Lately.

Well, my life has slowed down a considerable amount. My problem now isn't that I don't have the time to write, it's simply that there is just not much to write about. After I got home to Delaware, I slept. A lot. I slept until my body ached to be doing something. And then I knew that I was caught up on my sleep. I spent 3 days recovering from everything... the stress of finals, the going to bed at 2am and waking up at 6am, the long drive... my body and brain needed some serious mending. I feel so much better now, I don't feel so tightly wound and it's easier to smile.

Yesterday I had the most amazing day. I hung out with my friend Matt from high school. We went all over the place - DE, PA, NJ. We went to this amazing little cafe near my house (it's the same one I took you to last year, Kelly, when you stopped in DE!) and I had a fantastic Thai Chicken Sandwich and Edamame, my favorite. After that, we came back and played with Syd for awhile. The rest of the day was spent traveling around, buying Christmas gifts and getting lost in the barren frozen tundra that is South Jersey right now. It was great to catch up and even greater to get out of the house and do something different. I hadn't been that happy in awhile, just riding around with nowhere to be exactly and nothing that really needed to be done.

I am totally pumped for everyone to open their Christmas gifts. I thought very long and hard this year about what to get people. I wish tomorrow was Christmas morning so that I could give my gifts... but I guess I can wait another 36 hours. Tomorrow is going to be a busy day. I need to finish wrapping, do a few loads of laundry, help my mom when she gets home, dinner at Romeo's as per tradition in our household, and then a Christmas Party that we go to every year hosted by the family of one of Kelsey's good friends. I'm excited, I love Christmas Eve - it's always so full of seeing people happy and catching up and drinking wine and even though I'm 22, I still feel anxious going to sleep on Christmas Eve :-)

I don't know why, but lately I've been really bothered by a lot of things I see. I almost cried yesterday while I was at a red light, watching this woman trudge through the snow on her way to the bus stop. She was carrying bags from a department store - presents perhaps? And she just looked so cold, I just wanted to pull over and offer her a ride, but I never know if that kind of thing would weird someone out. I was in the mall tonight and we were walking by the Santa display, where kids can get their photos taken with the big man. I hesitated for a minute, to watch the photographer try to get the attention of the baby on Santa's lap. The baby was dressed in the most adorable outfit, and his parents were next to the photographer, calling his name and waving at him. And then the man standing next to me said, "Oh, that baby has Down Syndrome". It bothered me - yes, the child had Down Syndrome, but seriously - this adorable child is sitting on Santa's lap, smiling for the camera, and his parents are standing 5 feet away, and is it really necessary to state that? Is it really the first thing you could say? It irked me. I smiled at the baby's dad, and kept walking.

I find myself more and more frustrated with the things that are wrong in this world. So many things are so wrong, and it's amazing how we don't even question it. We are distracted by the media, by our own lives, by the "buzz"... and we don't remember the things that really matter. We are taught that strangers are dangerous. Which, it can't be denied that some strangers are dangerous. But I hate going out in a crowd of people and not being able to relate or talk to anyone around me, just because I don't know any of them personally. Is that weird? I just wish people were more into their communities and thinking about those around them instead of always themselves. Tonight, outside of a kitchen store, a man bumped into a huge rack of door mats. Half of them fell off the rack. He looked at them, and kept walking. I was behind him, so I walked up and picked them all up. Doesn't he realize that someone else would have to clean up his mess? I sometimes long for a more collectivistic society.

Well, it's time for bed... I hope you all have a wonderful holiday, a Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year. I'll be floating around the east coast for the next week and a half - Maryland, New Jersey, Vermont, North Carolina... I'll be back in DE on January 3rd, but hopefully I can get a post in before then. Love to you all -

Peaceful *edited

I took this photo last year while we were decorating the tree. I love my silhouette and the way that Kelsey is outlined in light. It was just lucky that the lights from the tree threw that patch of light on the wall, where I happened to be standing in a perfect spot to be shadowed. I've considered cropping out the kitchen...

I got home today - left NC early this morning and got into Delaware around 2:30. I've been taking it easy today...napping, a little TV. My brain needs a serious break from thinking... so far for grades this semester I have two As and a B+.

Tomorrow my mom turns 50 years old! She has to work for a little bit, then we are going to get our Christmas tree and decorate it. I'm excited, I love going through our ornaments... a lot of them mean a lot to me.

Hope everyone is having a great holiday season!

Here is a better, edited version of that photo:

Thanksgiving Break in 8 photos

1. My mom and Carlos being silly at the Top of the Hill house.

2. Nothing makes me feel more holiday cheer than that house!

3. A room in the Eyes Gallery, my favorite store on South Street in Philadelphia.

4. Haley's very first Philly cheesesteak - she liked it!

5. Independence Hall at sundown.

6. The Liberty Bell

7. Jack- my cousin's son, and Poppop matched on Thanksgiving :)

8. Kels, me, and Mommom. I wish I had tilted my head up so that my eyes weren't so dark in this photo.

I have a ton of others - Haley took sooo many while we were at my Uncle's for Thanksgiving dinner, but I haven't really had a chance to really go through them yet. So, this is all for now.

Interesting

Websites that I visit most frequently, by letter:

A: apple.com

B: blogger.com

C: creatinglove.blogspot.com

D: delawareonline.com

E: ebay.com

F: facebook.com

G: google.com

H: hope4peyton.com

I: imdb.com (haha)

J: junumusic.com

K: kristenspad.blogspot.com

L: liamjamekane.com

M: mattlogelin.com

N: npr.org (what can i say, i hate listening to it in the car - i know, i'm a bad liberal- but they do have interesting articles)

O: orbitz.com

P: princeliamthebrave.blogspot.com

Q: none.. guess I don't ever go to any websites starting with "Q".

