member of the week: sydney freaking miller

so you know how sometimes there’s a lot of trash in the trashcan, and instead of taking the trash out, people just keep piling stuff on top? and then you go to throw something away and the whole thing’s overflowing with banana peels and used Kleenex and other unpleasantries. and you say to yourself, “ugh. why do people do that? why don’t they just take out the trash?” but then to prove a point you go ahead and strategically place your trash on top… oh, that’s just the o-house?

well we were in such a state last week. i am fairly certain that the trash needed taken out for a solid three days. i know because there was no room for my empty cereal box, so i just put it back in the cupboard. sometimes its not that we’re lazy, it’s just that we’re busy. (but mostly, we're lazy.) and that’s when i decided that whoever took out the trash would be the o-house member of the week. guess who it was:

not sydney miller.

no, it was our very own abby trammel. i should have seen that one coming a mile away. abby has already been the o-house member of the week and therefore is ineligible to receive the honor again. sorry abs.

so i chose an alternative member of the week, who is equally deserving. that’s right:

SYDNEY MILLER.

there are any other reasons that syd deserves roommate of the week. i texted the other o-housers to see what they thought needed to be included in this post. here are a few responses:

“i think it is of vital importance that the capital of Australia was named after our very own sydney miller. and heath ledger and surfing came from there.” – jennie hull

“gotta do something about b**** week.”—abby trammel ( this is, of course, a term coined by sydney. and if you don’t know what it is, sorry. i have to keep this PG.)

now, obviously there are about 293418892 things about sydney that should be included in this post, but i don't have time to write all of them, and you don't have time to read them... unless you have no life. so instead of typing out a long list of syd's best attributes and idiosyncrasies, i am instead sharing her semi-fictitious daily schedule, which should give you a pretty clear indication of how wonderful she truly is. i now present:

a day in the life of sydney miller

6:38 am: wakes up

6:52: out the door

6:54: grabs some starbucks

7:00: prayer at the middle school

7:42: back at the o-house, making herself look like an adult

8:15: back to starbucks

*note: sydney doesn't dress like this on a regular basis. i'm merely proving the point that the girl loves her some starbucks.

8:28: starting the day at meadowlark, hanging out with all of her 87 year-old BFFs

9:30: meeting about what kind of jello to serve

12:30 done at meadowlark for the day… still no decision on the jello

12:38 lunch at the o-house, puts bagel bites in the oven

12:39 reading O magazine and talking to middle school girls online

1:17 needs some coffee, goes downstairs. remembers the bagel bites. smoke is pouring out of the oven. no big deal. has cinnamon sugar toast instead.

1:38 out the door to go to the younglife office

1:45 some sort of younglife meeting

2:30 pick up some middle school girls from school. go to sonic for happy hour. duh.

3:49 drop off middle schoolers at home, simultaneous conversation with bethany brabec about future life plans

4:00 locked out of the o-house. frantic ringing of the doorbell so that she doesn't miss a moment of OPRAH.

5:00 work out class

6:07 post workout trip to java, sees 47 people she knows.

6:41 baking cookies at the o-house/ kitchen counseling session with sarah hach

6:59 another attempt to burn down the o-house

7:30 younglife/wyldlife event #2 of the day. undoubtedly involves wearing some sort of weird costume

8:51 back at the o-house, time to put on sweat pants, watch real housewives of new york and drink mountain dew out of a wine glass

8:54 joined by the other o-house girls. discussion about that day’s episode of oprah. turns into discussion of syd’s career goals: marry rich and give away money.

9:23 time for another cup of coffee

9:25 sits in room, plots ways to be more edgy, watches grey’s anatomy online

9:53 writes 2 page paper about her feelings. homework is done for the week.

10:01 looks up recipes for the next o-house dinner

10:21 meeting on keira’s bed. discussion includes: other people’s relationships, pioneer woman recipes and shampoo.

11:28 bed time

2:38 am becca comes to bed.

3:19 am becca gets up for the day. syd never knows she was there.

the end.

syd: we love you so much. mostly because you brought toby into our lives and came up with the idea for the blog. and gave us lucky charms for valentine's day.

welcome back to the o-house.

dear blog readers,

i would like to begin with an apology. it has been six weeks (give or take) since the last o-house blog post, and that is far too long. i could blame it on my job, my internship, my classes, my various volunteer commitments and/or extended (although inadequate) time spent in a kia rondo, but i won’t do that. i will merely say that i am sorry, and that i am optimistic that the rest of the semester will be better.

