Today is a happy Friday indeed since it is the last day of classes! The sun is shining, the weather is warm, and everyone is sporting their shorts and flip flops. It's certainly a change from last week when it was cold and dreary. This is the exact way I want to kick off my summer!
I can't believe that my first year of college is already coming to an end. Today was the beginning of the last week of classes and then I have finals next Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't looking forward to the summer, but the end of the year makes me realize how time really does fly by fast. Half the time, I still think I'm a senior in high school. It's so crazy.
This year started off pretty rocky and I was very unhappy and discouraged the first month here. However, I knew that if I didn't do something to change that, then this all would just be a waste of money. Now, I think I've done a pretty decent job with becoming involved and making the most of my first year in college. I served as an on-campus senator for SGA, joined Special Olympics, went back and forth in my head about being an education major (and stuck with administration of justice), and found a close group of friends. I got to see the Boston Celtics play in our gym. I saw the Blue Man Group perform. I spent sunny days at the beach and rainy days jumping in puddles around campus. I surpassed my expectations academically my first semester and earned a high GPA. This semester is a different story (refer to previous post), but c'est la vie. None of this would have been possible if I didn't choose my path through my first year here. Despite the setbacks and the pessimism that I had, I'm glad and relieved that I decided to have a positive outlook on things.
Next year will be better in some ways. First, I was recently elected as the secretary for the executive board on SGA. I'm certainly looking forward to this and many people have told me that it's a great accomplishment for a sophomore. I am also going to be serving as a student mentor in the fall and I'm excited for this too! We have a great group of student mentors and I can already tell that we are going to be close to one another. Finally, I will be living here with three of my friends next year...
We're very excited to be living here with each other... especially when it comes to decorating our room!
However, all the new changes will mean that I will have to say goodbye to the things and people that I have gotten accustomed to this year. I have been very fortunate to have met a wonderful group of seniors at school and they have had a great impact on my first year here.
The president, vice-president, and secretary of the current SGA e-board have made me feel welcome since day one when I joined SGA. They were there to help me overcome my fear of heights, encouraged me to go out of my comfort zone and try new things, and acted as role models throughout the year. Also, another senior here has absolutely gone out of her way to take me under her wing and show me the ropes of what Salve is all about. She has made me feel comfortable when I wanted to leave, kept me sane when I was about to go crazy, and convinced me that this school isn't really all that bad. She is so involved with this school and I only hope that I can accomplish half of the things that she has done in the past four years that she has been here! I have been blessed to have gotten so close with her over this past year and a piece of my heart will certainly be missing when she graduates in a few short weeks! Love you forever, RER :) You're the best!
But regardless of all of this, I know change is inevitable and I will welcome it when the time comes. Next year will be different, but I am hoping to make the most of it, as I always do. :)
“We cannot change our past. We cannot change the fact that people act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude."
I gave up on you a long time ago, but you didn't give up on me. I wish you would.
I never liked you in high school and yet, you insisted on getting to know me my junior year (okay, maybe I did like you for that ONE day that I received my first and last A+ on a quiz, but other than that, it was a strictly hate-hate relationship!). I never had any love for you, despite of what you thought. After an awful, torturous year together, I was extremely relieved when we broke up because I thought I would never have to see you again.
However, you clearly didn't get the message because you have been trying this entire spring semester to rekindle the flame and you have made me a very unhappy, bitter girl. Now, your shenanigans have gotten me into trouble... again. I am so thankful we only have eleven more days together. I am not exaggerating when I am saying that I will be the happiest girl alive once I am done with you on Thursday, May 6 at approximately 10 AM. That's right. You heard me correctly. I will be done with you forever.
But until then, you make me want to jump off the Cliff Walk... or do this. It's less drastic, I think.
Sincerely, Girl whose life and GPA you have ruined.
"Happiness comes in many forms… in the company of good friends, in the feeling you get when you make someone else’s dream come true, or in the promise of hope renewed. It’s okay to let yourself be happy because you never know how fleeting that happiness might be."
The last time the Backstreet Boys sung this to me, there were still five of them. However, this song became a lie in 2006 when my heart broke into pieces the day I found out Kevin Richardson was leaving the group. Kevin was the tallest guy in the group with the bushy eyebrows and baritone voice. He was never my favorite, but I still felt as though he was a member of my Backstreet family.
In my early years, I was -and still am- completely and utterly obsessed with the Backstreet Boys. My family friends who were 5-6 years older than me would always listen to BSB whenever I was over their houses, and they clearly influenced me to join the bandwagon. When I was 9, I would listen to the Millenium album on repeat, and once the Black and Blue album came out, I listened to that until the songs started to skip from overuse. In the summer of 2001, my mom surprised me with tickets to see them on their Black and Blue Tour (yes, the tour that got postponed due to AJ's drug rehab). The original date of the concert got pushed to September 10, 2001 (I know). It was my first concert and I had so much fun! We had awesome seats and I made a poster and everything. In the middle of the concert, they surprised us and showed up in the middle of the arena, instead of the stage, so they were even closer to where I was sitting. Of course, at 11 years old, I was positive that they made eye-contact with me at one point.
