NP Diva

Hectic Lifestyles

2011-09-22T21:22:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone!!!
I know it's been FOREVER since I've last written, so I will do several blogs over the next few days to catch everyone up!
First, I spent this past summer working at the same agency my Mom and cousin, Andrew, work at. I was doing some administrative background stuff; basically just helping out until a permanent staff could be found for the position. It was a HIGHLY stressful job but I gained an unbelievable amount of experience, not only in the work I was doing, but also in learning how to deal with certain situations on a professional level. My mom was a lot of help in helping me sort out the scrambled mess that was my brain at the end of every day (often handing me a glass of wine! :-) )
I got to know an amazing and wise women at this job, who taught me more about life and working in a corporation than I could have ever hoped. I look up to this woman as if she were part of the Great-Aunt generation.
So after this summer of working full time, I headed back to New Paltz for my final year of college! (For my undergrad. degree anyways) I am now living in a house with 5 other people (3 of whom I knew prior to moving in) and we are having a wonderful time together! The house is old and definitely has lots of character, but we all love it and call it home. It's not REALLY walking distance to campus, so we carpool in every day (only 4 out of us 6 have cars).
I still have my job with the Student Association (SA) as the Council of Organizations Chair. I have only had one meeting so far this semester with all of my clubs/organizations but they all seem to be fairly enthused to be involved. As for our executive board in SA, 4 of us have returned to our positions (Well our President used to be the Senate chair) and we have added 3 new members. I love all of these people very much! The 3 other girls are like my sisters and 2 of the guys are like big brothers to me :-) We're all very close and spend a lot of time together!
As always, my school work load is ridiculous and I am very busy. Between 6 classes, my job w/ SA (which is 12 office hours a week with about 5 hours worth meetings added on), and my current internship (another 7-8 hours a week) I have found myself VERY busy! Don't get me wrong! I am in no way complaining! I love my job, my classes, my internship, and all the people I spend this time with... I just have very little down time.
Of course, I have been going home quite frequently as I cannot live without seeing my brother, sister, and animals (mainly the new puppy)! ... And my parents :-p
But, as my mom says, she doesn't care for the reasons that I go home, b/c everyone in the house reaps the benefits!
I don't really plan on blogging about the new puppy as that's probably mom's thing. I AM going to start blogging about my current internship, however, because it is proving to be VERY educational and exciting! (Those posts are soon to come!)
I THINK that's all for now... Like I said, I'll start working on blogs about my internship (probably this weekend when I'm less overwhelmed by homework) and look forward to being able to share my experiences with you all.
It is my goal to blog at least once every two weeks to keep everyone updated on my life as a college Senior (!!!!) :-D
And with that, it's time I go to bed.
Goodnight <3

Life!

2011-05-16T15:33:00.000-07:00

Just a quick update for everyone:
Life is good right now :-)
I have 2 text responses and one more final (all of it due tomorrow morning) standing between myself and Senior year!
Today I was offered a job as research assistant by my professor as I handed in my final exam and I will also be traveling to school once a week for about 5 weeks to make a presentation at Orientation to the incoming First Year students about the Student Association (which I'm on the executive board of).
I'm excited for the opportunities this summer is presenting me with and more of an update will be coming soon!
I officially move back home this Sunday, the 22nd, after graduation. I'm going to try timing it so that I get to Uncle Van's service right from school.
Miss and Love you all <3

"Have you heard about the Teach-In?"

2011-02-25T11:27:00.000-08:00

This the question that I've been asking everyone I have seen for the past few days.
This year alone, the University at New Paltz has suffered from a $3.2 million budget deficit, and it's only going to get worse. Two years ago the Nursing program was cut from our curriculum, and now our administrators are looking to cut another program to close this gap. With the new proposed budget from our state legislature, the SUNY system will face even more budget cuts next year. After having cut countless staff and faculty, the only place left to cut (according to our wonderful administration) is our academics.
At first, our Student Association executive board was fighting the administrators, but we realized that these people were stuck between a rock and a hard place; They are dealing with the cards they have been dealt by our government. Re-aiming our anger and frustration, we are now focusing our efforts on trying to get through to our legislature in Albany.
Our first step? We held an informational meeting for students that preceded the administrations forum. The first was specific to how our University is dealing with the cuts... There is, of course, a serious lack of transparency between the administration and our student body, and while we are not happy about that, we have decided to focus on the larger issue. Therefore, our forum for students focused not only on New Paltz, but on the much larger scale of things as well.
Cuts to higher education are not just happening in the SUNY system, but all over the world. Students have been protesting in Wisconsin, California, Mexico, Spain, and London. We thought it was time for us to join the fight.
On March 8th, the students of SUNY New Paltz will walk out of their classes at 12:30 pm, leaving with a statement verbalizing our frustration and intolerance for any further cuts to higher education. For those not in classes at that time, don't worry! They'll still have their chance to be seen and heard in this protest! At 1pm that day we will all congregate in the Student Union building in which there will be a series of workshops to educate students about the budget, the cuts, and how to effectively and appropriately lobby our legislatures.
Why the lobbying part? you may ask. On Tuesday, March 14th, representatives from all SUNY and CUNY school systems will be traveling to Albany to speak with our district officials. This day is called SUNY Palooza and happens every year.
The fourth component to our Teach-in workshops will be a collaborative effort in community organizing and outreach, because these cuts to education are not just specifically geared towards higher education. Education on every level is receiving less and less funding each year. I am aware that schools near my home are finding it necessary to close one or more schools due to recent cuts, and the same thing is happening here in New Paltz. In a community where I feel I have made a very strong connection, our executive board hopes to help out our public school system just as much as our own University, because we all care about our community and New Paltz as a whole.
After the four sessions, there will be some entertainment, (maybe food!), and sign making (for a rally we are planning for later in the semester), alongside a petition signing station and an area with phones for people to call our legislatures and bombard them with phone calls.

