Chocolate makes your clothes shrink.

well hello 2012!

2012-01-31T15:18:00.000-08:00

Well, 2 months have flown by before my eyes. This is my official first post of 2012!

I had an amazing 3 weeks at home for Christmas break, it was so great to see my family and friends. I must say I haven't had a lot of down time the past few weeks. I have been busting out grad school applications and getting into the swing my last semester as an undergrad( SCARYYYY!)

In 2 weeks I am going to Dallas for an interview to possibly become a Gamma Phi CLC after I graduate. It is something I have wanted for the past 4 years and I have past the first cut so I am anxiously awaiting the outcome before I decide what I am going to be doing after graduation.

Athena is doing SO great! she loves Georgia and has adjusted well. I have become somewhat of a frantic "mom" taking her everywhere with me and never being without her(except for class that is).

I am also SOOO excited to be going to NEW YORK CITAYYY and Washington DC for Spring Break in March! My 3 best friends and I are going and I am looking forward to it, nothing beats the big apple....especially since not all of them have been there before. ;)

I am trying to enjoy every last day of college..though I am already over school and am counting down the days until Graduation in May, it will be here before I know it.

Now that everyone is filled in on my life...back to studying. :)

CIAO!

Gobble Gobble

2011-11-29T18:40:00.001-08:00

Thanksgiving 2011 has officially come and gone! I spent the last 10 days at home( enjoying the nice 70+ degree weather) working on grad school apps and seeing my family. It was great to have a yummy home cooked meal too!

I am also SO excited because I got a puppy!! I have been looking for this entire semester and finally found this little one at home last week!

I named her Athena( yes, after the Greek goddess. Me and my history hehe) She is a Pomeranian and is currently a little more than 3 pounds. SO TINY! She will only be about 6 pounds fully grown.

It has only been a few days but I am currently obsessed with her. She had to stay at home since she wasn't able to fly yet but after Christmas break she will be making her way back to Georgia with me and I am SOO excited for our new little roomie!

Only 2 more weeks until I get to go home for 3 weeks! Just need to get through these finals then it's smooth sailing. :)

Welcome to The Windy City!

2011-11-07T19:47:00.000-08:00

HAPPY NOVEMBER first of all....can't even grasp it's almost Christmas...AHHH

Anyways, I haven't blogged in over a month :( So here is a quick look at my weekend getaway to Chi-town last month!

Like I said before, I had the chance to fly to Chicago three weeks ago...since my parents were in town for my Dad's work convention! I had never been before and I had a really great time! I flew in on Thursday night after class and on Friday my Mom & I walked around Magnificent Mile( which was rather Magnificent might I add) and went shopping at some of my favorite stores!

Saturday, My Dad had the day off so we went to Millenium Park to see "The Bean"! Well, it's "official" name is the Cloud Gate sculpture but I always do as the locals do and call it "The Bean" !!

We had to push our way past all the asian tourists( who were taking like 100 pics of the same thing) to get a pic in the reflection of it!

Since I was with my parents who LOVE to do touristy things, like take touristy tours on touristy looking buses with touristy maps( THANK GOD they don't wear touristy fanny packs!) we took a tour bus around the city! We were able to see some really fun places like the Trump tower, the edge of Lake Michigan, the cool looking art museum and more of Millenium park!

My Mom & I also went to Magnolia's Bakery(the original one is in NYC) and got some DELICIOUS cupcakes! :)

Saturday night we decided to walk to the famous Navy Pier! I was expecting a lot more than what it was( it's basically a Santa Monica pier on a smaller level). It was all decorated for Halloween since it was the weekend before, which made it kinda fun!

My Dad & I decided to go on the Ferris Wheel( which is saying a lot since I am scared of unsafe heights haha). The views of the city skyline at sunset was SO pretty, you could literally see for miles at the very top!

As always there's a TON more pics on my facebook page! :)

Only 2 more weeks till Thanksgiving break...literally counting down the days(I'm so over school UGHHH)

this semester is just flying by!

2011-10-14T19:17:00.000-07:00

So much has been going on lately, I have had barely any time to do anything! My family was able to come to Athens the first weekend of October! I was so excited to see them since I haven't seen them since I left home at the end of July.

