearer) future is so unknown right now, and it's finally beginning to hit that the unimaginable day of no longer calling JMU our home is approaching. So, it begins.

Speaking of beginnings...we had our orientation today! Which simply consisted of getting our ID badges and touring the hospital with stops at each girl's unit to meet our preceptors and see how to get there. I did have the fortunate opportunity to meet my preceptor, Peggy. I must say, she seems "interesting," but was definitely friendly which eased my nerves of her possibly being a mean old grump who hates students. To let you know my most significant first impression of her- she was wearing jean material scrubs (or smocks as Sarah would call them)- not even kidding...JEAN! I didn't even know they made those. Or that it would be within hospital policy to be allowed to wear them. I really know nothing else about her at this point. This is going to be a fun six weeks with Peggy:) So, it begins.

Good news...I did get her schedule for the next week and half- and she has taken time off next week for vacation! So after our 3 12 hour shifts Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday...I will be able to head back on to Harrisonburg until Saturday! So great.

Well, that's my life for now. I miss you all and will talk to you soon:) Signing off for now...

-Hannah

P.S. A little early birthday shout out to Ms. Catherine Tudor! I wish I could be there to bake you a yummy birfday cake. Happy 22 girl!

(This is my fave picture from break. It's the brain Catherine and Kate found on their beach walk [and Catherine's foot, for scale purposes]. The brain is tagged as me on facebook, thanks Kate:)

Aloha from Harrisonburg...hellos and goodbyes are abounding at the moment... A sad day today saying goodbye for a little while to Hannah. But never fear, the Dollhouse isn't done causing a ruckus yet (nor will it be for years to come, we hope!)
Anyway, due to an influx of requests (cough* threats cough*) from the house encouraging the chronicling of the rest of Spring Break, here we go!
1) I forget where I left off, but we went out to dinner (on Hannah's generous parents, thank you Smiths!) and had yummy food at T-Bonzzzzz (sp?) . mmmmm... Turns out our waiter fancied himself a musician, and invited us to go to his show later in the week. We found out it was wa-hay past our bedtime (it was at 10). So we thought no. way. man. We don't stay up that late for anything but mind-blowing pranks. And even that only sometimes. Onward-
2) The rest of the week was spent straight chillin'. We went to the beach, got some tans (would have considered the week a bust without them) and explored a deserted island. We had to swim across a bit of FREEZING water, with a current that would have swept us right out into the deep blue, but we got across safely with no shark attacks and our clothes still (somewhat) dry since we held them over our heads. The beach was amazing, and since nobody goes over there, there were tons of huge sea-shells and other crazy ocean-vomit artifacts. It was great fun, and we found an old abandoned shack and climbed around for a while. It's been a while since any of us have played "pretend," so we thought it'd be a good idea to play "Lost." And that's what we did. And it was great.
3) We saw a shark the next day on the beach in the same water we had just braved the day before!!!! It was about 3 or 4 feet long, a sand-shark, and it was beaching himself. It was interesting how many people took pity on it and were trying to save it (if it had been healthy, people at the beach would probably have wanted it dead...?). Some guy decided to throw it back in right where the surfers were. Nice thought but not too brilliant, eh?
4) Went to Broadway at the Beach for din-din/ had a weird waiter (no comment)/ discovered our love for pralines and bear claws/ looked for alligators but there were none to be found/ chugged some Rita's/ good-night.
5) Unfortunately paradise had to end. We did get to make a stop on the way home however, and we met Hannah's Aunt and Uncle! They were awesome! They were pretty surprised that a bunch of college girls would want to come visit them (and excited, since they got out their camera and took pictures of us, ha.) We were even offered a special kind of cake none of us had ever heard of before...
6) Friday night- Arrived back at the burg after dropping Catherine off in the 'mond, a little tanner, happier and ready-er to not have to do anymore schoolwork.
7) Un-packed and other boring chores, and were welcomed back by many good friends fitting inside our tiny living room. Next adventure: Getting through classes this week.

PS Dollhouse, I found the name of that guy we listened to over break, and bought some of his other music, some of it's pretty good. Check it: Matt Nathanson.
~S
PSS. Seriously miss you Hannah. Seriously. Hope Chuck-E-Cheese was as great as it was in the old days.