Our overall goal is that we want the government to know that we are watching them, and we're not happing with what we're seeing. These cuts to education have been going on long enough and they need to stop now. They are undermining a basic principle that our country has run on for a long time: Public Education for all. If these cuts continue, the SUNY school system will be forced to become privatized, which completely disregards the whole idea of SUNY.
Our generation refuses to see the disappearance of our SUNY system, along with the schools that our future children will be attending from K-12 and on.
It's time that education takes the front seat, instead of being shoved in to the trunk of our government's brand new Hummer.

2nd Semester Junior???

2011-01-14T20:30:00.000-08:00

Where has the time gone?!?
It feels like just yesterday I was starting my first semester as a freshman! But, on Monday, Jan. 24th, I start my second semester as a Junior! Yikes!
Classes should be interesting. All of my classes will be for human services except for one art class that will teach me how to use art as an alternative form of communication and in a therapeutic way.
I also start my first (of three) internships that need to be completed for my degree. This semester I will be working with a social worker at a nursing home that is about half an hour away from school. I'm really excited to be working with the elderly, as I will also have the chance to work with the activities coordinator of the facility on some days. I will be spending my Wednesdays and maybe some mornings on Thursdays :-). I'm very excited about this internship and hope that I get to learn a lot!! (If any of you want to check it out, it's called Elant Nursing home, in Wappingers Falls.)
Other than that, I'm excited to get back to my job at school; I miss the people I work with a whole bunch!
Big things coming in the following months:
1)The Saratoga Dance Festival is the 2nd to last weekend in Feb. !!!!
2)My boyfriend, Joe, and I will celebrate our 1 year anniversary on March 5th :-)
3)I TURN 21 ON MARCH 9TH!! Wooooo!!!! haha
4)I'm attempting to plan my first ever spring break trip, so that should be interesting!

I'll be sure to keep everyone posted as the semester goes on, but I don't want to make any promises about how soon those updates will be!

Love you all <3

New Life?

2010-10-24T18:39:00.000-07:00

So it has been MONTHS since I last wrote here...
My mom (lovingly) got on my case about it the other day so I figured what a better way to get back into the swing of things than to talk about my (pretty much) new life!!
I am now in to the first semester of my junior year at SUNY New Paltz and I'm LOVING every minute of it!!
I have a boyfriend, who's name is Joe. He's also a junior here and he is majoring in TV/Radio Production. He's from Long Island and he's in the Comedy Improv Team here on campus :-)

We've been together for almost 8 months and he makes me super happy!

The next big change in my life is that I have changed my major! I am no longer an education major nor do I have a concentration in Spanish any longer.
I am now majoring in Human Services and begin my minor in deaf studies next semester! I am in love with all of my classes and professors and I have never felt this happy about my academics! Next semester I begin my first our of three internships with various human services agencies... Still picking out the right internship for me :-)

And finally, I have a job at school!
At the end of last semester I was elected to a position called "Council of Organizations Chair".
The student-run governing body on campus is called the Student Association (SA). SA deals with everything on campus and off campus that involves students. My job puts me on the executive board for the SA and my job is to oversee all clubs and organizations that are funded and sponsored by SA.
There are about 150 clubs affiliated with the Student Association and every club is required to send a representative to a bi-weekly meeting (Council of Organizations) which I am in charge of running.
In the past these meetings have been pointless, irregularly attended by many, and loathed by most. However, during my campaign, I stressed that I think the council could be very effective and useful if correctly run and that has been my main focus so far this semester.
I have faced a lot of obstacles, however, I believe I recently made a major break through and am excited to implement my new ideas at the next meeting!!
I am on an executive board with six others, 3 girls and 3 guys. We all get along very well and I am becoming very good friends with them :-)
I spend about 12 hours in my office every week and am paid for those hours, which is an added plus to the job that I didn't know about until after I was elected!

This past weekend was the first Open House for high school seniors at our university and I was asked to put together a room to demonstrate the diverse clubs and organizations that we have to offer to students.

This is me at the open house standing next to one of the three walls that were covered in all the different club and org. names!

I am the happiest now that I have been since I graduated high school!

More to come,
Peace and Love

This is depressing... But in a good way.

