Life

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is one of my FAVORITE times of the year! I love how the house smells when the turkey and stuffing is cooking in the oven, the warm fall colors that the house is decorated in and most of all the family I am surrounded by.  Before going home I celebrated Thanksgiving with the Thetas and we all had a really good time.

At home, I was thankful to....

spend time with friends

bring a friend home (Tony) who otherwise would have been stuck at school all week

finally see breaking dawn with my mom and sister!

see my grandparents, uncle and cousin

go out to dinner at BWW

build a gingerbread house

see my pets

go to DC for a day

Dad and I doing the dishes after dinner

Shane and I

Girls house

Boys house

Kassidy and I decorated a gingerbread house while Shane and Tony decorated another to see who did the best job. I give them credit for their sleigh on the roof but overall, girls won!

Shane, Tony and I in DC out side of the National Museum of the American Indian

Cousins

Sorority Girl

I never thought I would join a sorority, but now it is one of the BEST decisions I have ever made!

In the last two weeks I have learned so much about myself, the other girls, and what a sorority really means.

At first I was just looking for a way to make some new friends, but I quickly learned that is not what a soroity is.

They are a family.

They make you feel like you are a part of something bigger and they really care about each other.

This was one of the hardest things I've ever done because I went into it all alone. I didn't know a single girl in the sorority, but I became very close to my pledge sisters fast.

Now I have a huge group of sisters that I know will be there for me if I ever need anything, and I will be there for them as well.

The experience of becoming a sister has made me feel more confident in myself, stronger, and more trusting.

Theta Sigma Delta

We Are One!

Taco Bell Trip

To my right is my "Big" Kristin

Pledge Sisters.

Shelley and Anna

When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, till it seems as though you could not hang on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn. 
~Harriet Beecher Stowe

Kassidy's 18th Birthday!

I went home the first weekend in October to celebrate my little sisters 18th birthday! Not so little anymore.  I can't believe she is in college now too!  Kassidy picked out the type of cake she wanted and I made it for her. I have to say it was pretty sweet! And my dads birthday is today so I gave him his card and present while I was home so he would have it..and he gets left over cake =/ lol.

The cake!

Blowing out the candles

After...the cake was zebra print inside and it was delicious!

School in September

First off: Today is my dads Birthday, so HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD! I love you!

Well I'm starting to get back into the school routine. Classes are a bit stressful but going pretty well overall.  I am loving having my own room this year, so when I can't deal with people anymore I have my own place to go to.  So far everyone I live with is getting along and we even have a cleaning schedule this year! (Which I am thankful for..haha) I also love living right next door to Shane.  Shane and I have been on a few adventures already this year.

We went up to a look out (which I can't think of the name right now) and took some pretty cool pictures.

Shane

Me

View

Stairs

This is on our way to Kinzu Dam, which is just a couple miles away from the look-out.

Kinzu Dam

Another place we go for walks sometimes is Marilla Bridges. So we took a few pictures there too.

The school hosts a trip to Cedar Point every year and Shane and I went this year. Unfortunely one of the rides we got on made us feel horrible so we only rode 4 coasters, saw 2 shows, and went through a huanted house. The picture of Shane and I is us on the ride that made us feel bad before it started.

Charlie Brown Characters

The rest of the month was mostly spent studying hanging out with my housemates.  We had movie/game nights and went bowling one night.  And of course I took pictures =]

Keanu and Shane

(left to right) Me, Serena, Nicki, Taylor & Shane

Keanu, Taylor and I

All my housemates together- Taylor, Serena, Liz and Nicki

Shane and I

Our bowling group- Taylor, Yaphet, Me & Shane

School

So it's a new school year and I'm back in Bradford. There's a lot of things that I miss from this summer but a lot of things I'm looking forward to and like at school as well. I feel like it's a listing kind of day so here we go...

I miss

hot weather

my job

my pets

family

friends

cookouts

summer nights

my bed

summer clothes

I like at school

decorating my own room

new housemates =]

change of scenery

getting my education

campus activities

not working

Ok so it's kind of hard to think of things I really love about school (if it were near a beach, now that would be a different story) but I'm still happy to be here.  I only have a year and a half left to get my bachelors!

Classes are all going well so far. I haven't really had any homework yet besides reading handouts or chapters out of the book.  I don't have any classes on Fridays which is awesome and I'm done before 12 on Thursdays so I have nice long weekends =] But you are probably bored reading about my school schedule so if anything interesting happens in the next week or so I'll try to let you know!

Here's some pics of my room at school =]

...and here's Shane and I on our first day at school.

August???

Well I completely missed the month of July...I don't even know where it went! In the first few days of July my niece and nephew came down to Maryland to stay with us for two weeks.  I had such a great time with them.  Julia is 3 years old now and Dylan is 8! They are growing up so fast and I miss them so much.  My mom and I took the kids to watch the fireworks for the fourth of July and they really enjoyed them.  Most of the days were spent in the pool and playing and then the sunday before we had to take them home we went to the DC zoo.  It was super hot that day so there were some complaints but overall it was a good day.

First night with the kids

Dyl and I waiting for Fireworks

Kassidy and I at the DC zoo

Dylan

and Julia

Julia and I getting ready for bed =]

The day before we took the kids back we attended my cousin Ashleys wedding reception.  It was very nice and she looked gorgeous!

Heres Kassidy, Ashley and I
When it was time to take the kids home, Shane, Kassidy and I drove them back up to NY.  It was a long and boring drive and we were sad to take them back =[.  However we were able to spend some time with my brothers and gram-which was nice....And two days later we were back at home.

Car ride

Other then that I haven't really done anything in July except work and hang out with friends.  Oh! and classes ended in July!! YaY! I got A's in both my classes, so I was pretty happy about that. Anyway, I LOVE my job!  I love icing and decorating cupcakes. It's a lot of fun and I love making people happy. =] 

This is the dispaly where I work. I decorated all these cupcakes =]

Heres one upclose...its a keylime cupcake..mmm!

Well that's about it for July and I will try to be on here more often.

21st Birthday

Wow! I can not beleive I am 21 years old! I feel like this is the last birthday I will have ever looked forward to. When your young you can't wait to be 13 just so you can say your a teenager. Then in a few years 16 comes around and you get to drive! Once you have driving mastered though you can't wait to be 18 because now your an "Adult".  Then theres the big 21 (well for those who want to drink...lol).  But after 21, whats next? 30? Who wants to say, "Hey! Im 30 today". I don't think I'm going to because that would just mean Im getting old right?  I'm not saying I'm not looking forward to birthdays in general because I hope to have a long and fulfilling life, but I feel like after 21 Im just getting old now...theres nothing to look forward to...until Im 65 and get senior citizen discounts! hehe.

Anyway my 21st was a lot of fun!  I went out to a restaraunt/bar with some amazing friends and was the only one drinking...haha. Needless to say, I didn't get out of bed until 3:30 PM the next day!

My Girls, Dianna and Ariel

Katie and I

Me, Jeff, and Jeremy