A Success!

For the past month I have been lying to my boyfriend, hiding information from him, going around behind his back... all for the important night of March 29th. With some help from his friends, I stealthily pulled off a surprise party for his 30th birthday! He's claiming he "knew something was up" but I don't believe him for a second. He's in general very good at figuring things out but he'll let you know if he has. In this case, I did not hear one peep out of him about what he thought was meeting up with 2 recently wedded friends. So, I won :) His friends were great and chipped in to buy him a Nintendo Wii, which was amazing! The look on his face was priceless when he realized he was unwrapping a Wii (he's really been wanting one). He was really trying to keep his birthday quiet, but leave it to his girlfriend to change that one around! He's been saying for a couple of months now he would be going into hiding for the couple of weeks surrounding his 30th. We successfully worked around those plans of his and had such a fun time with everyone! Here are some pictures from the night:

This was after I had to push him through the door -
he failed to escape

so happy!

Playing his Wii

Thanks to everyone for their help! Couldn't have asked for things to come together more perfectly :)

Catching Up

last moments with my 1996 mazda protege... had 231,000 miles on it and she still wasn't giving up! Had it since my junior year of high school... RIP















kissing mazda goodbye!!










My first picture of my new car! It's a 2001 Ford Focus (and it has air conditioning! can't wait for the summer) Such an unexpected spring break present!

Focus!

I got a new car!! More details to follow...

Watch it

Meet Dr. Randy Pausch. He gives a great lecture that I think everyone should take the 10 minutes to watch... it really gives you a positive perspective on living, facing obstacles, and making the most of life.

The Last Lecture

why is he following me?!

soo I swing by cvs on my way home from classes today - have to pick up some more ink for my printer. I go up to pay and who turns around at the register next to me but CREEPY MAN!! am I going to start seeing him everywhere now?!

gulp. help.

whyyy

Awkward moment of the day GOES TO: creepy man

So I'm walking out of the local rinky dink grocery store and I go to start my car before loading the grocery bags in so that it might be just a degree warmer when I finish. As I go to my grocery basket to grab some bags the creepy scrawny old man parked next to me has rolled his window down and shouts "goin' to the game tonight?!"

Me: "Noo"
Creepster: "No?"
Me (trying still to be somewhat nice): "No - I don't have tickets"
Creepster (as I pick up speed packing my car): "A celebrity like me can't even get tickets!"

...Now. if he was a celebrity, why would he a) be talking to me, and b) driving that beat up 1980 oldsmobile...

Me: "heh"
Creepster: "I'm a musician you know"
Me: "Oh yeah? good!"
Creepster: "My name is Miller by the way"
brief awkward silence
Me: "that's good."

I then run to put my cart away, get back in my car as he says to me "take care now" and rolls up his window.

I then peel out checking my rear view mirror every 5 seconds to ensure that he is not following me.

Wasting Some Time

Photo Survey... stolen from Holly :)

1. go to photobucket.com or google image search.
2. type in your answer.
3. only use the first two pages.
4. copy the html and paste here.
5. have fun.

1. What is your first name?














2. Where do you go to school?


3. Who is your best friend


4. What's your favorite color?


5.Who's your celebrity crush?


6. What's your favorite song?


7. What's your favorite movie?


8. What's your favorite vacation spot?


9. What's your favorite dessert?



10. What are you most afraid of?


11. What do you want to be?


12. What's your favorite time of day?



13. Who do you love most in life?



14. In one word describe yourself:

Allow me to be selfish for a moment...

I'm not going to call them resolutions because I feel most people don't keep their resolutions. Instead I'll refer to them as goals since they are just that.
*be able to run several miles without a problem
*save enough money to buy myself a decent car for summer (my mazda has no a.c.)
*make deans list again
*eat out less
*continue to surround myself with people who are supportive and have a positive influence on my life


Short and simple but necessary. I find I'm finally on track with my life. It's strange how everything eventually falls into place. I always thought it was so cliche when people said that to me, but it turns out they actually knew what they were talking about. I find myself almost completely comfortable with who I am. It is an amazing feeling and a relief that I am finally at that point in my life. I am in an environment that is friendly and positive and makes me feel happy just to be there. Walking around campus, I feel that I belong. I never had that at Ithaca, whether it was the actual atmosphere there or if it was my attitude at that point towards being there. I suppose I am and always will be a Connecticut girl at heart.

I am living with my best friend of nearly 20 years - something we used to dream about when we were young. Despite both originally attending different colleges, we both found ourselves at UConn at just about the same time. Again, it's funny how things seem to come together.

I have an amazing boyfriend who encourages me, supports me, humors me, listens to me, and hands me tissues when I cry.

I have been able to stay in contact with my 2 favorite ladies from Ithaca, which was a major fear of mine in the decision to transfer schools. Through all of our busy schedules, we still get a quick hi or catch-up or (in our true fashion) vulgar statement to each other.

I am so happy to be only 1 hour from home. I talk to my mom just about everyday and get to be engulfed by her hugs that I once took for granted. I am able to spend time with my dad as he goes through treatment once again. I still look back at my decision to take spring 2007 semester off and am so thankful that my gut told me to do so since my dad was diagnosed in January. Need I say it again? Funny how... you get it.

All in all, I am happy and loving life. Sure, I wish I could change some aspects but I find more and more that I look forward in life rather than backward just trying to better my life and maintain positive relationships around me.