2010-03-11T09:20:00.000-08:00

So, two days ago I turned 20... WHAT?!?!?!?!?
I feel old haha
I'd say that my first 20 years of life were pretty awesome... I mean... I DO have the best family in the entire world (especially my mom! I wouldn't be who I am today if it wasn't for her!)!
So now that I'm half way to 40, which, by the way, is super weird to think that in another 20 years I'll be as old as my dad...hmm lol
But anyways, now that I'm half way to 40, ... well, I'm freaking out!
So, to reduce my freak-out mode, I'm taking it one year at a time. I'm currently working on "resolutions" for how I would like the next year of my life to go... So many options!
I'll keep everyone posted!
All My Love <3

Videos From The Saratoga Dance Flurry

2010-02-19T23:36:00.000-08:00

Some Pictures from the Past Few Months

2010-02-19T23:31:00.001-08:00

Me and My Roommate <3

Me and My Mom at Christmas Dinner at My Grandparents House hahaha <3>

My Dad Playing Sax at the Dance Flurry!

Myself and Omar at the Dance Flurry!

2 Jack Stories

2010-02-19T23:17:00.000-08:00

Since Mom hasn't posted them, I figured I would! (Correct me if I'm wrong on anything, Mom!)

Story #1
Jack was alone in a room when Mom walked in, saw he was just standing there and had something in his hand. So Mom said, "Jack, what's in your hand?" He said, "Nothing Mommy." (The typical Jack response haha) She asked again and the response was the same. The third time, she walked over to him and held her hand out, implying that he should hand over the contraband. Asking one last time, she said, "Jack! What is in your hand?!?"
He looked up at her.... Then quickly began wiping his hands on hers, before yelling, "BUGGERS!!!" and running out of the room. hahaha LOVE my little brother

Store #2
Mom was frustrated with Jack for one thing or another and asked him to go take a seat on the steps for a time-out. ... He ignored her. She repeated her request, a little less patiently, and he, once again, ignored her lol.
Losing patience, Mom raised her voice and said, "Jack, go sit on the steps!"
He looked up at her with that adorable little condescending face of his, and said, "Mommy. You are yelling at me. And it is inappropriate."
Gritting her teeth at this point, Mom told him to go take a seat.
... He slowly grinned up at her, and said quickly, "OK!" on his way to the steps.

I can't imagine life with out him hahaha <3

Long Time Coming!

2010-02-19T22:54:00.000-08:00

So, I haven't written in my blog in FOREVER!!! There's a lot to catch everyone up on! So let's start back at last semester!
I had a rough ending last semester due to several things. The first was that I missed a week and a half of classes in a row due to a throat infection that actually landed me in the ER one night (lucky I was already home, so my mom was able to be with me!) Missing that week and a half really set me back in school work and it was difficult to fully communicate with all of my professors what they were expected to be handed in and when.
The second set back was that I wasn't really in the mood to be at school. I had a really rough semester in really just wanting to be home... which I think had a large part to do with constantly being sick :-/
The third, and most horrible of all 3 things, was that one of my best friends from high school was killed in a drunken car crash. He was a very good friend to me and even though I hadn't seen him in a year and a half, we still talked at least twice a week, every week. Thankfully (for my grades and my mental health), this did not happen until the first week I was back home for my winter break.
Due to this last event, I had a severely difficult winter break. I became very secluded, didn't want to eat or talk to anyone. I wasn't able to sleep at all (and still to this day have some nights where I can't sleep because he's on my mind) and I wasn't eating. I did, however, have a job at a local store called The Rugged Bear, which kept me occupied and my mind off of things.
Other than that, my winter break was rather uneventful.
I decided, after much deliberation with my parents, grandparents, and other role figures in my life, that I was going to return to New Paltz this spring semester.
I feel that I am doing much better now. I am surrounding myself with friends and positive activities and staying away from situations that I know will put me in a depressed mood again. Classes are going well, my roommate and I are getting along better than ever, and I have recently become more involved in some clubs and organizations that I was already part of.
On top of this, keeping busy with school work has left me with little to no time to think about unpleasant things :-)
This past weekend I stayed with some family friends up in Saratoga so that I could attend the Saratoga Dance Flurry, which is an annual dance festival that I work on signs for in return for free admission (which would be close to $90 if I didn't!). I had sooo much fun this year! I got to spend time with our family friends and their little son who is Jack's age, as well as a friend who I grew up knowing as an Uncle figure, our friend Omar. This is the only weekend I get to see him every year, and it's usually hit or miss as far as how often I see him during the festival (because it's such a large event), but this year I got to see him a lot! I also danced for 6 hours on Friday, 14 hours on Saturday, and 4 hours on Sunday (by Sunday my body was absolutely screaming at me to not move! ... Let alone dance haha).
The Dance Flurry is one of the events in my life that I look forward to most each year. It consists of several different venues all over down town Saratoga, and there are venues that teach dance, that are just dances, that are musical performances, and also dance performances. The dance types range from all forms of Latin dances, swing dancing, contra and square dancing (that's where I usually am for the whole week, with the occasional stop to Latin and swing dances), and SO much more! It's truly an amazing experience.