R: radiopeter.com

S: sporcle.com (BEST WEBSITE EVER!)

T: teamsam.com

U: uncg.edu

V: verizon.com

W: wikipedia.org

X: none.

Y: youtube.com

Z: none.

Interesting.

Thanks for all of your great suggestions on things to do while taking a break from studying...

Vickie - I am working on the puzzle you sent me and so far I have 19 out of 33 solved. I look at it every morning and throughout the day, and it's actually quite relaxing. My roommate, who has a really quick mind and is amazing at solving things like this, has all but 2 figured out. (I was proud to get #30 correct before she did, because she always beats me at things like this!)

Tomorrow is the last day of classes, and then my first and only final is on Wednesday. I could go home after my final (which is early in the morning) but I'm thinking about sticking around Greensboro for a few days... I have a lot of cleaning to do. My room looks like a tornado went through it, and my double bed has been a single bed for awhile because the other side is piled high with stuff. (I don't even know what... books I'm reading, clothes, a hair dryer that I tend to kick every night in my sleep, etc.)

Okay, I have to be at work in 5 hours and 45 minutes. Time for sleep.

Thankful

Tonight I re-read my mom's old Caringbridge site. I read every single journal entry and every single guestbook entry.

It made me so thankful for her current good health. I don't know what I'd do without my mom and my sister, they are my best friends.

And reading all of the guestbook entries made me realize how incredibly supportive people can be... many of you reading this now left messages, and I just wanted to thank you again for being so supportive during that time. It really meant so much to my family.

I remember being in the waiting room during her surgery to have the tumor removed, tapping my foot and being generally nervous with Kelsey. My friend Megan, who came down to be with us while my mom was in the hospital, taught us how to play Tri-Peaks Solitaire, colored in coloring books with us, and distracted us by talking about anything and everything. That same day, good friends of the family came by the hospital to keep us company and they bought us lunch at the hospital. We had countless meals dropped off by family and friends for weeks.

We were and still are so lucky to have so many amazing people in our lives.

Sanity Schedule

Everything that is standing between me and the end of my semester (I can't find my planner so this is more for my reference!!)

Today (2nd):

Work 8-10:50

Class 11-1

Babysitting 2-4:30

Thurs (3rd):

CTC Meeting at 11am

Lit Review Meeting at 2:30

Stat exam at 3:30

Class 5-6:15

Friday (4th):

Class 12-1

Babysit 2:30-3:30

Monday (7th):

Work 8-10:50

Class 11-1

Final Draft of Research Paper due

Undergrad Research Meeting at 1

Tuesday (8th)- Reading Day:

Stat Final Exam Review 9-11

Sports Psych Meeting 1:30-2:30

Internship Orientation 3-5

Rugby Banquet at 6 (?)

Wednesday (9th):

Stat exam 8-11am

Due Before End of Finals:

Final Portfolio (due by Dec. 15, 5pm)

African Politics Take Home Final (due by Dec 15, 5pm)

The last two things on the list will hopefully be turned in by the 10th - I plan on getting them done EARLY so that they're not holding me back!!

Any good idea for good 20 minute or so stress relievers? I need to find a way to let my brain zone out when I am taking a break from studying/meetings/craziness... and my brain is getting tired of surfing the web!

302

Even though this photo is blurry and was taken on a phone, it's one of my favorites from being home last week! (Well, I actually haven't gone through and uploaded the photos from my camera yet... I'll get to that when I find the energy!) If you can't tell, we're holding up the numbers "3-0-2" for Delaware. I love these two so much, and it was so good to see them!

Every time I go home I am reminded of how much I love where I spent the first 18 years of my life. I love the northeast. I miss the northeast desperately. I am happy in Greensboro, don't get me wrong. Some of my best friends live here, and some of the best times of my life have been had here. But a piece of me will always be longing for the "Leaders Zone" as I like to call it (Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey). When I'm driving home, my heart feels like it's going to explode when I am on I-95 crossing over into Delaware - the same feeling I get when the plane begins it's descent into Philadelphia when I fly home.

I hate leaving... I always, always, always get teary-eyed leaving.

I've been making a lot of big decisions lately. I graduate in 6 months, and my lease is up in 7 months. I still don't know what I'm going to do, but I really think that moving back to DE/MD/NJ might be in my future plans. I miss it, I miss it, I miss it. I miss my extended family - I feel like my grandparents are only getting older (which they are) and I feel like my little cousins, each of whom I've held when they were just days old, are becoming so grown up. I love them so much and I really want to be a part of their lives, and I want them to remember me. Right now they are 7, 5, and 3... and I hate leaving them! I want to be a positive role model in their lives forever, I want them to always know how much I love them, and I want to spend more time with them - mainly doing fun things! I've been wanting to take them to the Please Touch Museum in Philly for years... they would love it.

Thanksgiving was great - too much to write about, but the week was awesome. Haley had a great time meeting everyone and seeing everything. We took her into Philly, where she got to see the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, South Street, etc. She got to try a real cheesesteak... and she got to try scrapple and raw oysters (a huge Thanksgiving tradition for my family). I just wish I could have shown her more - she's never been to NYC, Baltimore, or D.C. - places I grew up going to on field trips and family trips... I would also love to show her more of Chestertown - in the summer though, so we could go out on the river. Plus, Rehoboth and Dewey... I may force her to come to DE next summer to visit...haha.

Things are going to be absolutely insane for the next two weeks, but I'm thinking I can handle it. For now, my to-do list is done and I'm taking it task by task. My last final is on Dec. 9th... but the days are going to be long, busy, and stressful until then. But, it will be so worth it! This is officially my last semester of classes. So... no more studying, exams, research papers, etc. Next semester will be my internship and my undergraduate research opportunity. Woo hooo!