Silent Night

Life is hard to figure out. You can make all the wrong decisions and all the right decisions. There will be times when you're cruel and selfish - there will be times when you're kind and giving. At times you will hate yourself and at times you will love yourself more than those around you. If you haven't done all of these things then you haven't even begun to live. Allow your actions to speak just as loud as your words and be the best person you can be. You're never alone and the journey is never over. Learn something about yourself every day, whether it be bad or good. Love everyone. Each day is the beginning of something extraordinary - you just have to make it extra ordinary.

Holly Jolly Christmas

All I can do is sigh. I haven't been on this thing in over a month now! Maybe I should add "keep up to date with my blog" to my list of New Year's resolutions. That's a thought, huh? I can't kid myself. I'll have to accept that my blog entries are sporadic. Life always gets in the way. It's either work, school, or friends. I'm going mad! In the best way possible :-)

Christmas has come and gone in a flash! The holiday was wonderful. My mother and grandmother always seem to bump heads when it comes to how to run a household and keep up with house work. No matter the occasion they find a way to exchange sarcastic comments. It never puts a serious damper on the holidays - they're always saved by a great meal! We can't help but continuously chew therefore we can't talk to one another. My father, his girlfriend Pam, and her granddaughter Monique came down as well for a few hours. We opened up presents at around 2PM. My mom sang in her church choir that morning, so the day started a little late. Then we all sat down to a great dinner. 

Christmas is my favorite holiday. My family hasn't necessarily carried out traditions over the years. I suppose more so they're not as prominent because I'm becoming an adult and I no longer run down the stairs at 8AM to a mountain of presents - everything is a lot more laid back. Being with my family, no matter how crazy and loud they are, is a blessing. Even if I have trouble enjoying the feuds after the day is over and everything has settled I can sit back, laugh, and appreciate all the good out of the day. And there is always plenty of it! The best part of the day was watching my mom and grandmother's eyes bug out of their heads when they saw the pictures I had taken of all the Christmas decorations. Watching my mom open her Peanuts presents was priceless as well! Love and family are all that is important, whether the holiday's go as planned or not. They will always be there. Happy Holidays and a promising New Year to all!

A

PS. This will probably be the seventeenth time I've said this, but this year I will do my best to keep up with this blog for myself! It's therapeutic. Sometimes it's nice to just have a release.

It's Christmas! Almost...

I've dusted off my blog and got the keys moving again! I found my way back after about a month. Something to note is that I'm currently sitting in my Mass Media & Society class discussing the ethics behind the decision for the press to release a photo of a man committing suicide on 9/11. That may have completely changed the feel of this entry, but don't fret! I'm choosing to update my blog at this moment to distract myself from this upsetting class discussion.


Much has changed in a month and I believe one thing that has drastically changed is my writing! My writing classes have proved very useful and informative. I've been practicing different kinds of writing from short stories to poetry. My most recent activity was a piece of writing called a Stonehenge. That was a tough assignment! A Stonehenge consists of only three sentences: the first two are descriptive, addressing the five senses to set the scene, and the third sentence contains an action. The point of this activity was to recreate a memory without writing a novel. We did numerous drafts and for the final it was matched up with a picture of our choosing to sum up the moment depicted in the three sentences. Tough stuff!

My major has proven to be the proper fit for me and I couldn't be happier pursuing a degree in Professional Writing. I have also launched a Twitter profile for my potential bookstore that I'd like to open once I graduate college. My best friend Morgan and I were throwing around names for a few weeks and she came up with something marvelous. I want my bookstore to be just used books, but also with a tea shop attached to it. Morgan proposed the name "Novel-Tea Books". A cute play on words and it's absolutely perfect! Not to pester, but if you're interested in donating any used books you have or showing support, follow the account: @novelteabooks. I thought there was no harm in trying to get the name out there and get a small business going while I'm still in school, therefore I can get it rolling even sooner!


Now, just humor me. I am obsessed with Twitter and it's partially unhealthy. But I've had some pretty cool experiences thus far. I've made some connections that I wouldn't be able to do on anything such as Facebook. My favorite band, O.A.R, consistently "tweets" and over the summer I met Richard On and Mikel Paris, the guitarist and keyboard/percussionist. I also follow a few of my favorite reality stars from Teen Mom and Teen Mom 2. Yes, I am one of those girls! I like to see how girls my age would handle parenthood. Anyway, I've actually been replied to by a few people I follow. In my previous blog entry I did freak out that Richard replied to me. It may seem silly, but I truly find it so neat that I can talk with these people on a website when they're celebrity status. It's so cool.