Coming Up?
MARCH MADNESS!!!
And no, I do NOT mean basketball... I mean BIRTHDAY MARCH MADNESS!!! There are so many family birthdays in this hectic month (mine and mom's the most important!!!), along with my spring break, my h.s. musical and midterms (blagh, midterm on my birthday this year! >:-I).
Sooo... please do not be offended if you don't hear from me for another month or so!!

All My Love <3

My Turn!

2009-07-29T08:50:00.000-07:00

My mom and sister returned from Texas about two weeks ago, and now it's my turn to make the journey! I arrived in the Dallas/Fort Worth area on Monday afternoon and will go back home to New York next Tuesday.
When I arrived, my Aunt Belinda met me at the airport and we grabbed my giant suit case and headed back towards her house. My cousins Andrew and Colin were there awaiting my arrival and came to say hi as soon as I got there :-)
My Uncle Paul got home from work a little while later, but we never had a proper hello, because he had biked to and from work that day, so he was a little sweaty and stinky haha.!!!
That night we took a short walk around the neighborhood with the two dogs, then Aunt Belinda and I watched a few hours of tv together before I crashed for the night.
Yesterday, Aunt Belinda and I drove about half an hour to a store called Sam Moon, which turned out to be a massive store FILLED with completely affordable jewelry and every type of bag imaginable! It was heaven for me!
We then stopped at a locally owned Vegan restaurant... it was DELICIOUS!
After being home for a while, I took a short nap, then joined Colin and Andrew on a short trip to the closest mall while they picked out their mom's birthday present.
Last night, Aunt Belinda and Uncle Paul made a very yummy dinner, which included Salmon, my favorite source of protein! Then, Colin invited me to go bowling with him and two of his friends, so we headed off to the bowling ally (which, coincidentally, was named "Brunswick-something-or-other")!
It was a lot of fun for me to hang out with people my age in a place so far away from all of my friends!
Today is my Aunt Belinda's birthday, and while she's out to lunch with one of her friends, which I was invited to, but didn't want to harsh her hang, I am going to make her a birthday cake :-)
That's all for now, but it's only my third day here, so there will definitely be more to come!

<3

This Is Why I Love Jack <3

2009-06-02T17:12:00.000-07:00

This is Jack. My little brother <3

New Hair Color!

2009-04-15T11:25:00.000-07:00

I've decided to change my hair color (again)!
This time, instead of some shade of red... I went BLACK! Yikes! hahaha it was a bit of a shock for the whole family at first. Mackenzie was very upset with me for a few hours, but by the end of the day, said that she has gotten used to the new hair color and is ok with it at this point. As Long As the Six Year Old is Happy :-D

Mackenzie Stars in a Musical

2009-04-07T11:49:00.000-07:00

This is a video of my little sister, Mack, in her school's middle school musical last weekend. She was asked to be in the show as one of the younger kids. She is the little girl in the long red coat with the short blond bob. TOO ADORABLE!!! (sorry for the shakiness!)