I wish I could embed this into the post but YouTube won't let me... click here for footage of a concert from their actual tour and feel like a young teenybopper again (side note: seeing mothers with their young babies in the audience made me laugh. My mom bought earplugs and had them in the whole time when she took us)...
... which leads me to this conclusion: you are never too old for a BSB concert. On Tuesday, June 8, I will be attending my second BSB concert in Boston! I am as giddy as I was 9 years ago and I don't care what anyone thinks of me. I'm going with one of those family friends mentioned above, who is now 24... Like I said, you can never be too old. Don't judge us :)
Tell me whyyy, ain't nothing but a heartbreak. Tell me whyyyy, ain't nothing but a mistake. Tell me why, I never wanna hear you sayyy, I want it that wayyy.....
This scene was in the most recent Grey's Anatomy episode and it was too funny not to share.
Callie: Wow, so you and Teddy ate pound cake together. Mark: You’re changing the subject. Callie: You like how I did that? Sooo, how was it? Mark: Mind blowing. I pounded her cake, she pounded mine. Excellent pound caking. Callie: Pound caking is not a thing! Mark: Whatever, I blew her mind.
The Weather Channel does not lie. It did rain today... a lot of rain. I was not a happy camper since we had b-e-a-utiful weather earlier in the week! On Wednesday, my friends and I even walked down the Cliff Walk to lay on the beach for a few hours. I can't believe that it's just raining a mere two days later. Soooo ridiculous. I have never experienced so much rain in a short time period!
That is why I want summer to come NOW! Lately, I have been listening to country music more than ever before, as if some Kenny Chesney and Lady Antebellum could make the sun come out. I am a huge fan of country music, and whenever I'm home in the summer, the radio in my car is always set to a country radio station. I have only been to one country concert so far, but it was so worth it. I went to see Brad Paisley, Jack Ingram, and Kellie Pickler in the summer of 2007. Taylor Swift was also a part of this tour, but came down with bronchitis the day before this show. I was devastated, but Brad Paisley definitely turned things around for me. I bought tickets to see him again last summer, but ended up not going, due to a work commitment. So he's coming back to Massachusetts this summer, although he's filling in for K.Ches and headlining at Gillette Stadium. Side note: Dear Mr. Paisley, I know you're talented enough to perform at Gillette, but next time, for my sake, please come back to your usual venue in the future. Although I love you, I simply cannot afford to fork up $90 to see you when I only had to pay $33 just twelve months ago. Thanks, miss you!
Anyway, I am hoping to go to the Tim McGraw, Lady A, and Love & Theft show in July, but until then, here are some of my favorite country songs that remind me of summer:
1. Gloriana - "Wild at Heart"
"Stick your hand into my back pocket
Light me up like a bottle rocket
I just wanna free fall for awhile
That rebel moon is shining
Those stars burn like diamonds
Hell bent on chasing down that crazy spark"
2. Keith Urban - "Somebody Like You"
(I actually saw this whole show on TV and the story he tells before singing this song is adorable!)
"I wanna feel the sunshine, shining down on me and you
When you put your arms around me
You let me know there's nothing in the world we can't do"
3. Kenny Chesney - "Never Wanted Nothing More"
"I'm what I am. I'm what I'm not
I live to love and laugh a lot, and that's all I need"
4. Dierks Bentley - "Free and Easy"
"Got the sun shinin' on me like a big spotlight
So I know everything is gonna be alright
Ain't no tellin' where the wind might blow
Free and easy down the road I go
Livin' life like a Sunday stroll
Free and easy down the road I go"
5. Brad Paisley - "Mud on the Tires"
(This video makes me laugh so much!)
"Moonlight on a duck blind, catfish on a trot line
Sun sets about nine this time of year
We can throw a blanket down
Crickets singin' in the background
And more stars than you can count on a night this clear"
6. Taylor Swift - "Our Song"
(This is the ultimate 'warm weather' song, because my teammates and I used to blast this on our bus rides to away meets every year)
"Our song is the slammin' screen doors,
Sneakin' out late, tapping on your window
When we're on the phone and you talk real slow
'Cause it's late and your mama don't know
Our song is the way you laugh
The first date 'Man, I didn't kiss her, and I should have'
And when I got home, before I said 'Amen'
Asking God if he could play it again"
and the most current song:
7. Lady Antebellum - "American Honey"
"There's a wild, wild whisper
Blowing in the wind
Calling out my name like a long lost friend
Oh, I miss those days as the years go by
Oh, nothing's sweeter than summer time
And American honey"
Even if you don't usually listen to country music, there's no denying that these songs will put you in a good mood! Hope you enjoy them!
You know that feeling when you have reached the end of your vacation and you completely dread returning to wherever it is you came from, whether it's home, work, or school?
Well, that feeling has hit me like a ton of bricks, although that simile doesn't even do it justice. It feels like someone just flung a ton of bricks down I-95 at 80 miles an hour and it just hit me. Talk about major damage.
It seems as though God granted the entire country with warm weather this weekend, but when I check The Weather Channel and they tell me that there's a 60% chance of rain on Friday in Newport, I'm ready to stomp my feet and throw a temper tantrum as though I'm back to being four years old.