I visited the waterfront with Andrew the other day to relive the memory of the O.A.R concert this summer. I tweeted about it and mentioned Mikel and Richard about how I met them and Mikel responded to me. Chelsea from Teen Mom 2 favorite my tweet that I posted to reply to hers. I asked Jenelle, also from Teen Mom 2 how she made her hair look so fantastic, and she responded. And Jerry, the saxophonist from O.A.R, retweeted me when I posted my iPod engraving that was O.A.R lyrics. Minor things yet they're really cool.

At work we've got a lot going on. An exciting bit of news from work is that we are receiving new sweatshirts and tshirts. They won't be part of our Student Ambassador uniform, but gifts from the admissions team and from ourselves. The sweatshirts are unique to this academic year and will be purchased by us on the SA team.

JB, my boss, and I came up with designs and I'm so excited to order these and wear them around. They'll be sick. The sweatshirt is simple, but the tshirt is designed as a band tour tshirt with all of our admissions events listed on the back. We will be one snazzy looking team by the end of the year! I'm really looking forward to these!

Now the title of this entry is called, "It's Christmas! Almost..." and there is a reason for that. My apartment is already decked out for Christmas time. Some people probably find this a little excessive. My mom has even said it's far too early to celebrate Christmas because it isn't even Thanksgiving yet. Cara, my roommate, and I completely disagree. One night we just jumped in the car and went to the Christmas Tree Shop to buy $50 worth of Christmas decorations. We have our little tree which came pre-lit, stockings hung by the windowsill, our own little nutcracker, and icicle lights. Not to mention we listened to Christmas music while we decorated and frequently play it while we're hanging around the apartment. 

The aftermath of our purchases dirtied the apartment for the night. It was totally worth it. We're still adding to our decor now, so it isn't over yet! We plan on filling our stockings and actually placing presents underneath our tree. It's my first real place and real Christmas on my own. An exciting and heartwarming experience ahead :-).

Phew! I've exhausted my fingers at this point. I always say this, but hopefully I'll keep up with this more and be able to focus on day to day events rather than try to summarize a months worth of change. Life is good right now and getting better as I look forward. I've got all I need.

-A

I Feel Home

It's Columbus Day weekend and I'm at home in MA. The last two weeks were absolutely hectic. I couldn't find a moment's peace to sit down and write about everything that was going on. It's all over with now, so I'm able to relax at home! Luckily my boss was generous enough to give me my Friday shift of from work, so Andrew and I decided to take a bus back to Boston on Thursday night after our classes were over. Thursdays are my horrible days. I have all five of my classes back to back until 6:15PM. 

We found this great service called Megabus. Usually the two of us would look into Greyhound, like everyone else does. Greyhound is $60 for a roundtrip ticket though! And it depends on where you go! I had checked what a bus to Boston would cost and it was up to $120 roundtrip! Megabus got us to Boston and will get us back for only $5. That's unheard of! It was worth a very long day. 

Now I'm at home and it's surreal. I thought coming home again would be easy. Last year it was strange because it was the first time I was experiencing leaving for college and coming home for breaks and such. This time last year I was headed to Wellesley for the weekend and it's been so inexplicably strange. Sitting in my room last night made me experience extreme deja vu. I'm not sure why, but it really bothered me. I was at a loss and didn't know what to do. The whole situation from a few weeks ago during Classy Night has messed me up (congratulations asshole!) It isn't bothering me day and night, but it's been only a year since I started college and so much has changed. Some of it is hard to deal with on a daily basis and some of it I've been able to shrug off and move on. Being at home during this weekend is deja vu and I don't really know what to do. I just wish I could be back with Andrew in Burlington.

I go back and forth so much that I usually confuse myself. Being back at school this year has been very hard. Adjusting to having a lot less free time, working almost 24/7, and never getting a day off or alone has been brutal. Coming home this weekend was what I needed, but I am having a tough time actually enjoying and embracing down time. I'm more stressed out being alone in the quiet of my house than I was constantly on the run doing things for school or work. Now all I want to do is go back because whenever I come home I realize I have no plan in motion in MA. I have a job, I go to school, and I'm moving forward in every aspect of my life in VT. In MA I'm right back in high school with no job, not even going to school, and nothing to push me forward. I don't like that feeling. It makes me anxious and extremely upset.

This may sound like an upsetting entry, but I'm truly happy to be home and to have a break from everything. Tomorrow I get to see my dad and Ethan! It's great to be able to see my family in such a short period of time. I'm looking forward to going back to school, but for now I should just enjoy my time at home. I need to take in all the quiet and the tranquility while it lasts!

Miracles Do Happen!...

