Lawrence: 27 square miles of reality surrounded by Kansas.

That's the sticker that I bought at a store on the cute Massachusetts Street of downtown Lawrence, KS earlier today. Love this town! It's totally a mecca in the middle of the midwestern cornfields. We got in on Tuesday evening and are staying at St. John's School, an elementary school across the street from a wonderful park, a block from downtown, and about 3 blocks from KU. We're staying here till Saturday, working on building an entire house (a Habitat "Blitz Build") during our 3 day stay. Yesterday we had the luxury of sleeping in until 730 (quite the luxury, especially considering we were told tonight that our new wake up will be at 4am), followed by breakfast at a nearby church and a day at the build site in North Lawrence. Well, I only spent the morning building; in the afternoon I went with Becca, Roshan, and Erin to the Habitat ReStore a few miles away. The ReStore is a fantastic idea -- household items, parts, etc are recycled and dirt cheap! If I had a fixer-upper I woul totally look there for cheap doors, windows, floors, appliances, tiles, etc. It's such a wonderful thing, and open to everyone. I think it's just such a great resource. Last night a bunch of us went to see Harry Potter! It was pretty good, I won't spoil it for anyone who may not have gotten the chance to see it yet, but I will say that about 10 of us (myslef included) fell asleep because we are always just so damn tired. Plus the seats were the most comfortable seating we'd had in weeks! We built again today (we actually painted first, this included a painting contest quite similar to the fence-painting contest we witnessed at Tom Sawyer Days in Hannibal...I would just like to say that Becca, Kristi, and I beat Roshan, Justine, and Erin. Not only was our side of the house painted faster, but it looked prettier, too.), and will again tomorrow. Our free time has been spent at the bike shop (Sunflower Outdoor and Bike, GREAT SHOP), ice cream place (Maddy and Sylas's, also quite fantastic), and random places like Urban Outfitters, Aimee's Coffee Shop, Pita Pit, Bank of America, Brother's Bar (just like in Columbus!), and Weaver's Department store (super cute dresses for only $50, don't worry though Mom I didn't want to have it get wrinkled in my bag so I didn't buy the one I really wanted). We have been really deprived from civilization since we left New York (except for our time in Marietta and Cincinnati, OH) and this town is just so great! It does NOT feel like we are in Kansas. Even though I'm off the bike for a few days, I STILL CAN'T STOP EATING!!! It's so ridiculous how we all rush to get multiple pancakes, eggs, cereal, and fruit each morning, even though instead of biking 90 miles we're just putting in a few nails or raising the tressels of a roof. The food from various hosts here has been nothing short of amazing -- kind of like our entire trip. Here is what I ate today, just to give you a glimpse of what I eat when I DON'T bike: Breakfast: 3 pancakes with real maple syrup, 1 orange, 1 banana, some scrambled eggs. Mid-Morning snack: 2 gatorades -- 1 glacier freeze and 1 orange. Lunch: veggie sandwich donated by Habitat, too many cookies home made by Rachel's fam. Mid-afternoon snack: again too many cookies, these ones were sent to us by Erin's friend. Also 2 scoops of ice cream, sweet popcorn, and some fudge. Dinner: strawberries, an entire bowl of blueberries, salad, 2 veggie burgers with ketchup (but no buns), a brownie, and yes more ice cream. WOW. Also I went running and was pretty much dying, I still go once a week but I have definitely gained weight (ha, I wonder why), I mean when I run I can feel my body is just that much heavier. Also my legs are much more used to spinning so the running motion feels weird, and I actually have to breathe heavily (aerobic vs. anaerobic exercise) so yeah I was pretty much having an asthma attack as I ran thru Lawrence. Awesome! But seriously things continue to go well and I am still so pumped about this extraordinary experience :) Today was mail day and thanks again for all your packages and letters!!! Miss you all. HOOTIE.