Blast from the Past

Yesterday, driving home from work I was looking through an older CD case for something to listen to (Carl had put Rage Against the Machine into my CD player). I stumbled across a CD with a faded and somewhat scratched title, "Route 81". Route 81 was the small singing group from the boys school when I was a senior. I always remember thinking what wonderful singers they were, so I popped the CD in. As trite as it sounds, I felt almost as if I were sitting in the senior room again, Valentines day 1999. The sounds of Terry singing "Wonderful Tonight" rang through my car, just as he sang it to Holly. I could remember the expressions of Marc, Jared, Terry, and Matt. These songs on this CD, sung by these voices, was the soundtrack of my senior year. My friends were dating members of the group, and we were all about school spirit, supporting any and all school functions. We heard Route 81 sing a lot. When they put out the CD, we listened to them even more.
Sometimes its nice to hear a song that reminds you of something in the past, something good that you wished would never end (like your senior year in high school).

updates

So, my prof finally decided how he was going to handle the plagerism situation (again, not me but someone in my group) and graded the paper in question. No explanation, just a grade. Not even a bad grade. Strange....but ok, I'll take it. I finished buying the accessories for Laney and Alie's bday today. It will be sesame street themed, and I absolutely love the plates and napkins. They each will have their own sesame street character candle. I can't wait to make the cake. It will be a big sesame street character's head (right now i'm leaning towards either oscar the grouch or cookie monster). I will get to use my new icing "bag" that Carl gave me for my birthday to ice this cake. Woohoo!!! I am trying to finish all of my shopping and crafty projects before christmas (and in some instances before december 9th).

thanksgiving and other things

Thanksgiving break was awesome. Thanksgiving dinner was especially fun, maybe because I was quite drunk, or because I really enjoyed the company. It was such a relaxing day and evening. The following night, the wine and cheese party was also quite fun. It was nice to spend time with Kristen and the Eugenes catching up and reminicing about old times. I am looking forward to the brunch; hopefully all of the SPSG chicks will be able to come!
Today, Laney and Alie went to get their pics taken for a development piece. At the conclusion of the photo shoot, Laney was having some snack and had one of her cheerios on the back of her tongue (NOT choking). This other parent started yelling at me that she was choking and that I wasn't paying attention to her (I was holding her). I dislike other parents telling me how to raise my children. Yes I look young, yes I have twins, but this does not give others the right to step in and give their advice/opinions. I'm sure they would not appreciate it if someone did the same to them. So unfortunately, I left what was a fun morning with the girls, with a bad taste in my mouth because of this meanie pants woman!

Anxiety

I am an anxious person. I admit it. My anxieties started as a child. In particular, I was scared of both the upstairs and the basement in my parents house. I always thought that someone or something was hiding around the corner to get me. I used to send my little brother upstairs before me to be sure there was nothing up there to get me. Fast forward to my "adulthood". I sit at home alone in the evenings with Delaney and Alison, convinced that someone is watching me through the windows, profiling my actions or living in the bathroom in my basement just waiting for the right time to strike. My trips outside of the living room are kept to a minimum unless Carl is home.

I think that my anxieties stem both from my love of scary movies and from my husband's addiction to shows like CSI. This morning, standing in the shower at the gym, I had my very own CSI- like moment. This moment illustrates the epitome of my anxieties.

It is the day before Thanksgiving and most of the students are packing up to go home for the holiday. Michael and I were the only two people in the gym this morning. As I walked into the big locker room all by myself after our workout, I heard a shower on in the shower room. I reluctantly took off my clothes, wrapped up in my towel, grabbed my shampoo and soap and walked slowly into the shower room. No one! I took my shower with half of the curtain open so I could see most of the room. I had visions of someone, running around the corner with some sort of blunt object or even an ax planning to murder me (right out of a scene from CSI). Needless to say, nothing happened to me during my shower, I dressed quickly, dried my hair even faster, and headed back out into the hallway.

Unfortunately, episodes like the one this morning at the gym will continue to run through my head, and will not deter me from watching the shows and movies that inspire them. It is moments like this that now make me think of a conversation I had a few weeks ago with my "well adjusted" friend Brian who does not watch ANY scary movies. Maybe scary movies do contribute to my "lack of adjustment".