My shortest post in the history of blogging is about to be posted. This is it. Last night Richard On, the guitarist of my favorite band O.A.R, posted pictures of a dinner he made. He had cooked up Crab Fried Rice and it looked delicious. So I casually tweeted him back and asked if he had a recipe, because hey, it looked mouth watering. I didn't think he'd respond, I could only imagine how many tweets he gets a day from fans. BUT HE DID AND I WAS SUPER EXCITED! I feel like it's so rare for a celebrity to respond to a personal post like that, BUT HE DID! :DDD

I mean, not for nothing, but to talk with Richard on the internet and of all things get a recipe from him...that's pretty darn cool! Andrew freaked out the second he saw it since he found it before I did. Thanks Richard! I'll be cooking this up some time soon! Maybe I'll post a picture and thank him when the time comes.

Going And Going And Going...

I honestly don't know what I would do if I didn't have two days off during the week. If you look at it I really only have one day off, seeing as I work all day on Friday. Wednesday is my day off from everything...aside from homework that is. The weekends go by far too quickly and I always feel like there is another task at hand that I need to complete before a deadline. Needless to say, sophomore year is proving to be trying and very time consuming.


Even last year I didn't see myself as this busy with school and work, not to mention throwing in a bit of a social life there. Now I hardly have time to see anyone other than my roommate Cara and Andrew because we have two of the same classes and he's close by. Everyone else is either a bus ride away or a decent walking distance. Or if you're Morgan, you're back in your home state attending school. Schoolwork itself doesn't allow any type of travel, that includes a shuttle ride to Quarry Hill, but add work into that equation and there is no possibility. I even work less hours than I did last year! 15 hours instead of 22 cuts back pay too, so I have less income and I'm now feeding myself and grocery shopping every other week. I found out that Hannfords is pretty cheap, so at least I can shop for a significant amount of food for less money.

It may seem like I'm angry, but that isn't truly how I feel about this entire year. I'm mainly stressed out, drained, and strained most days. I love my classes, which is certainly different than last year. I hated a majority of my classes last year and it made doing well in school miserable and difficult. I even love doing my work for my classes to be honest, it is just time consuming. And now that I'm at Spinner Place, I need to be up hours before my class starts which means I need to be in bed by 9PM most nights. That cuts down a lot of time I had last year. My friends are spread out and just as busy and I never have enough energy to go from work, to classes, to homework, to going out with people. Ahhh!

Even with all of this craziness, I have A LOT to look forward to in the next few weeks! Every year Champlain offers an event for $10 called Dead North, which is a haunted corn maze and hay ride in Danville, Vermont. It's said to be extremely frightening and me, Andrew, and Lauren decided to take the risk this year! It's going to be on October 1. Many of my co-workers are also going, so this should be a terrifying time! Andrew said he was hesitant because if he gets scared by someone jumping out of the cornmaze, he may hit them out of impulse. They carry chainsaws and follow you and say scary things in your ears. Luckily they can't touch you or I'd poop my pants. 

Also that same weekend, Christian will be coming to Burlington to visit!!! He was in basic training for infantry in the army since April and he is finally on leave for 10 days!!! I've been writing him letters all summer and only three weeks ago I was able to hear his voice over the phone for over an hour. I can't even begin to express how happy I am to see him soon and how much I have missed him. He is looking great and is so excited to start doing what he's always wanted to do. He'll be in Burlington on September 30 and it couldn't come soon enough! I plan to get a group together so we can all go out to dinner and throw a litter party for him. I can't wait to have him home again.

THAT SAME WEEKEND, a few of us old McDonald Hall goers are getting together again as a reunion gathering for a Classy Night! We had Classy Night the first Saturday of every month in McDonald Hall and now that we're all over the place on and off campus, it has been difficult to see one another. We're going to make it happen when Christian is here to relive old times. Pfft, I say old as if it were so long ago. Danger and I planned it all out and hopefully it will happen! I miss everyone a lot and we all had such good memories in McDonald. Why not keep them coming? Let's make some new good memories, even if we aren't all the best of friends. I care about them all and they made my freshman year memorable. I want it to keep happening!

I'll have to push through this week. That includes volunteering at the Burlington Book Festival on Friday night. It is required for my Intro. to the Writing Profession class and not for nothing, but I have no interest. We have to volunteer and I did so to take pictures of the event. Even if I have no interest in being there, I can be doing something I like. I like to take pictures, so it will be fun. That day will be rough though. I work 8:15AM-4:30PM and then the book festival starts at 7PM and goes until 10PM. I'll be dead by the end of it. We will see how it all goes. 