We spent Friday in Atlanta going to Lennox Square mall and eating at Hard Rock. Saturday we of course went to the football game against Mississippi State( and we won! WOO!)

And I of course grabbed a pic by the arch too! :)

Saturday night we went to the local corn maze which was really fun! We went with Kacey and her parents too!

I was so happy to see them but sad it was only for 3 short days! :(

BUT I am looking forward to going to Chicago this coming weekend for 3 days to meet my parents who are there for my dad's work convention! I have never been there so it should be a fun weekend getaway! :)

2011-09-28T18:35:00.000-07:00

As I am frantically trying to study for my Art class midterm tomorrow I came across the definition of rhythm: a unifying element of art created by regularly repeated elements with variation....and the example was this picture of a ceiling in the Palazzo Barberini in Roma!

And so I thought to myself, I remember being extremely fascinated by this gigantic painting on the ceiling that I laid on the benches in the middle of the room and literally stared at it for 30 minutes.

That being said, Let's hope I ace this midterm!

And my spanish oral exam tomorrow...and my history paper. On the plus side, my fambam arrives in the south tomorrow night! Can't wait to see them!

Back to studying. Is it Thanksgiving break yet?

"Are you from Tennessee cause you're the only 10 I see..."

2011-09-23T17:07:00.000-07:00

I left my heart in Nashville...seriously. I have always heard how amazing the city is( and it of course is home to some of the biggest country stars) but being able to finally visit it was AMAZING. Yes, it's a city but it was the crazy, chaotic city like LA and everyone was SO nice. You think Georgians are nice...wait until you meet those Tennesseans.

So Kacey & I left Athens on Friday afternoon & began our 5 hour road trip to Nashville. We of course had to stop and take pics with the state signs( though GA really needs to make theirs more attractive haha)

We got to our hotel around 8:00pm & got ready to go to dinner. We stayed at this BEAUTIFUL 5 star hotel right in the heart of downtown & my mom arranged a little surprise of a personalized cake and lots of balloons in our room. Completely unexpected but what a great surprise. :)

We then hit up the bars downtown( after some suggestions by our very cute friend who worked at our hotel). But let me just say...we were in for a treat when we were surrounded by biker babes, old single men and lots of "cowboy" types. haha. We also learned that another name for the city is "NashVegas" because the downtown area is a strip of bright lights and tons of colorful signs.

Saturday we took a taxi to The Parthenon in Centennial Park. I can't even tell you the excitement I had to see this! I have seen the real one in Athens, Greece so it was amazing to see a life size replica of it...in the south! haha.

Inside was a very detailed replica of the goddess Athena, as it would have been in Greece. I really enjoyed explaining all the significance and architecture to Kacey while we were there( at least I learned something in Rome right? haha)

Our next stop was the Country Music Hall of Fame. I had really high expectations for this place but I am sad to say I was a little disappointed. It really focused on older country music artists rather than modern day. Nonetheless, it was cool to see such a well known museum.

The city has cool statues all around downtown...like this GIANT guitar and boot! haha. Check out the "Honky Tonk Heroes" on it...right up my alley ;)

For dinner we went to The Hard Rock Cafe( a tradition that I do in cities I visit) & bought myself my usual T-shirt, my collection keeps getting bigger!

Of course Saturday night was the TAYLOR SWIFT concert! I can't even explain how amazing it was. I certainly didn't think it was going to be THAT good. She walked through the crowds, had amazing dancers and props and even brought out Kenny Chesney, Andy Grammer and Tim Mcgraw at different times to sing their songs with her!

I always love seeing celebs in person..but she did not disappoint one bit! and our seats were fabulous too! It was such a fun weekend & I enjoyed celebrating my Birthday for a second weekend in a row! I can't wait to go back! :)

PS Only 5 Days until my Family comes to Georgia! I can't wait it!!! It's been 2 months.eeek!

PPS. I got my first "real" pay check today! All my late nights & stressful hours finally are paying off! WOO!

21! 21! 21! 21!

2011-09-14T18:15:00.000-07:00

I AM OFFICIALLY 21!!!WOOHOO!

I seriously had the most AMAZING/FUN/FUNNY/FABULOUS Birthday ever! I can't even begin to tell you how much I love my friends and family! So here's what went down throughout my b-day weekend!