the o-house girls returned to manhattan after a wonderful Christmas break. syd took a trip to seattle to see becca, and had a wonderful time eating crumpets and chocolate pasta with the melvins, including the british grandmum (which is a word i think i just invented). she was, however, disappointed with the lack of rainfall. shocker. see cute pic below:

to celebrate everyone coming home, we made a delicious hot fudge sundae cake, the uncooked version of which can be seen here:

sorry, i forgot to take a picture when it was done. but take my word, that it looked and tasted amazing after it came out of the oven. and here’s a photo of everyone else cooking while i avoid all things domestic under the pretense of “documenting for the blog”:

the most exciting happening at the o-house in recent weeks occurred on January 29. as you know (or should know), this is a very special day, i.e. KANSAS DAY and OPRAH’S BIRTHDAY. to celebrate, the o-house girls and friends made a dirt cake with an O made out of gummy worms on top. see cake and #1 oprah fans below:

the best part of the evening came in the form of our three distinguished guests. first up, former o-house inhabitant and current o-house bff, jayne long. here she is pictured with keira in one of their finest photos:

i would like to point out that i was hard pressed to find pictures from this evening that did not include jayne. she loves the camera. and the camera loves her, obviously. here she is again with the girls of pact crew, including distinguished guest #2 marion marie griffin:

marion has been to the o-house on multiple occasions, although you would never be able to convince sydney of such. as a result, every appearance she makes is met with exclamations of “welcome to the o-house! guys, marion has never been here before.”

and finally, here’s jayne again with our third guest: bethany ida brabec. she’s displaying her patented “sassy ass” face:

bethany is also an o-house alum. sometimes she forgets that doesn’t live here anymore. and i’m not complaining about that. i would gladly welcome her back to our bunk bed for a 3 a.m. conversation about the male gender, and i would give anything to hear, “i have to go to bed. i have to be at work in two hours.”

well this post is getting longer than i intended. let me close with this, the classic oprah “hug/handshake”:

thanks for visiting the o-house. in the words of my gramma, "hurry back."

p.s. sorry for the profanity. i couldn't resist.

i'm dreaming of an o-house christmas

pre-preface:

i want everyone to know that this blog post was written days ago. i've tried posting it multiple times, but my technological incompetencies have gotten the best of me. and so i'm making one more attempt as i sit alone at the o-house, missing my roommates and hoping that landlord dave doesn't burst through the door and see me without pants on.

preface:

i’d like to clear up some confusion caused by the last post. becca melvin’s ex-boyfriend “stu” is not a real person. stu is short for studio, where becca spends 97% of her time. hence the joke- "oh becca, are you going to hang out with stu again?" this was explained in an early post, which apparently not everyone read. my apologies to becca and everyone who thought that she was really dating someone named stu (which is an awful name. more of a thick soup than a name, really).

making Christmas lists has been all the rage at the o-house recently. i’m not going to post everyone’s list, obviously. but if you’re shopping for abby, just look at your grandma’s list and buy something from that. if however you’d like to save time/money and buy something for the house as a whole, please check out our collective list:

1. stairs that don't creak, a driveway that doesn't suck and a heated kitchen floor.

2. new house crushes. it's been awhile.

3. a studio so that becca can work from home, a library for abby and keira and a swimming pool for everyone else.

4. a remote for the dvd player. or batteries for the old one.

5. an alarm system: something really complicated with codes to push in and fingerprint scanners and a direct line to the riley county police department.

6. tickets to see oprah. duh.

7. a basement heater of which anthony fox and all of our dads approve. unlike his little guy:

8. permanent custody of toby.

9. shacker beds for everyone!

10. cooking lessons, or even better- a personal chef. here's why:

well, there ya go. merry christmas to all. see you next semester!

O no no no

well i was all set to reveal this week’s o-house member of the week. jennie hull almost claimed the prize after she was the first roommate to compliment my new haircut, which is the most direct route to winning my favor. but then before i could piece together a rough draft in my head… a dark cloud settled over the o-house and i had a trauma-induced case of writer's block.

i can’t say it. you’ll just have to read it for yourself:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/TV/11/19/oprah.ends.show/index.html

the o-house had a little meeting last night in which i revealed the news. there was some shock, a few near tears, and lots of pondering as to what we will do everyday at 4:00.

the news brought to the forefront a long-standing o-house goal: attend a taping of the oprah show. let me assure you, we’re working on it.

and so, it is with heavy hearts that we announce this week’s (honorary) o-house member of the week: oprah winfrey. she is the namesake of our home, our dream boss, our role model, and the blood within our veins… metaphorically speaking.

we love you, oprah. we love you so, so much.

welcome to the o-house.

After months of trying to get our own reality tv show and entertain all of america, the o-house has decided to do the next best thing: blog. And in this debut blog entry, we would like to acquaint you with the girls of 1638, as well as provide a brief history of the o-house.

The o-house derives its name two ways:

1. It’s on Osage Street.

2.We love Oprah. A lot.

The o-house is composed of six college girls and their canine BFF, Toby. Two live in the basement: Becca and Jennie. Four live upstairs: Sydney, Abby, Keira and Sarah. In the coming weeks we will spotlight each o-house member, but in the meantime, here is a quick rundown:

Jennie- sweet, likes to enter through the side door

Becca- artsy, likes ditching the o-house to hang out with stu

Sydney- edgy, likes "chill nights" on the couch

Abby- feisty, likes the kitchen to be clean

Keira- efficient, likes the door to be locked

Sarah- sexy (this is not a joke), likes writing the house blog

the o-house enjoys a relatively low-drama existence. but don't be fooled. this doesn't mean that the o-house is without excitement or blog-worthy material. we have an entire dry-erase board on our fridge filled with ideas for future blog entries.