Firsts

Instead of finishing my last paper of the semester I have decided again to procrastinate with yet another one of these stupid fill in the blank things...by the way, one of my group members has not responded about which section she is willing to do for the paper, and my other group member has submitted her section of the paper which quotes the book when the syllabus clearly states please do not use the textbook as a reference....I wonder if I should send her section back to her?? Ok...on to the procrastination.

1. Who was your first prom date? Crickie Thomas, I had such a crush on him
2. Who was your first roommate?Kate Aumann
3. What alcoholic beverage did you first drink? beer
4. What was your first job? under the table job-babysitting, actual job-lifeguarding
5. What was your first car? toyota corolla
6. When did you go to your first funeral? i'm guessing my gams and i was 15
8. Who was your first grade teacher?Ms. Andrews
9. Where did you go on your first ride on an airplane? Hawaii
10. When you snuck out of your house for the first time, who was it with? I never snuck out
11. Who was your first best friend and are you still friends with? probably Julie Wit and no, we are not friends anymore
12. Where was your first sleepover? um...maybe my cousins house
13. Who is the first person you talk to in the morning? Carl
14. Whose was the first wedding you were in? my own
15. What is the first thing you do in the morning? think about getting out of bed
16. What was the first concert you ever went to? the Beach Boys I think
17. First tattoo or piercing? my ears in 4th or 5th grade
18. First celebrity crush? hahaha David Bowie
19. First crush? Brian Wit
20. First true love? well my first love was Ryan, but I guess Carl was my first true love
21. When was your first detention? never!

Alright, I guess I need to tackle the paper!!!

crappy group

For my grad school class we are required to write three papers with a group. Rewind to the first paper...the rest of my group members dragged their feet as far as dividing the work and turning it into me, the group leader. One member of my group did such crappy work that the other group member and I had to rewrite her section to get the paper in on time. The next paper was seemingly more organized, but someone in my group (not me) plagerized so we're still dealing with the prof regarding that (I was the only person that sited anything in the entire paper). That brings us to the paper that is due on Wednesday. I emailed the group on Wednesday indicating they should pick their sections and have them to me by Sunday night. Here it is, Sunday morning and slacker group member from paper one has not indicated her section....Could I be more frustrated with group work??
In grad school, I think that group work is dumb. Most people in my program are professionals, so most likely have to work in groups in their current jobs. For the record I hate group work and I hate my group.

Thanksgiving?

So this morning I am working out at the gym with Michael and as we start to lift, Michael notices that there is a christmas carol on the radio. As we move to the bench, "Noel" starts to play. Soon enough it is evident that all this radio station intends to play for the rest of the morning are christmas carols. What happened to Thanksgiving? I realize that Thanksgiving does not have any catchy, memorable songs associated with it (except for that one by Adam Sandler), but I feel as though today, a little under a week before Thanksgiving is a bit early for all christmas songs, all the time on the radio. I guess Michael and I will be working out to christmas music for the next month and a half or so.

"Water, Water, Everywhere!"

After the gym this morning, I reached into my work bag for a nalgene bottle and realized that I had two half full bottles that I was carrying around. Once I arrived at my desk, I found yet another half full bottle of water. I have water everywhere! It is seldom that you will find me without any water, but just as seldom that I have ever finished the entire bottle. I just thought this was a bit funny since this morning, I opened the "fresh" nalgene bottle instead of finishing the already started bottles.
Just as a side note, I completely forgot a towel for the showers this morning so I had to do some fancy footwork to get dry and avoid being seen naked by the rest of the locker room. On a good note, the entire swimteam was not in the locker room.