The FINAL event of the next few weeks would be the Sophomore Symposium on October 2. For my LEAD requirement at Champlain I need to attend a guest speaker and participate in a meeting and debrief afterward. I don't know who the speaker is and again this is required. I was also invited to a Leader's Breakfast that same morning at 9AM, since I am considered a "leader" on campus by being a Student Ambassador. I was pleasantly surprised and kind of honored to be invited and I plan on attending. We get to meet the speaker and talk with him about our goals and dreams before we see him speak that afternoon. I'm excited to do so, because not everyone gets this opportunity. I plan on doing some research on him before I attend. Apparently he's a very driven guy!

All of these events will be fun, stressful, and they will most likely drive me crazy, but I'm looking forward to every part of it. My outlook on life and my daily tasks has had a complete makeover since last year. I look at things as "They need to be done, might as well make them enjoyable." I try to keep an open mind and look forward to how it will spice up my life or improve it. I love my life, with its ups and downs. If I'm not positive about my life, who will do it for me? No one :) Might as well grasp on to opportunities and try new things.

A Tough Year Ahead...

My blog was abandoned, alone, cold, left out in the rain, and has had dirt kicked in its face. I've lost touch with it again! It isn't that I grew tired of it, I just couldn't find time to sit down each day and reflect! It's been damaging in its own way, yet I did keep a handwritten journal for the majority of the summer. Part of me truly wants to post a lengthy entry about my entire summer, but most of it is a blur because it seems to have been so long ago.

BUT, I might as well recall my summer highlights. I was ecstatic to attend my very first Red Sox game this summer! That is number one, in order of occurrence. Living 20 minutes outside of Boston, you would have thought I'd visited Fenway at some point in the last 19 years, but no! Andrew surprised me with Red Sox tickets for June 17th! We spent the afternoon in Boston until the game and saw the Red Sox beat the Brewers! 

The next highlight was definitely going to Cape Cod with Andrew and his family. I had only been to Cape Cod once in my life, but this time I was at the end of the arm in Truro, 15 minutes outside of Provincetown. The car ride was long but consisted of sleep and snacking, after a 4 hour trek we found ourselves at the Seascape Motor Inn right at the edge of the Bay in the arm of Cape Cod. We spent a week on the beach, over at the pool, and in Provincetown. P-Town is so vibrant and I actually fell madly in love with it. I had to store it in the back of my mind that at some point in my life I want to settle in Provincetown and live there for the remainder of my days. It was a life changing trip!

The most spectacular and memorable events I attended this summer took place in Boston at the Bank of America Pavilion and at the Lake Champlain Maritime Festival in Burlington, Vermont. O.A.R is my favorite band, all thanks to Andrew, and both Andrew and I had the opportunity to see them live in concert two days in a row! On August 10 me, Andrew, his brother Colin, and Morgan got to see them in Boston with the opening band, SOJA. It was a GREAT show and such a fantastic experience seeing them live in concert. We were out of control while they performed. But the next day just Andrew and I drove up to VT to see them again. Not only did we watch their soundcheck up front and personal, we ended up with front row seats the whole show and met Michael Paris and Richard On of the band! Marc the lead singer also blew me a kiss, which made my heart sink, I can't deny! The absolute best and once in a lifetime concert experience that I wouldn't trade for the world.

The summer was awesome and hectic and awful all in one, but I wouldn't change it for the world. Now I'm back at school in VT and it is pretty tough. Andrew lives in Lakeview, which is a hall on campus specifically for sophomores. Lauren also lives there. I live in Spinner Place, which is an apartment complex in Winooski, a 15 minute shuttle ride. I live with my co-worker, Cara, who will be graduating this year and for the most part it is working out perfectly. It has taken some getting used to, but I cannot complain. The first few weeks were rough due to personal problems on both of our ends, but we are very compatible roommates. My classes are tough this year and very demanding. I've spent almost all of my free time doing homework or working in the Student Ambassador's office. 

Buying my own groceries is hard as well. My paycheck is almost always entirely spent after I put a certain amount in my savings account. Getting used to adult adjustments is a difficult change and I don't complain because it needs to happen. I'm also lucky that I get to experience living on my own in a sense with my utilities covered. Seriously, I wouldn't be able to do it on my own yet! Andrew and I have been struggling with not living in the same building, but we are making it work and enjoying the time we have together as life becomes more and more complicated.

It's growing up time and I'm not sure I'll ever be truly prepared for it. I'll hope for the best and see what this year has to offer me! 

For now this post has exhausted itself. I'll hopefully keep up with this now that I've acknowledged its existence once again! Toodles.