Friday Night( sept 9th): me and some friends went to dinner at Cracker Barrel! I know what you are thinking...out of all places why there? Well, I made it a Georgia Birthday tradition since I went last year & we don't have them at home. Of course, I also love going there cause I am usually the youngest one in the joint haha

Saturday(sept 10th): As my friends said "Happy Birthday/SEC football day" haha. We played South Carolina & man o' man it was a close game. I woke up in the morning to breakfast in bed( Chick fil' A & a sweet tea) from my amazing roommate, I was totally surprised! She also got me flowers! SO SWEET!

Then we got ready & headed out to some tailgates where we met up with Kelly and Mckenzie then eventually headed to Sanford Stadium to watch the Dawgs play! :)

After the game we got ready to head downtown to the bars! The game ended late( like 8:30 late) so even though we were exhausted from such a hot and exciting day, I of course wanted to celebrate the fact I was legal...woo! We first went to a bar called JR's & danced to their cover band & met up with some friends!

Then we went to a bar called On the Rocks...which let me just tell you had THE BEST PLAYLIST ever! I danced for like 2 hours straight! haha This picture seriously is so epic...love them! :)

I thought it was only right that I take a picture of the last minute of my birthday( PS notice how sweaty I am from my awesome dance moves haha)

My roomie gave me cute little gifts throughout the day( including this awesome crown that lights up & all these fabulous beads). My parents & grandparents sent packages too & I got some wonderful goodies from them! It literally was SO great, still can't believe I'm 21! Can't wait to go dancing at some clubs...I've been waiting my whole life for this!! haha

Thank you to everyone who made it so AMAZING, I couldn't ask for better people in my life! :)

PS GOING TO NASHVILLE IN 2 DAYS!!! SO EXCITED! :)

two more.two more.two more...

2011-09-07T22:01:00.000-07:00

AHHH ONLY TWO MORE DAYS!

The suspense is killing me.....haha

A look at the last year!

2011-09-04T19:35:00.000-07:00

So as the last week of me being 20 starts I thought I would share some of the greatest moments of each month of this past year! So much has happened and it has been one of the best years of my life! :)

August 2010( I know, a little earlier than my 20th bday but it was worth being in the list haha) I took a leap of faith and moved all the way to Athens,GA and became a Bulldog at the University of Georgia!

September 2010: I got a new addition to our Gphi Lineage, turned 20 AND experienced my first Georgia football season! LOVE MY DAWGS!

October 2010: I went to my first real pumpkin patch and got to pick my pumpkin off of the vine & went to St.Simons and Jacksonville for my first G-flo(georgia vs florida) game!

November 2010: PARENT'S WEEKEND! My family came to Athens to visit me and we got to go to a home football game. Nothing like SEC football! ...Then it was home for Thanksgiving Break and some good old family time!

December 2010: Besides finals, most of December was spent at home in Cali for Christmas break! I got to see my kitty Hocus :)

Went to Disneyland with my family....

And went to Mammoth for our annual family trip!

January 2011: HAPPY NEW YEAR! It was back to school & back to sorority events like this Red & Black social we had!

Feburary 2011: My family came to Georgia again to visit for Mommy-Daughter weekend! We went to a gymdawgs meet which was really fun!

March 2011: SPRING BREAK!!! WOO!! Loved that Kelly, Court and Mckenzie drove to Cali for break! We of course went to Coronado, the SD zoo and LA!

April 2011: We held Movie on the lawn & watched the Blind side! It was so fun just hanging out on the GPHIB front lawn with all my friends.

May 2011: If you didn't guess it already...ROMA,ITALIA! I finished my junior year and went half way around the world for 6 weeks of fun! One of the best experiences I have ever had!

June 2011: Most of the month was spent in Italy but I did get a chance to go to Barcelona,Spain!

July 2011: I was home for 3 weeks then it was off to Negril, Jamaica for 5 days!

August 2011: It was back to Athens and the start of my SENIOR year in college. I went through my last recruitment and moved into my new apartment!

It has been a whirlwind year but I have loved being 20! I have seen and been so many places, meet many new people and experienced things people only dream of. I know that turning 21 will only bring greater things in the future! Can't wait! Here is to bigger and better things!

