I love my friends.

I've been thinking a lot lately about how lucky I am to have such wonderful friends in my life. I don't know what I would do without them. It's such a fantastic feeling to have people to laugh with and to vent with; people I know I can always count on just like they can always count on me.

I know friends are there, but sometimes life gets crazy and there's no time to stop and thank them. Being on break has given me that time where I can sit back and appreciate life and the people who get me through it in the good times and the bad - you know who you are. I LOVE YOU ALL. SO MUCH. Thanks for being such an amazing part of my life. <3 <3 <3

And for my girls especially.... :)

"A speaker (head of psychiatry at Stanford) said, among other things, that one of the best things that a man could do for his health is to be married to a woman whereas for a woman, one of the best things she could do for her health was to nurture her relationships with her girlfriends. Women connect with each other differently and provide support systems that help each other to deal with stress and difficult life experiences. Physically this quality “girlfriend time" helps us to create more serotonin-a neurotransmitter that helps combat depression
and can create a general feeling of well being.

"Women share feelings whereas men often form relationships around activities. They rarely sit down with a buddy and talk about how they feel about certain things or how their personal lives are going. Jobs? Yes. Sports? Yes. Cars? Yes. Fishing, hunting, golf? Yes. But their feelings?-rarely. Women do it all of the time. We share from our souls with our sisters/mothers, and evidently that is very good for our health. He said that spending time with a friend is just as important to our general health as jogging or working out at a gym. 

"There's a tendency to think that when we are "exercising" we are doing something good for our bodies, but when we are hanging out with friends, we are wasting our time and should be more productively engaged--not true. In fact, he said that failure to create and maintain quality personal relationships with other humans is as dangerous to our physical health as smoking! So every time you hang out to schmooze with a gal pal, just pat yourself on the back and congratulate yourself for doing something good for your health! We are indeed very, very lucky. Sooooo let's toast to our friendship with our girlfriends." <3

OH HAI blog!

Wow, it's been quite a while since I've put up a new post. And by "a while" I mean...almost 3 months. xD Thing is, I've had the material for blog posts, just not the time (story of my LIFE).

So now that I'm (finally!) on Spring Break and just chilling at home, I'm going to make an effort to reconnect with my sharing-my-thoughts-with-the-Internet-world side.

Stay 'tooned! =)

The big TWO-OH

This past Monday (Jan. 3rd) was my twentieth birthday.

Huh.

I remember when turning 10 was a big deal -- double digits at last! I guess this one was a big deal too, but only when I really stop and think about it.

In some ways it's cool: a teenager no more! I'm one step closer to facing down the world as an "adult!"

"Adult" is a relative term. (xkcd.com)

In some ways, it's not so cool: a teenager no more. I really enjoyed those years, and I'm not so sure I'm ready to let them go.

But who says I have to? Coming back home from the college bubble is interesting. I've had all these life experiences and I'm growing into myself even more every day, but when I get back home everything seems the same as it was when I left. I kind of like that feeling; like I'm moving on but my hometown is staying the same. It's the anchor I'll always have to come home to.

My dad likes to say that I'm in limbo between being a teenager and a real "adult" at 21. I guess that's true, though I don't feel any different at 20 than I did at 19 or even 18. I know who I am and I'm confident in myself, and that won't change no matter how old I get.

Or, as my middle-aged Polish doctor put it, "You are twenty, single, and gorgeous. Life is good!"

It is indeed. =)

Traditionnnnnnn, TRADITION!

I'm finally home in Eastern PA, and it feels SO good. It's really nice to have a break and to get to hang out with the fam for a month. =) Speaking of, we've gotten 2 Christmas traditions in the books so far this year!

The first started when I was maybe ten - my mom, dad, younger brother, and I used to pile into the car and drive to a place where we could walk around, find a tree, cut it down, and take it home. Then the place got too expensive or closed down or something like that, and we had to find a different tree supplier. So we began what would become a Christmas tradition:

We took our little red wagon,

(similar to this)

pulled it down 2 or 3 blocks to the local bank where the Little League was selling trees, picked one out, put it on the wagon, and pulled it back home. This tradition is one of my favorites because of the time spent as a family and hearing my dad tell stories about when my brother and I were younger and he used to pull us to the bank in the wagon every Saturday morning. I also can't quite get over the tree vendors' faces when they ask us which car is ours and we point to the wagon!

The other tradition I love is making Christmas cookies. Now for my mom's side of the family, cookies practically require a NCAA bracket to figure out. My mom and her two sisters each make about 3 different kinds of cookie, their sister-in-law makes another one or two, and my grandmother makes at least 2 desserts and any other cookies they've forgotten. The kicker is, they never all seem to make the same 3 kinds every year. (Personally, I don't understand why they don't just keep it the same, but hey. That's their thing.)

Anyway, the one constant variable when it comes to cookies in my house is cutouts - the sugar cookies you decorate any way you want. They aren't necessarily my favorite to eat (that honor falls to peanut butter cookies with Hershey Kisses in the middle - "boobies," I just learned, is the technical term), but they are by far my favorite to make. We have your normal cookie cutters like Christmas trees, gingerbread men, ornaments, stars, and hearts, but we also have the "Christmas bunny," and "Christmas shamrock" - throwoffs of less cookie-driven holidays - and new this year...the Christmas unicorn! I get pretty into my decorating, prompting (usually) joking cries of "The oven's on but there's nothing in ittttttttttttttttt!!" This year, a certain theme permeated the festivities...

=D (credit to bro for the Deathly Hallows cookie)

YUM. Christmas Day, however, is when the real cookie smorgasbord begins!

[Also! Total lunar eclipse begins in ~1 hour! Who's gonna be up to watch it?? ....oh okay. probably just me. =) ]

I AM DONE.

Done with finals!!!!! DONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! DONE FOREVER (until next semester)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I SURVIVED!!!!!!!!

DONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Words cannot express my ecstasy!!!! The world has never looked more beautiful than it does today.

This must be what getting out of prison feels like! (except, you know, nothing like that.)

....did i mention i'm done? :DDD

Halfway there!

Finals List:
--> 5 page marsh/tire plant paper, plus group work reflection due Monday at 9am [STATUS: COMPLETE!!!]
--> 8 to 10 page Buddhism paper, due Monday at 3pm [STATUS: turned in 3 hours late but COMPLETE!!!]
--> Study my brains out for Chem final, Tuesday at 9am [STATUS: will commence studying at midnight]
--> Create a map of the best place in Erie, PA for an urban garden and write 3-4 pages about the process, due Wednesday at noon. [STATUS: ~ 1/4 done]

2 down, 2 to go!!!!!!! I can do this!!!

I would quote the infamous Bon Jovi, but I'm sure you'd roll your eyes as much as I would. 

Roomie showed me this as last night I was in despair =]

Finals List:
--> 5 page marsh/tire plant paper, plus group work reflection due Monday at 9am [STATUS: COMPLETE!!!]
--> 8 to 10 page Buddhism paper, due Monday at 3pm [STATUS: ...well...I have a heading?]
--> Study my brains out for Chem final, Tuesday at 9am [STATUS: still ahhhhhhhhhhhh]
--> Create a map of the best place in Erie, PA for an urban garden and write 3-4 pages about the process, due Wednesday at noon. [STATUS: ~ 1/4 done]

Just keep swimming, just keep swimming....