Power Shift 2009

2009-03-16T10:32:00.000-07:00

The Power Shift Conference of 2009 was a total success!!!
Over 1,500 Youth showed up to Washington DC from places all over the country! I met people from Portland, Oregon, Southern California, Florida, Texas, even Puerto Rico!!!!, and many other places!
Our group left campus at 1am Saturday morning and arrived in DC by car around 7am (our car stopped about once every hour for bathroom breaks haha) and we checked in to the conference. I was already completely sleep deprived, because, due to the attack outside my room that Thursday night/Friday morning, I had only got 4 hours of sleep that night, and then I think I slept about an hour on the car ride down to DC, so I was only running on about 5 hours of sleep since I had gotten up at 7am Thursday morning for classes...
Saturday, we spent the day going to different "classes" and learning about different things, such as how to "lead the green movement in your school," and learning about different things that other schools across the nation are doing. I was very proud of myself for the networking I did that day, because I got to meet so many cool people and I fed off of each others' enthusiasm for being there!
Saturday night was a little hard for me, because that is when I learned about Aunt Mary's death, but my new friends in my group from school pulled together and made me feel much better! They were totally awesome. With some persuasion, they got me to go out with them that night to a concert that was being sponsored by the Conference. The band was The Roots, a band that I had never heard of before, and something I probably wouldn't listen to on my own, but they were really awesome! And the music took my mind off of things.
Sunday morning and early afternoon, there were more programs to go to at the convention center, but I decided to take some time to myself and think, so I took the Metro (subway) over to the Monuments and spent a few hours wandering around, thinking, and taking in the scenery and the history. It was a lot of fun.
I returned back to the convention center in the late afternoon for some required programs that would help us prepare for Lobbying the following day.
Sunday night, I took the Metro over to American University, where one of my best friends from high school goes and spent a few hours visiting her... that made me very happy! I got back on the Metro, planning to get back to the station closest to my hotel at 11:55, because the shuttle from the hotel stops running at 12, so I was just going to make it!
However, when I got back to the station, the snow storm had begun!! And when I called the hotel, the man at the desk said the shuttle wasn't going to be running anymore! yikes!!!
So I figured I would call a taxi, take some money out of an ATM and get back to the hotel that way.... there wasn't an ATM at the station....
haha So now, I was a little panicked, but I called one of my friends in our group, who was already back at the hotel, and she told me she'd be over in about 20 minutes to pick me up! Lauren saved the night!!!!
While I was stranded at the Metro Station, awaiting rescue, I met three other people from the conference (and who were staying in our hotel), from PORTLAND OREGON!!!, and Lauren gave them a ride back to the hotel with us, because the taxi company said it would be over an hour before a taxi got to them!!!
Monday morning, we panicked, and payed for another night at the hotel, thinking the storm was going to be HORRIBLE! Then, we barred the weather and headed out to the Metro Station. From there, we took the Metro to the Capital and met with other people who would be lobbying our Congressman for the New Paltz area.
The experience was totally amazing! And it felt really cool to be talking to someone so important in politics! As we were getting ready to leave the building, a man came out of an office and asked us if we were there to speak with Congressman Conyers from Chicago!
We said we weren't, but we could! Apparently, the group from Chicago never showed up for their meeting with him! So, we filled in! It was totally awesome and Congressman Conyers was WAY cool! The first thing he said to us when we walked into his office was, "Who here has ever heard of John Coltrane?" And for the entire meeting, he had jazz music playing in the background. We learned that Congressman Conyers has been in Congress since 1964 and is the oldest man in Congress today.
After our lobbying was done, three of my new friends and I grabbed some lunch, then headed over to the Botanical Gardens for an hour before it closed... that was really nice and relaxing after such an eventful weekend! Then, we headed back to the hotel and I fell asleep for a few hours... that night, we had an informal meeting with our group to discuss the weekend and what we wanted to do with all of the new information and experiences we had gained over the weekend. The meeting lasted well into the night and the next morning, we headed out to get back to New Paltz.
We got back to New Paltz around 5:30 pm and I repacked, grabbed some dinner with my friends, then got on a bus at 9:30pm to go home for Aunt Mary's funeral service the next morning.
Overall, it was an amazing weekend, and I'm very glad I had the opportunity to go!!! It was an AWESOME birthday present from Moma and Pops!!! Thank you!!!!
*Pictures of the weekend will be up soon*

Reality Check

2009-02-27T07:52:00.000-08:00

This morning at 4am, I was given my first scary reality check since moving out of the house back in August. I was woken up by a door banging open and a girl and guy yelling at each other. Swear words were used and as I was getting ready to dismiss the incident as a drunken argument between a couple, I heard the girl cry out for help. At this point, I got out of bed and headed towards the door, but before I opened it, I heard the hallway door to the stairs open and close and two voices (one male and one female) asking the girl if she was okay.
The male voice was talking on the phone, relaying what was happening to someone on the other end. I assumed he was speaking to the police, so I decided it was not necessary for me to get involved. I looked out my peephole in the door before heading back to bed and say that the girl who was crying was the girl who lives across the hall from me. I saw her crying hysterically, leaving our hallway, entering the stairwell.
I went back to bed, but immediately felt uneasy. Sure enough, no more than 2 minutes later, I heard more yelling and banging on the floor below mine. I got back out of bed and went to my computer to look for either the number to campus police or to the front desk of our building where residents "night host" each night.
While frantically searching for ANY number to call, the yelling couple had moved outside, where I could hear the girl now crying out for more help.
I forgot about calling the front desk and dialed 911. The noises stopped outside, which made me even more nervous, and I told the emergency responder everything that I knew about the situation and who the girl was and he said that campus police were on their way. As we were ending our conversation, I saw the girl walking towards the front door of our building from the side where they had been fighting. I continued to relay to the man on the phone what I was seeing as the guy began chasing after her across the front pathway.
Just as the guy reached the front door, he stopped, paused, turned away and began calmly walking towards the side of the building again. I thought this was odd... until 2 campus police officers came out of the front doors of our building.
They called him over and long story short, I went back to bed having seen that the police were talking to both the girl and the guy (separately).
Try though I may, I could not fall asleep. I continued to replay the events over and over in my head, I was very upset by the events.
It was the first time I had ever made a 911 phone call, and while I was very proud of myself in how I handled the situation and for doing the right thing and helping, I was (and still am) very unsettled by what happened. It was a definite wake-up call for me. I have always known things like that happened, but nothing had happened that close to home for many, many years. It was my first real-life grown-up situation since leaving home, and my first reaction was to call my mom.