:)

2011-08-31T16:19:00.000-07:00

The most important thing is to enjoy your life - to be happy - it's all that matters.

-Audrey Hepburn

I got my Football tickets today!

2011-08-26T15:31:00.000-07:00

Which means I'll be spending my Saturday's with 92,000 of my friends.
Can't wait for my last football season here at UGA to begin next Saturday! GO DAWGS!

Wanna know why I love elephants so much...

2011-08-25T17:25:00.000-07:00

This explains it!

SO PRESH!!

2011-08-23T20:33:00.001-07:00

If you know me well then you know I am a little obsessed with quotes. Ever since I can remember I just love finding new quotes and sayings that define me. FlAsHbAcK: to my Senior year of high school when it took my almost an entire month to decide what quote to put on the back of my letterman jacket( and no, it wasn't this one...although that would have made me stand out even more).

Here is my curent obsession. Feel Free to buy it for my birthday( which I might add is in 17 days! YAY!)

I LOVE THE 80's.

2011-08-19T09:12:00.000-07:00

Flashdance. Pretty in Pink. Sixteen Candles. Madonna. MJ. Big hair. Bright Colors. Rock Bands. NUFF SAID.

I HEART THE 80's!

and 80's socials with Delta Sig ;)

My last first day of college.

2011-08-16T14:54:00.001-07:00

Well it's official...I have officially started my last year in college...keyword: LAST! still hasn't hit me yet & I'm not sure it ever will.

But Monday night was my last GAMMA PHI BETA BID DAY! The theme was Mi casa es su casa, which turned out much cuter than I expected!

I literally danced on our lawn for an hour or more straight waiting for our new GphiB babies to arrive off the Panhellenic buses. Bid day at Georgia is SO much fun & no other school does it like us. hehe The Fratties of UGA ( yes, I just used that in a sentence) drive up & down Milledge Ave screaming out of their trucks/truck beds at us while we blast music & sing at the top of our lungs!

Typical me right? haha

Of course Mckenzie & I took a picture with our littles Gabrielle(left) and my little Kelly( far right) as well. I seriously have become obsessed with this picture, I even submitted it to The Crescent which is Gamma Phi's national magazine SO fingers crossed it gets published!WOO :))

I also can't believe that my days as a Gamma Phi Beta are going to be over after this year. I mean I am going to apply to be a CLC( more on that later) & hopefully be an active alum & even as much as I complain about the weekly meetings, the required things I have to attend, the T-shirts I have to make...it has been 3 years of fun so far. This picture says it all...

And back to the giant dance party we had on our lawn...this is a candid picture in between my awesome dance moves.

It's pictures like this that I will miss once this year is over. We just have that kind of relationship hahah

AND here is some more pics from the day! No one on the row has Swagger like us...

The Delta Upsilon chapter welcomed 70 beautiful new members to our sisterhood...I bet you're thinking 70 as in seven-zero...ya that is right. It's a lot but the only way to grow is to take lots of new babies. hehe.

Tomorrow night is our first social of the year...and it's 80's themed! I am going to try and channel my inner Madonna...or maybe just my Parents haha No one does 80's better than my Mom( and I'm sure she will kill me for this picture) but seriously, how perfect.

Here is another one just for giggles.So glad they don't dress like this anymore...although my Dad could work on his Jorts HAHAHAAH

and yeah that is me at age 1. Look out how precious I was...wait, still am. ;)

Peace & LOVE

If you wanna be happy for the rest of your life, be a gamma phi in pink & white.

2011-08-11T17:02:00.001-07:00

It's that time again RECRUITMENT 2011! The time when 1500 girls( yeah, that's no typo) visit all 17 sorority houses at UGA! Our 5 days of Recruitment workshop have all lead up to a 5 day Recruitment process. It is all summed up in loud walk songs, lots of girls, waking up at 6am, losing my voice from talking so much( that's even possible for me haha).

Other than that, I have officially moved into my new apartment! YAY! We have yet to finish decorating, but it's coming along really nice. I literally live 1 block from Gamma Phi which is great because I can now walk there. WOO!

OHH almost forgot, my youngest brother officially started high school today! It's bittersweet, I am SO excited for him but that means he( and I ) am growing up. School starts on Monday which is where it's going to officially set in that I am GRADUATING COLLEGE in the Spring!! EEK!