Looking Back at 2007

January
-my semester off begins
-desperately try to find a job
-I tackle betsey's disgustingly filthy room and may have acquired several diseases because of such
-join a gym with the right intentions of getting back in shape not realizing who it'd lead me to meet

February
-I get the flu :(
-boys and girls club hires me and I start scaring little 1st graders with my eyes
-visit Ithaca to see Carrie and LNicks and the rest :) (and of course, Ithacappella)

March
-Jason asks me to our first date <3
-I get accepted to UConn as a Allied Health Sciences major
-I start physical therapy round 91283741346519803275 for my knee
-I miss my flight to Spain and therefore have to postpone my visit by 3 days...sad story

April
-I finally get to Spain (with the right passport) and thoroughly bond with the Spaniards
-I turn 21 and can finally give my sister back her i.d... *cough* I mean, get into bars!
-I begin finding out what a manipulating beast my "best friend" actually is... 'nuff said

May
-I win $700 at Bingo!

June
-I break my own record for longest I've stayed with a boyfriend
-Jill and I fulfill our dream of getting an apartment!
-I get kicked out of physical therapy.... again

July
-have successful knee surgery that has allowed me (after 3 years) to not be distracted by daily knee pain and inactivity
-see Rascal Flatts & Jason Aldean at Mohegan!

August
-begin classes at UConn and love it!
-get hired at Uno's as a waitress (fo' life)

September
-Jill turns 21 (finally!)

October
-we get a hamster... and it dies 3 days later :(
-UConn beats Southern Florida and we rush the field!

November
-work, exams, and papers... nothing too exciting except for Thanksgiving goodness

December
-I make deans list with a 3.65 gpa... my highest ever :)
-Betsey comes home and brings senor Alfonso with her
-huge family trip to NYC

Christmas, by Betsey

The Christmas morning escapades beautifully captured by my sister:

"Despite how obscenely commercial Christmas is, I love every bit of it: the bright colors, the flamboyant lights, the music, the constant eating and drinking. It’s like Las Vegas goes on tour once a year and hits small-town America. Thank jeebus it leaves la Celine in all of her Canadian glory behind. Gag. Aside from a Celine Dion holiday album, not even the annual crew of over-zealous Jesus fanatics who, along with the Nazi priest who actually forbade us from saying "Happy Holidays" (incidentally the same priest who actually yelled at me with his fist in the air for wondering aloud about reincarnation in my CCD class), come out of the woodwork to drone on about Christmas losing its original meaning can chip away at my holiday glee.

Christmas has yet to lose its special feel, even though we’re quite obviously no longer a pack of rugrats. Newer traditions (drinking, Mrs. Guarraia’s cheesecakes, Cortylandia) intertwine with the oldest ones, but the basics are still in place. It’s about being with your family. Rousing up a good fire in the fireplace. The Boston Pops and waging battles with wadded-up balls of wrapping paper. Flannel pajamas, giggles and surprises. Hopes for snow on Christmas morning. Pancakes and scavenging for batteries. That unexpected something in the very toe of your stocking that you didn’t come across before. The nostalgia for the days when Santa Claus still weighed out the year’s deeds and (hopefully) determined that you had indeed been more nice than naughty.

My cumulative vision of Christmas when we were children looks like something plucked right out of a Norman Rockwell painting. The Christmas tree stood in the corner, its strands of tiny bulbs blinking red, orange, green and blue weaving festively through the ornaments. We made sure to set out cookies and a tall glass of milk for Santa, along with enough carrots to fuel the whole gang of reindeer through the rest of their round-the-globe night.

Night would fall on Christmas Eve, and our parents would try to hustle us to bed with the classic “Santa won’t come if you’re not asleep” threat; this is not helpful, however, when you’re a seven-year old insomniac. Instead of struggling to stay awake to see what happened, I remember actually throwing myself into a sheer panic fearing that Santa Claus would know I was awake and skip on to the next house.

In the end, it'd all go off without a hitch, and come Christmas morning we’d be up before the sun was. Partly because we were early risers in our youth, but most because I’d feel a presence, open my eyes, and see my sister’s eyeballs no more than one inch from my face. She’s now 21 and has yet to relinquish her role as the Christmas Day family alarm clock. Once she managed to successfully awaken her first victim (me, since my room was the closest), she then sprang into full-speed action, bouncing up and down and off the walls like a super ball. My sister is also the one person who shot into super ball mode not only opening her own presents, but when everyone else opened their own.

Once we recruited my brother, we’d take on the task of getting our parents up. After spending long and torturous minutes poking and prodding our parents as if they were lethargic cattle, they'd finally groan awake and we'd give our first cheer of victory. We’d race to the top of the stairs, wriggling around in gut-wrenching agony which was only compounded when we realized our dad had full intentions of taking a shower (and his sweet time).

So we'd listen to the shower run, the three of us sitting side-by-side on the very top step. We weren't allowed to go downstairs, of course, until our parents gave us the green light... at which point we'd take off at speeds rivaling the Indy 500. The one time my brother crept silently down the stairs to take a peek around the corner, my sister and I sat in breathless fear until he safely returned and whispered, his blue eyes huge in awe, "he came!"

Finally, the parents, freshly showered and yet back in their pajamas for the sake of the pictures (when every opened present was followed by "ok, now hold it up" and a flash), would slowly emerge from their bedroom as if they were ethereal beings gracing us with their presence. My sister, still bouncing, would squeal “Can we go down yet?” and before we even heard an answer we would be scrambling down the stairs and sliding across tile floors until we reached the family room.

To our delight, the carrots had always been nibbled, the milk was always gone but for a few drops, and just a few crumbs were sprinkled on the plate where the cookies had once sat. Some years, Santa would leave behind one half-bitten Oreo, and we’d marvel at it as if it were the freakin’ holy grail.

So while we're no longer kids and we now know that our parents - and now we, as well - suffer through daunting credit card bills, Christmas is still Christmas. Plus, our presents are still signed "from Santa". "