Hey Heat Wave!

hi ladies,

I have no left the lovely New York City to be reunited with my family in upstate New York- you would think it would be cooler here, but no, it's supposed to hit 100 degrees today, and 110 later this week. hooray! luckily we have a river close by for chilly swimming.

New York was great- I took care of a 2 yr old named Josh who loved juice, cars, and the Katy Perry's Sesame Street music video. We had fun, sometimes he bit me, and pinched me, but no big deal. Mostly we played at the park and I tried to teach him how to swim and say his letters.

When I wasn't working, I went on several adventures- D.C. for the 4th of July, some SpaMo family dinners (avocado pie is DELICIOUS- ask Claudia for the recipe), and lots of solo exploring of the city. If you are in New York and want a cheap and super delicious breakfast, I highly recommend going to El Malecon on 96th and Amsterdam- get the cafe con leche and an egg&bacon sandwich. It's the bomb, really.

Then this past weekend I went to Amherst for Em and Amina's bday- so fun! Saw people, ate red velvet ice cream cake, partied, said good bye to people, which was sad, but the visit was great.

Can you tell that one of my favorite summer activities is eating?

I miss yall a lot.

love, t

Amherst, still

Summer is going by so quickly! I only have two weeks left here working for Sarat. Work is going well, but it's a little morbid. We are developing morose senses of humor. We have started moving around because the library is too boring to sit in for 8 hours a day. We went to Rao's a few times (try to granola bars if you haven't!) and we discovered the Esselon Cafe, which I had heard about, but never been too. It is delicious! In other food news, Amherst got a frozen yogurt store called GoBerry, it is super and Nicole and I have been there at least three times already.

The 4th of July here was cute. The night before, we went to a house that Fred is house sitting. Amina let me drive her car, and Rebecca got a lot more confident in my driving skills (yay!). On the 4th, Amherst has a parade, which bizarrely was all trucks and no people, except for two Scottish bagpipe bands. But the fireworks at UMass were really pretty, and there are still a lot of people in Amherst so most of us went together.

I have yet to go to SULA, because it seems kind of intimidating. But, Tom is here and he did convince me to go to a pick-up game with him at UMass. There weren't really many girls, but there were a lot of really good arhs boys. Stephan was there being competitive. Nicole and I tossed and then decided getting frozen yogurt was a better use of our time, so we left.

We are going to see Harry Potter at midnight on Thursday. Nicole and I got costume stuff today. Her's is more creative than mine, but I like mine too. She is a snitch. I didn't know what to be, but she said I should be Ron because we both have red hair and are afraid of spiders, so I got a really baller outfit.

Next weekend is Amina and Emily's birthdays, and Emily is going to come to Amherst to visit us! I am so excited - I love birthdays, and double birthdays are even better, especially when they are both people I love so much! They are having a party, which is going to be super fun. Perhaps there will be cake. I still have to think of some good gifts, but I have a week.

Love,

Aubrey

P.S. Monty facebook chatted me yesterday. So funny. He says I should go to SULA, so perhaps I will try it out next week.