Another long day of GPHI tomorrow. Lucky you, Lucky me, Lucky to be a GPHIB! GO GAMMA PHIIIII! <3

JAMAICAN ME CRAZY MON:)

2011-08-02T19:12:00.000-07:00

Ok, no they didn't ACTUALLY say that in Jamaica but the word "Mon" is probably used in every sentence. To say the least, I had an FANTASTIC and AMAZING time. Here is a sum up of my 5 wonderful days in the Caribbean! :)

We climbed aboard our airtran flight direct from Atlanta to Montego Bay, Jamaica on Tues( July 26th), which also happened to be Kacey's actual 21st Birthday! We spent the night out so needless to say we were a bit tired & took full advantage of our short 2 1/2 hour flight to sleep. Once we arrived we spent an hour passing through customs( I made sure I got a stamp in my passport, Ya mon!) and took the Sandals Resort bus to our hotel about an 1 1/2 away.

Sandals Negril was absolutely beautiful. It was an all inclusive resort( which I am always going to do now, LOVED IT). It was also a couples resort which made it a bit of an experience. Kacey & I got some interesting looks when walking around. haha.

Wednesday( July 27th): we spent the day laying on the beach. Negril, Jamaica has the clearest water. The temperature was perfect, the fruity drinks were delicious & the view was breathtaking.

I also made sure to get a picture with the Jamaican Flag! :)

We went to dinner at a place called Sundowners to celebrate Kacey's B-day! One of my goals of visiting Jamaica was to find a hammock...and I was successful. It was right smack on the beach, could it be more perfect??

I also couldn't resist taking stopping to take a picture with the copies of Roman statues. Now, you might be wondering how in the heck do I know they are copies of ancient Roman statues....BECAUSE I SAW THE REAL ONES IN ROME! I literally almost died. It made me realize how much I have seen this entire summer & how fortunate I am to have experienced so much in different parts of the world.

Anyway....Thursday( July 28th) was SOO Fun. Kacey & I decided to rent some dune buggies and drive through the Jamaican mountainside for 2 hours! I started off driving & we went through a little village then on up into the mountains, over lots of rocks & mud puddles.

One of the coolest things about this adventure was that we got to stop at an old sugar plantation! Today, it is used as a veggie farm but still has some of the plantations original items.

Our tour guide decided to jump in with us too! this was after he asked me to marry him & he thought we were in Jamaica for Kacey's wedding haha. gotta love the locals!

The view at this point was literally breathtaking. Looking out you could see where the sky meets the sea. I call this postcard perfect #4 of the summer. This is a local veggie farmer carrying in his harvest.

As we were about to leave a giant rain storm hit us & within minutes we were soaking wet. Not just a little wet, I'm talking there was about 1in of water in our shoes, our shirts were now see through & there was mud everywhere. Remember that before picture....here's what we looked like after!! Did I mention DRENCHED!

Once we got back to our resort( about 45 min down the coast) we relaxed & got ready for the Reherseal dinner. For those of you who didn't get the memo...I was there for both vacation & for Kacey's brothers wedding. Everything went well & I enjoyed meeting all of Kacey's family & friends who came down to be there for Craig & Rachel's big day. The storm hadn't yet hit Negril until after dinner( figures right) but even when it is stormy the view is unbelievable.

This is us at dinner! We def framed it in our new apartment( post on that coming soon! YAY).

Friday( July 29th): We spent the morning laying on the beach, enjoying all you can eat food & drinks & waitresses bringing it to us( what a life right??) and we came across this little guy aka patrick from spongebob... how clear is this water, I couldn't believe that we could actually see the starfish, so gorgeous!

Kacey decided to try out water skiing( I wasn't about to pull a muscle or break a leg before the wedding haha) & she got up on her 3rd try! :)

One of our theme songs of this trip was Knee deep by the Zac Brown Band...and this should explain why.

We also lots of locals walking around on the beach asking you to buy things...when you think of a Jamaican, do you not think of this? As much I wanted to be annoyed by their persistant sales speeches, the view was just too relaxing for me to care.