Philippians 1:3

"I thank my God every time I remember you." Philippians 1:3

I'm sitting here in the 'Honest' room on the Eve of Hannah's Departure from us. There is a bitter sweet feeling in the room. I think we all are dealing with the idea that the "end" is right around the corner. Hannah will be the first to go-but of course, not "go-go." Although it's blindsiding me that Hannah is leaving for a few weeks, I think these next few weeks are going to be full of us processing and remembering the incredible memories God has given us in these last 4 years! May 3rd is coming faster than I would like but its not something I can stop either...so I think its about time to soak up the memories over the year and savor the last 8 weeks we have together. I'm thinking as graduation approaches, The Doll House should buy stock in Tissues! Untill then, I will try to keep May 3rd as far away from my mind as possible and take a deep breath durring these next weeks!
-Kate

Everyone is Doing it!

Soo I'm waiting for Sarah to finish journaling our adventures of Spring Break...In the meantime I will post some pictures of doodles in the sand! :)

The second doodle shows how far apart we will travel in the future :(
(3 in different parts of of the East Coast, 1 in California, and 1 in Africa)

Spring Break '08

For our first post~ We hail from the land of South Carolina, where Hannah's aunt and uncle were absolutely awesome and gave us this beautiful beach house for the week... all for the low price of $0.00! That works perfectly for our college budgets. The weather has been incredible, so here are a few of the adventures we have survived thus far:
1) Depart 7:00 am from Harrisonburg, VA (with an imperative Starbucks run) and drive 8 hours to SC.
2) Pit Stop: SOUTH OF THE BORDER!!!! Explore offensively un-PC park, complete with giant sombrero clad statues, gift shops full of shot glasses and grow-yourself cacti, and a native Floridian who offered to take our picture and then tried to find out where we were staying (I guess he as bored?) We thought it best not to give him our exact location. Did I mention he was in his late 30's and wearing a plastic Knight's helmet?
3) Arrive at amazing BEACH HOUSE!
4) Go grocery shopping, buy enough food for the whole week because we cook dinner together at night instead of going out. This way, we can eat a ton and not look like fatties, and we can be crazy (this is easiest and most fun when we're not in public).
5) Watch tons of movies and tv
6) Read tons of books
7) Go on beach power walks and runs. At one point, four of us saw five older ladies power walking on the beach, and we thought, "That's us when we're old!" So we stopped to talk to them (it would be just like us, instead of picking up guys at the beach to pick up five older ladies and have them over for dinner). They said they had been friends for a while, told us that there was hope for keeping our friendships and said that they still had fun even though they were older (their words not mine:).
8) Ride around in the souped-up red and white golf-cart! One night, we decided to moon people off the golf-cart. Good idea, until we drove by one house one too many times, and the woman inside decided to call... who knows who, but we assumed that this wasn't good. So we booked it in our getaway golf-cart, but as we putt-putted around the block we realized we wouldn't be outrunning any cops. Problematic, yes. But no worries, we got home safely.
9) Last night was the best so far. Catherine made her delicious pesto pizza, and we had an impromptu dance party on the deck (we found out that whatever we play on the stereo, TV, movies, music always plays extra loud off the back deck so everyone in the neighborhood can hear). So we sped up Kenney Chesney to chip-munk speed, and danced on the back deck. We ate dinner, decided we were still hungry (big surprise) and went out for ice-cream. At Friendly's the waitress loved us, and challenged us to eat the 12 scoop sundae. Of course we had to devour it (even after three of us had just eaten some Krispy-Kreams on the way) and we definitely impressed the other patrons and the wait staff, who applauded us. We decided we needed some craziness afterwards, and Sarah and Hannah brought up how they had always wanted to swim in the moats at mini-gold courses. So we found an adequate moat, jumped the fence and plastic rock mountain and jumped in the blue-dyed water! The golfers were annoyed, but after we splashed around for a bit, we got out and ran back to Leah's get-away car (a bit more effective than the golf-cart). Last stop: the beach. We didn't have our bathing suits on us, and our clothes were already too cold to wear outside, so we decided to take a natural approach to swimming that night... that one's for you Kiki. Thanks for the challenge.
Today: More beach days, and who knows what else. It's going to be a crazy week!