Power Shift 2009

2009-02-24T10:39:00.000-08:00

Three days until my trip to D.C. for the Power Shift convention!!!
I'm getting very excited as my group is planning our departure and small details are being ironed out!
For a short amount of time, I was worried I wouldn't be able to afford going on the trip (:-/) BUT!! Moma and Pops are saving the day (once again!) and are using this trip as my birthday present! They are graciously paying for it :-D
So, here are two links, one is to the PowerShift 2009 website, and the other is the hotel website that we're staying at... nothing too glamorous, I'm just glad we don't have to stay in tents or anything!!

http://www.powershift09.org/conference

http://www.comfortinn.com/hotel-capitol_heights-maryland-MD177?sid=k9lK.bOVfNgkK2M.7&sarea=10726&sname=Capitol+Heights&sstate=MD&scountry=US&sradius=40.23&slat=38.8850&slon=-76.9161&schain=CI&exp=&scity=&sort=&type=&map=n&nroom=1&nadult1=1&nchild1=0&nadult2=1&nchild2=0&nadult3=1&nchild3=0&nadult4=1&nchild4=0&nadult5=1&nchild5=0

<3 peace and love

"C"

2009-02-23T17:58:00.000-08:00

Okay, here's a fun game we can all play...
If you want to play, leave a comment on this post letting me know, and I'll assign you a letter. You post ten things you love that begin with your assigned letter. When people comment on your list, you give them a letter, and the chain continues on and on. I promise that no one will get "J,X,Q,U or Z." Mom gave me "C". So, here it goes:

1) Cats:
I LOVE my cats!!!! Willow, the cat that adopted me when she was stranded on my grandparents farm has been with our family since we started being a family and I love her very much. Dexter, her son, is supposed to be my mom's cat... but she doesn't love him as much as I do haha. When I grow up and have my own apartment/house, I plan on bringing Dexter with me. I would take Willow with me, but she can't be left alone that much in a new environment like that :-/
But I love them both :-)

2) Cars:
I'm deviating from the directions of the game somewhat. While I do love cars and hope to have a cute little bug some day, I'd also like to think of myself as an environmentalist. I hope to live and teach in a city for at least the beginning of my teaching career. This way, I can take a subway to work everyday, saving money from gas, car payments, and car insurance... AND helping the environment!

3) Calendars:
My favorite kind of calendars of the ones that sport (mostly) naked men :-)

4) Chips
Tortilla Chips and Queso!! Yum Yum Yum!!!!

5) Choffee:
The drink I'm addicted to! It's half hot chocolate and half coffee... SOOO GOOD!

6) Just plain CHOCOLATE:
Can't go wrong with a nice big bar of chocolate lol

7) Crayons:
I love to color. Whether I'm coloring in my dorm room with friends or by myself, or at home in the Play Room coloring with Mackenzie and Jack... there's something peaceful about being able to sit down with a coloring book and 24 crayola crayons :-D

8) Cell Phone:
CAN'T BELIEVE IT TOOK ME THIS LONG TO THINK OF THIS!!!!
I love my cell phone. I am addicted to it. I feel naked and lonely if it is not by my side. ... I think I got my point accross lol

9) Camera:
Another essential in my life that I am embarrased to have forgotten about for so long! I just bought my new camera with Christmas money and I LOVE it!!!

10) Casa:
Best for last, right?
Casa= Home in Spanish... kinda lol
Home is definitely a huge part of my life and I love being home and the people that live there... not even just in my actual house, but my home is also Moma and Pops' house, next door at Grandma's house, and of course, let's not forget about my 2 homes up in Saratoga... where I've been spending more time than at my actual house lately :-P

This is my list... I'm sorry if it's not that interesting!
<3 Love and Peace to all

Inspiration

2009-02-23T14:12:00.000-08:00

My Mom has inspired me to dedicate a post to my favorite 2 people in the world.. Mackenzie and Jack. So... here are some quick pictures of them (I have to leave for dinner in half an hour).

Thought Provoking Class

2009-02-02T17:38:00.000-08:00

As I enter my third week of my second semester, I feel that I have a pretty good handle on what these next few months are going to have in store for me. I know what to expect from my professors; I know what kind of work is expected from me and I have a fairly good idea of what each class will be like.
As of last Thursday, I currently have my favorite class for this semester :-D
I am convinced that my Contemporary Issues and Literature class was created for me. The professor is this sweet old woman who has been an English professor for many years. The course is going to explore our culture and and the issues that we have faced over the past hundred years or so.
The other day in class, as somewhat of an introduction to the course and to get our minds thinking, our professor showed us a video that almost every American child watches when growing up. However, as she had us watch the clip on youtube, she asked us to look at it as a political statement about our society and what the cartoon is saying about social issues and our culture/society.
I'd love to hear people's reactions to this little experiment, so here are the links to the two cartoons (they're not long!):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAtaBeYYuw4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViFBEww8uxk&feature=related

Exciting News!!!

2009-01-27T09:14:00.000-08:00

As of last night at 7 pm, I am officially part of my first college club! You are now reading the blog of the newest member of the SUNY New Paltz RECYCLING CLUB!
hahaha I know, I know, it's not the most exciting club in the world, but the recycling program here at school is really REALLY crappy! And I wanted to join a club that helps the entire community, not just the campus.
So I get to help spread the word about recycling! I actually learned a lot yesterday at the meeting, which was really cool.
AND I found out about this convention in D.C. that has to do with environmental awareness. People are going from high schools and colleges all across the country, and the girl who I spoke to yesterday said that she's hopeful that we will get enough funding from the school so that the trip will only cost about $20! I am very excited! The convention is the last weekend in February, so keep your fingers crossed that this works out and I can afford to go!!!