In the afternoon I went to the bride's room & did the makeup on all the bridesmaids, my skills really come in handy If I might say so myself. The wedding was supposed to start at 5:30Pm but it was pouring rain & got pushed back until around 7pm. SO while we were waiting we decided to have our own little dance party in one of the couple's rooms, here's me and some of the girls. :)

Of course once the wedding started it was beautiful. Although it was dark you could hear the waves crashing in the distance and it was a small group of around 30 friends and family members.

Here is me and my new friends as well as Kacey right after the ceremony!

Dinner was delicious and then it was time to celebrate & what is the best way to do that...through dancing! It was so great that everyone was out on the dance floor, even the staff that were working it! loved it!

Of course I got a picture with the new Mrs. Brookes! Congrats again Rachel!

Taking a break from our delicious dinner...

Saturday( July 30th): A group of us decided to go to Rick's Cafe. It's a bar/restaurant on the top of giant cliffs that is apparently world-famous. The food wasn't good at all, but the views were yet again AMAZING. Just sitting their is so surreal because it is so pretty.

You have to pay the local cliff jumpers to actually jump off of the 85ft high diving platform so the guys decided too and we watched them jump straight into what looks like rocky waters. He's about to jumpp!

And that's it. Sunday we left bright and early and headed back to HAWTlanta! I seriously had such an amazing time I can't even begin to share it with you all. Jamaica is just another fun filled memorable trip and another stamp in my passport!

IRIE pronounced:eye-ree
It means, it's all good! :)

Until next time.

PS as always, check my facebook page for a TON more pictures. YA MON!

two simple words.

2011-07-24T21:49:00.001-07:00

My everyday reminder all we need in this world is FAITH AND LOVE.

Goodbye California...Hello Georgia

2011-07-24T11:31:00.000-07:00

It's official, I am back in Athens, Georgia for the beginning of my SENIOR year in college...SENIORRR YEAR! ok, well sorta. I spent yesterday & today packing my things up. I am pleasantly surprised that I have less than I thought I did.

This morning Kacey & I went to rent a U-haul. I get the lucky privlege of driving it down Milledge Ave( AKA frat row) to Kacey's apartment where my things will be held hostage until August 1 when we will rent another U-haul to move it to our new apartment on Waddell Street! :)

Jamaica is officially only 2 days away, It still feels unreal to me. At the beginning of the year I could have NEVER imagined going to Roma, then Spain and now Jamaica! I am SO EXCITED! Can't wait for Negril! :)

Now back to packing my life away in boxes!

Happy Monday!

2011-07-18T20:30:00.000-07:00

Today marks the beginning of my last week at home :( Can't even believe this summer is almost over & I am going to be a SENIOR in college. On Friday my family & I decided to drive out to our place in La Quinta, CA( about 2 hours from our house). It is SO peaceful there, it's like a mini vaca everytime I go there ESPECIALLY because I spent a majority of the weekend relaxing in this bad boy...I think I may invest in one myself! :)

Saturday we spent the morning relaxing at the pool & trying to stay cool in the 108 degree heat( not as hot as last weekend but still). In the evening we went to the movies where my Mom & I saw bridesmaids & my Dad, Brother & Gpa saw Horrible Bosses. I of course brought along the camera, which everyone tries to avoid but just can't haha.

Note: please look past the added shiny-ness of my forehead...it was a LITTLE bit warmer than usual lol.

I also got to finally wear my new glasses! I went for a more retro vibe with my choice this time. ;)

We ate a yummy dinner at Tommy Bahamas. I love the whole island,beach, tropical vibe. I felt like it's a pre Jamaica feeling. No one was up for pictures except for my mom hehe

Overall, it was another AMAZING & FUN weekend here at home. This is one of the first summers I really have spent most of my time with my family( minus my Euro vaca) but I've truly cherished being home.

As for my countdowns( I know, one ends & there are at least 2 more still going haha):
4 days until Georgia
8 days until Jamaica
4 weeks until my last first day of my undergrad career
7 weeks until my 21st B-day
8 weeks until Nashville/Taylor Swift concert!

SO many exciting things ahead, I look forward to them all! :)

Priceless.

2011-07-12T19:45:00.000-07:00

There is nothing in this world that can replace Memories. They are priceless.
I spent the last 3 hours reminiscing my childhood & teenage years looking through old photos & scrapbooks.
It is wierd how just looking at photos brings you back to the days that things happened. You can remember the smiles, the laughs, the tears, the funny family dinners & vacations.