Weekend Adventures

After a somewhat emotional Friday (due to a crappy group for school stuff, for the record, I hate group projects and if I am penalized for the stupidity of the rest of my group, I will be thorougly pissed!!!), I headed to Philly for the annual "birthday girl weekend" with Dow and Ciruc (see Wen, I'm going to get it to stick ;)). Friday night was just what I needed, relaxation!!! We went to Cosi's, had some sandwiches, s'mores and hot chocolate and caught up. It was wonderful. After a restful sleep at Cirucci's, we watched the last episodes of sex and the city and headed out to grab some brunch and coffee to start our morning. We headed downtown to design purses at Viv Pickle. My Viv Purse is being restitched, and the rest of the crew ordered new ones! After Viv, we spent the afternoon at the Philly zoo before I headed back to Balti.
Sunday morning started out as a bummer since it was raining too hard for Carl, the girls and I to run the Jingle Bell Run (we gave the $$ so I guess that's really all that counts). In the afternoon, we headed down to VA to celebrate Kieran's first bday party. Delaney and Alison enjoyed the cheese and one of Kieran's presents, the big lego blocks!
Kieran gave Laney and Alie balloons and they were thrilled. Alison has wanted a balloon of her own for quite sometime, and when we got home, she walked around with it on her wrist for the rest of the evening. In addition, both girls learned how to push the little car we bought them. They are well on their way to mastering walking. Finally, the girls had very exciting bath filled with splashing and attempts at swimming and then everyone went to bed! What a fun and eventful weekend.

Number 2 on myspace

So...again I feel the need to copy one of these dumb surveys.

DON'T change your top friends, and answer 22 questions about the 2nd person in your top friends.
1) What's their name? Chrissy..."my Ciruc"
2).Do you trust them? of course
3) Where did you meet them? Gettysburg College, freshman year
4) How old were you when you first met? 18
5) Is this person one of your best friends? most definitely
6) Say something that only makes sense to you and them "we're looking for the wholle f'n show"
7) Is this person older than you? no
8) when was the last time you saw them? 2 weeks ago? homecoming at the 'burg
9) when was the last time you talked to them? I spoke to her answering machine today
10) Are you related to this person? nope
13) Are you their bf/gf? nope
14) Do you have nicknames for each other? yes
15) Do you have pics of this person on your myspace? of course
16) How many times do you talk/write to this person in a week? we generally write at least once a week...talking varies
17) Do you think the person will repost this? possibly
18) Could you live with this person? we did for first semester and some of second semeter soph year.
19) What is this persons favorite color? hmm good question...blue?
20) Why is this person number two on your top 8? number 2, well I love her and she's part of the 3 musketeers as wen likes to call us
21) Have you seen this person cry? yes
22) Do you know this persons Birthday? of course...November 2nd
22.) Favorite Memory? I have two; the night that we became friends. Not many people become inseparable in one night and the night we rekindled our friendship. I consider myself quite lucky to count her as a close friend.

The birthday

Today is my birthday. It is also Michael's birthday. I have officially reached an age when the birthday is no longer super exciting. This morning I woke up and went to the gym. Katie came to work with a starbucks giftcard (Katie you're awesome, I love you and I'm totally going to miss you btw). Michael, Katie and I had birthday cake, birthday jello, and birthday soda at our "exclusive" and "private" birthday bash in my office. I have done limited amounts of work today, less because its my bday and more because i have nine million random things to do.

I'm psyched to go home and hang out with Laney and Alie. We're going to the rainforest cafe tonight for dinner with my parents, so that should be fun. Also, this weekend I'm going to Philly to hang out with Ciruc and Wen. I think I should start referring to Wen as "Dow" from now on to see how that catches on. Ohh and Travis is coming home next weekend and he's coming over for dinner on Saturday night so I'm really excited for that as well.

Ok. I'm feeling totally random today.

Look What's changed

Ten years ago..
How old were you?: 16
Where did you go to school? SPSG
Where did you work? Padonia Park Club during the summers
Where did you live? with the 'rents in Reisterstown
Where did you hang out? the mall, TGIFridays
What was your hairstyle? probably long
Did you wear glasses? no
Who were your best friends? Jess, Holly, Kristen, Lara, Elizabeth and Allison
How many tattoos did you have? none
How many piercings did you have?: one in each ear
What car did you drive? toyota corolla
What was your worst fear? getting a "c", not getting into a good college
Had you driven yet? yup
Had you been to a real party yet? no
Had your heart broken? no
Single/Taken/Married/Divorced/Bitter: single