Question: "Who is High Pockets?"

2009-01-25T06:35:00.000-08:00

I present to you, High Pockets:

Care Instructions for Shayna

2009-01-23T11:08:00.000-08:00

Care Instructions for Shayna
By: Stephanie Martin

1. Do not encourage dancing, but accept that it will happen.

2. Don't let her eat a whole bar of chocolate, she will never sleep.

3. Too much choffee, and she will talk all night.

4. Ignore her LOST addiction, and her terrified shrieks every eight minutes.

5. Make sure no attractive people are in the hall when she tries to do high pockets.

6. Number six was regretfully too inappropriate to post onto this blog.

7. She will talk about boys ALL THE TIME, nod and laugh a little. -kidding

*She likes to hide in the closet, sing, and color. But she's relatively harmless*

Love,

Stephanie

(Previous Caretaker)

1st Week Back to School

2009-01-23T08:52:00.000-08:00

This past week has definitely, by far, been one of the most eventful weeks at school since my first day at New Paltz back in August.
On Sunday, my dad dropped me off to school and I quickly began unpacking, needing to fill the void of the lack of Steph (my old roommate). One of my best friends here at school, Simone, came over and hung out with me while I unpacked everything. I later went over to her room to relax with her while she unpacked.
Monday morning, Simone and I got brunch together and then we returned to our own rooms to continue unpacking. Later, one of the girls from the room next door returned to school and she agreed to be my new roommate. This will be good for her because she was in a triple (she had 2 other roommates, instead of one) and now she will have more room for all of her stuff, but she's still near her old roommates! That night, I enjoyed a HUGE dinner with all of my girlfriends in the dining hall. It was so good to see all of them again!
Tuesday brought the first day of classes! I was up bright and early at 8 AM!! My general English teacher is totally awesome, she's a Graduate student and it's obvious that she loves teaching English. My Ancient World professor is... a different story. He's from Japan, so he has a very thick accent which is difficult to understand, but overall, he's a very sweet man. When I got done with my classes at 10:40 am (!!!) I headed over to school book store to buy my books for the semester... This is where I fell down a flight of stairs. That was very fun, let me tell you. After my fall, I hobbled back to my dorm where one of my best friends, Sarah, came over and we watched the inauguration ceremony and I had a bowl of soup. Later that afternoon I did some yoga to try to stretch out my back and neck.
Wednesday morning I discovered that I am registered for the wrong Spanish class. That afternoon I hung out in my bed with a heating pad, because my back had become very swollen over night (Mom and Lisa later yelled at me when I told them I was using heat, not ice... oops!). Wednesday night was the Season Premiere of LOST!!!!!
On Thursday, I RE-watched the season premiere of Lost online because it was soooo good! I also had a surprise visit from my old roommate, Stephanie!! She took me and a few of her other friends out to lunch and then I went back to my room to do some cleaning and some work... That night my new roommate and I had to sign some more papers so that she can move in this weekend. After we had dinner, Steph and our friend Shann came back to my room and we just hung around for a while. At this point, Steph made a list entitled, "Care Instructions for Shayna," for my new roommate Sara. It was very funny. Stephanie left around 8:30 and it was very sad... I really miss her :-(
Today is Friday and I'm still trying to straighten out my Spanish class. I had two classes today and I've had two lunches: 1) With Sarah and our friend Mike, and 2) with Shannon and her roommate Katie (I didn't really eat much during the second lunch). I still need to take a shower and I need to do some laundry... I also have to pack because I need to get on a bus tomorrow morning at 8:30 to go back up to Albany for the sign committee for the Saratoga Dance Flurry.
With all that being said, I've had a very eventful first week and I should probably get going on all of the things that I need to do today :-/
Also, now that I'm back at school, I'll hopefully be writing more often!
TTYL <3

We Could Be Sisters :-P

2008-12-04T09:50:00.000-08:00

Just in Case people are still concerned because I never used to look like mom and we really thought that I belonged to Aunt Belinda... Take a look at this.

But it's ok. I love her.

Top Ten

2008-12-04T07:25:00.000-08:00

Inspired by my Mom's Top Ten lists:
The Top Ten Reasons Why I Love the Christmas Season~

10. Presents (of course)

9. Buying presents (or making them!)

8. Christmas Music that starts days before Thanksgiving!!!! (and that I drive my parents and my roommate crazy with!)

7. Making Christmas cookies at Moma's house (My Grandma)

6. The Food

5. SNOW!!!!!

4. Celebrating with Jenn! (My best friend since we were 2)

3. The Memories: When I was a kid and lived at my grandparent's house, I loved running down the hall and turning the corner every Christmas morning when it was still dark outside to be able to see the giant Christmas tree and all of the presents underneath it!

