Moving into the Apt

Overdue post I know but better now than never...
On the weekend of June 8th Mom and I drove through the night to arrive by morning to my new humble abode. I must say that people on the road are unkind to people with out of state license plates. I was so beyond pissed off when we had reached the 70mph stretch of road in Virginia seeing drivers doing the stupidest things. Can we agree that its not the safest thing to 'play games' on the road especially going at least 70+mph? Its so pointless especially when we're all going to the same place anyway.

We finally reached our destination around 10am and decided to eat breakfast at Grill Works, a nice family joint down the road from campus. Great way to start the day with North Carolina's own blueberry pancakes and sweet tea YUM :)

Above is a pic of the mini van we used to move my crap. Originally not happy about the minivan since we were supposed to have gotten a truck but whatevs...Later on we had a snack at Hursey's BBQ on Church St in Burlington which was also delicious.

Our snack. PS Did you know that Land-O-Lakes makes honey butter???? its awesome

the truck I dream to own

Ready to get things started we found that the keys to the apartment that were supposed to be in the safety box weren't there. A call to the super and a visit from the inn's employee to tell us that another tenant had taken the universal key was quite a let down. But we continued to stay positive. A visit to the storage place to load the car up gave us enough time to wait for the super to come open the door. Keys in hand we unloaded the rental car and started putting everything in its rightful place. A trip to Walmart and we finished sooner than later. Rest took up a huge chunk of time in the afternoon. It was nice to relax and sleep. Dinner was an experience to be remembered at Buffalo Wild Wings. We were ambitious and ate the hottest wings. OOOOOOOweee it was intense but I loved every bite!


Mom held out her surprise till Sunday when we went to Seagrove, NC to view the country's oldest pottery town. We also met up with one of my good friends Hillary who lives in Charlotte and recently graduated from UNC Charlotte! It was such a pleasant and inspirational experience to see all the potter's work. Not to mention eating at the Jugtown Cafe, yummiest pie I've ever had (peanut butter chocolate pie, coconut creme pie and banana pudding pie).

Reading and Perverts

Just when you think you can spend a few hours outside without being bothered by anyone or anything. Its a beautiful sunny day so I sat in the shade to start reading the last of the Stieg Larsson series "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest". I read to chapter two and continued to read as I was greeted by a older man who said he had been walking awhile and needed rest or something. So of course out of all the benches in the park he had to sit next to me. He began to ask me things and try to have a conversation. I didn't understand since usually when someone has a book in his or her hands should be a clear sign that he or she don't want to be bothered.

I get it. Some older people, especially men, like the idea of company being around someone else. However, considering I had a book in my hand I wanted to be left alone, outside to read. Ever since my good friend Hillary suggested to make day plans instead of being so frustrated that my plan to make no plans this summer is failing. I tested her suggestion today and of course I'm complaining about being disturbed. I know it might be silly but I really didn't want nor need to be bothered. Its weird how affected I am by a little disturbance in my daily plan.

Later tonight mom and I will be heading down south to Elon to gather my stuff out of storage and put everything into my apartment. I can't wait to get everything squared away and organized so its one less thing I have to worry about when I return in the fall. I'm looking forward to my hair cut appointment at Fire Salon as well as a surprise adventure an hour south towards Charlotte. Keep reading and please comment!

The Heights Festival and Morocco

Okay I apologize for my lateness posting this but I've tried to go with the flow and not adhere to a schedule. This summer is the last summer I have to relax, meditate, do nothing, do everything whatever until I graduate next May (pray be to God). So I figure I have to stick to my plan to not make plans and to take it one day at a time. However, with that I have definitetly caught up on the past summers I spent working my bum off during high school and college where I come to realize I needed this chill time.

So now I'm back from Morocco (which I'll talk about in brief later) and I'm ready to embark on new adventures in NJ or elsewhere this summer. Starting with a recent event in my neighborhood in Jersey City: The Heights Festival. Its an annual street festival which hosts a diverse selection of talent on three stages along Central Avenue and vendors of both local and near-local businesses come to celebrate living, working and having fun in our home, The Heights. We saw some good-ole original music, ate some kick-ass bbq and got sunburned. Here are a few photos to highlight some of the festivities:

I'm going to keep my description about Morocco to a minimum for reasons I don't care to share over this blog, however, if you are interested in my whole hearted opinion about my experience please feel free to email me: catcell11290@gmail.com

I left from JFK on May 22 and arrived the next morning into Casablanca! It was a long first day: traveling through Marrakech (2 hrs away from Casa) onward to the Berber Cultural Center/village (another 2hrs) not to mention a 3hr walk in the afternoon and an even later discussion and dinner. Four days to experience the life in a traditional Berber village I was satisfied knowing I had a great traditional experience: making traditional mint Moroccan tea, making tangeen/baking bread, getting water from the well, visiting the town 10 miles down the road, climbing up a mountain to a cave, hanging out with children in a local school, singing, dancing, and discussing tough issues. 

 BEFORE I climbed....

 AFTER...

 Winner of the Berber Center's tea making contest!

 The people with the least amount of points had to clean dishes.

The rest of the trip was on the road back to Marakesh, Rabat, Meknes, Fez and Casablanca. We visited a bunch of royal and historical monuments and places in Marakesh, Rabat and of course the Roman ruins in Volubilis.  We also experiences the sea in Rabat, artisan work and culture in historic Fez and ate great food with good people. Even though we were limited on our time in Casablanca we still stagged a visit to Hassan II mosque in the morning we left. It was unfortunate I couldn't see Rick's Cafe as shown in the classic film "Casablanca" but its all the more reason to revisit.