Five years ago...How old were you?: 21
Where did you go to school? Gettysburg College
Where did you work? Gettysburg College admissions office
Where did you live? Apple Hall at the 'burg
Where did you hang out? theta chi
How was your hair style? short, Wen and I had our hair chopped
Did you wear glasses? nope
Who was your best friend? Wendy
Who was your regular-person crush? Carl, we were engaged!
How many tattoos did you have? 0
How many piercings did you have?: two in each ear and my naval
What car did you drive?: still the corolla
What was your favorite band/group? Jimmy Buffett, Pat McGee Band, OAR
What was your worst fear? still the dreaded "c", I was sort of nerdy
Had you been to a real party yet? yup, every weekend of college ;)
Had your heart broken? yes
Single/Taken/Married/Divorced/Bitter: taken

November 2006:
How old are you?:26
Where do you work? Towson University
Where do you live? Baltimore
Where do you hang out? my house
How is your hair style? shortish
Do you wear glasses? nope
Who are your best friends? Wendy, Chrissy, Becky
Do you talk to your old friends? yup, when everyone is in the area we hang out
How many piercings do you have: just one in each ear
How many tattoos? none
What kind of car do you have? jetta wagon and ford explorer
What is your favorite band/group? still jimmy and pat
What is your biggest fear? lots of mommy fears about the girls
Have you been arrested, if so how many times total? 0
Has your heart been broken?: only once
Single/Taken/Married/Divorced/Bitter: happily married

Winding Down

So my semester is FINALLY winding down. I just received my grade on my "big" paper, 37.3/40 (not sure why he felt the need to add the .3) but I'm pleased with the grade nonetheless. Just one paper and one final remain and I'm quite psyched about that. This past weekend I went shopping with Mindy and Sue for my birthday (and Mindy's birthday) and it was a lot of fun. I chose a new coffee maker as my birthday present, and I can't wait to use it tomorrow morning. Michael and I went to the gym this morning, and that was much more fun than i thought it was going to be. We're working out Monday, Wednesday and Friday and I'm pretty psyched to have a workout buddy. Maybe this will be the key to getting rid of the baby belly (haha, I say that every few weeks when I change my workout up).
My Dad gave me a jogging stroller for my birthday (he gave it to me Friday night while we were stopping by my parents). I took the girls out on Sunday for a pre-5K jog. Running with the jogging stroller is considerably more difficult than I thought it was going to be. I had to do the run for 5 minutes walk for 1 minute technique in order to continue on. Everytime I started to walk I heard a "uh oh ma ma" from Delaney. She's already keeping me on my toes. Although the stroller is a bit difficult to steer, I'm sure I'll get the hang of it. I'm glad I took it out for a test run before the Jingle Bell Run next weekend, now I have an idea of what to expect.
I would also like to take an oppotunity to say goodbye to April. April is a friend of mine from the WDW College program. We worked in Fantasyland together and I will remember the time we had together fondly. I think my favorite April memory happened the day we went to Islands of Adventure. RIP April, you are missed!

Halloween

Monday night, Elizabeth, Lara and Becky came over for a girls night dinner. It was really nice to see everyone and just relax for a bit. Life can get so crazy sometimes, its nice to just sit back and spend some time chatting with friends.
Yesterday was Delaney and Alison's first halloween. We all wore matching halloween shirts and socks and had lots of fun answering the door for trick or treaters. Many of our neighbors did not have their lights on, evidently they were not feeling as festive. Carl came home early from work to help with all of the visitors. This year we had a lot of older people, not wearing costumes, and not saying thank you. Next year I don't think those people will be getting candy.
I registered for classes for next semester this morning. I'm currently registered for three while I decide which course I plan on dropping. I'm leaning toward keeping the applied research class and the personel class. That means I will have to drop team building. My goal is to graduate after the summer session 2008.
This weekend Sue, Mindy and I will be going shopping for a "woman" day and then meeting back up with the guys for dinner later. In addition, Michael and I will be working out in the mornings before work starting this Monday. I'm actually quite exicited about that. I hate going to the gym by myself because I feel so self conscious around all of the in shape college girls. By the end of the week I would like to have my second to last paper for my class completed and have the girls bday invitations out. We'll see how much I actually get done.