2. The Family

1. Spending Christmas day with Jack and Mackenzie

The Election

2008-11-13T07:37:00.001-08:00

Even though it has been over a week since the Presidential Elections, I feel somewhat obligated to write about my experiences as a freshman college student on that day.

My day started off like any normal day; I went to classes, I had papers due, I ate lunch with some friends...

However, I one slightly unusual activity to do before I could go enjoy the yummy food provided for us on TACO TUESDAY (!!! My favorite day of the week!!!); I had to go vote.

So my friend Sarah and I met out on the concourse outside of the building where we were registered to vote and we headed inside... to join the long line of other first time voters who looked just as nervous and excited as I felt and older students who looked annoyed at the thought of having to wait in line. We waited for about 20 minutes (not that bad) outside the big room where the voting booths were, then, we gave our ID's and were asked to split into 2 lines (A-L and M-Z). Sarah and I waited for about 10 more minutes in our (A-L) line (there was only one voting machine per line), signed our names, and took our turns in the voting booth! It was very exciting!!!

After a very yummy TACO TUESDAY dinner, I headed back to my room to attempt to get some work done and clicked on CNN. My roommate and I sat around for a while not really doing anything until about 9pm, then we were all about the TV.

The excitement began as soon as CNN made the announcement that it was no longer possible for McCain to win the race; Chaos took over the campus here at New Paltz. People were running up and down the halls screaming and celebrating; I dragged my roommate, Stephanie, out of bed and into real clothes and we headed outside to follow the crowds and the noise.

We joined a huge group out in front of our dining hall and there was chanting and screaming and yelling. People were oozing with excitment and victory. There were sparklers and champaigne... among other things.

After we had been there for about 10 minutes, the entire crowd (maybe 100-200 people) began running towards the concourse in front of the Student Union Building. There, we joined another group even larger than ours, creating a crowd of probably over 500 people!

You could TOUCH the excitement in the air. Every single person was chanting "O-bam-a! O-bam-a!" or "Yes We Can! Yes We Can!" over and over again! In this crowd, people began crowd surfing, there were big balls being hit up into the air around the crowd. There were red, white, and blue balloons bouncing around.

Someone tied a red, white, and blue striped ribbon to a pole, then to another, and then another, weaving the ribbon over the heads of the college students. Anyone who was nearby grabbed on as tight as they could; At this, someone began singing the National Anthom. The next thing I knew, the ENTIRE crowd was singing the song that I had not song in 8 years... That night, I belted it as loud as my voice would let me!!

The final significan event that occured on that monumental night, was when some guy lit a torch-like piece of wood and made it just that- at torch! He lit the end of the wood and began passing it around. The amount of noise rose to a whole new level... It was so symbolic it was great! People were screaming "Pass the torch!" and "It's time to pass that torch, Bush!"! It was so exciting and electrifying! At one point, the fire went out, and you would needed ear plugs to be able to hear yourself think! The symbolism of it! It was like... the torch went out... Bush's reign is over... We relit the torch... We have the chance for a new begining now with Obama!

Stephanie and I headed back to our room around 12:30, 1am to go to sleep (I had an 8am class the next morning), but my adrenaline was so high I couldn't fall asleep for another hour after my head hit the pillow...

Needless to say, I was extremely exhausted the next morning in Medieval Europe, but I wouldn't trade that night for anything in the world.

Wanting to Do More

2008-11-12T14:16:00.000-08:00

I recently got the idea to go visit some family down in Arizona during my Winter vacation this year, and the thought soon became a desire to hike the Grand Canyon.

Looking at the Grand Canyon website, I'm realizing that hiking the it during the winter is probably not completely logical... However, this winter vacation I would really like to do something amazing; Whether it be traveling to site see (as in the Grand Canyon) or traveling to help people who are less fortunate than myself.

I know a group of friends from my high school who travel to Mexico every Winter break to help build as many houses as possible in three weeks for families who don't have adequate living situations. I have always thought that would be an amazing thing to do, but have no idea where to get involved in something like that.

I'm going to start researching online to see if I can find anything for this Vacation, but if anyone knows of any organizations that are legit and would take me at this last minute, please let me know!

Peace.

If You Can't Beat 'Em, Join 'Em!!!

2008-11-12T11:18:00.000-08:00

Ok... so I have finally decided to begin keeping a blog due to the recent blogs from my mom. Previously, she had mostly been blogging about her exercise routine... which doesn't really excite me lol... However, recently, she has been blogging about very important issues that face all Americans today... and, feeling motivated, I have decided to join her.

So, I'm not promising daily (or even weekly) entries, but I will try to write everytime there is something important to write about.

About me, I'm a freshman at SUNY New Paltz, but I'm from Guilderland, NY, where my Mom, Dad and little brother and sister continue to live. I recently voted for the first time in the Presidential elections of 2008 and was very excited about the outcomes.

For now, I feel that I have a lot to write about because many exciting/important things have been happening around me lately, but, like I said earlier, No Promises on the future!!

Peace.