I am so blessed to have the family that I do. I know I sometimes take it for granted but I am thankful for minute I spend with them....even if there is irrelevant arguments & fights sometimes, I wouldn't have it any other way.

Life is a succession of Moments. They go by way to fast so I have learned to appreciate everyday, whether good or bad. Before I know it I will be looking back reminiscing my college graduation and the years that are coming ahead.

PS. Please note the fashion of the 90's. Man, things have changed over the years. ;) hehe

"I don't think anyone can have on enough deodorant on for this"

2011-07-11T16:53:00.000-07:00

e gym, it sorta just happens but on a day to day basis it is something everyone tries to avoid Right?

Well my family & I decided to take a quick trip out to our condo in La Quinta,CA. It is in an area that is more commonly known as Palm Springs, although it is technically it's own city. It's a cute little desert city but MAN O' MAN it is hot. It was 115 during the middle of the day and cooled down to a low 98 degrees at 8 o' clock at night( Not normally the temperature you think of when I say cool right?)

We went to a delicious BBQ placed called Babe's for dinner. The name was so cute & everything was pig themed. It was adorable!

My Dad & I kinda matched in bright summer colors! hehe

I think it is ok for me to say that no one likes sweating. I mean at th

We spent yesterday relaxing at the pool(yeah, heat kinda limits what you can do). One of the funniest things that happened was my mom got stuck in the pool bathroom! The dead bolt lock got stuck and she literally was stuck in a windowless, heat box of a bathroom for 20 min. Thankfully, my grandpa( who has always carried a knife Just in case) came in handy & I had to un-screw the vent on the door so she could climb through.

Where is my Dad at this point? Good question...he was calling security while Evan was relaxing in the pool. To say the least, it was rather hilarious! haha.

We ended up going back to Babe's for lunch( yes it was that good ANDDD it had real Southern Sweet Tea!) & took a picture by the HUGE pig out front! :)

I loved spending time with my family. Can't believe I leave for Georgia 11 days & Jamaica in 14 days! Gosh, summer seriously needs to be longer!

CaliFREAKINfornia.

2011-07-04T14:33:00.001-07:00

Now that my European adventure is over, my everyday blogging is probably not going to happen. BUTTT I am back home in California for the next 3 weeks!

After traveling for a total of 27 hours, going to 3 airports, taking about 5 buses, passing 5 time zones I AM HOME! The past few days have been wonderful. I have just been relaxing by the pool with my family( ahhh summertime.)

Yesterday was my brother Evan's 15th birthday( I know..I can't believe it) so Saturday night the entire family got together( cousins, aunts, uncles etc) to go to dinner in celebration. It was great to see everyone since I have been gone for 6 weeks. :)

Here is me and the birthday boy & with my cousin Kayla! And how perfect was the wall decorations for the 4th!

AND today is the 4th of July! WOOHOO! I must say, that I am VERY proud to be an American. Especially after my Italian experiences( ahem..no ice... no air conditioning...no refills.. little english...so on). I am so glad to live in a country with the freedoms & securities we do have. I know we have our fair share of problems but there is really no other place like the good old USA. Thank you to everyone who fights for our country, without you we wouldn't be where we are. HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY AMERICA!

I am spending the rest of my afternoon relaxing by the pool with my freshly made smoothie. Oh how I love Summer.
Hope everyone is enjoying their holiday! :)

Roma, Italia

2011-06-28T09:22:00.001-07:00

I know I already posted something today, but as I am packing & in honor of the many things I have experienced here are my TOP 10 FAVORITE things about Roma,Italia

1-you can easily walk to the local fruit stand & get fresh fruit everyday
2-saying CIAO on an everyday basis.
3-Eating Gelato for breakfast, lunch & dinner( YUM!)
4-The centuries of history outside your window
5- Eating home baked bread with every meal
6- Meeting new people( love you guys!)
7- being able to easily travel through the country
8- taking the bus everywhere( there's a good public transit system here)
9- the fact you can hit other cars/vespas & drive away( you would get sued in uh-mur-ca FOR SURE!)
10- LIVING IN A FOREIGN COUNTRY LIKE A LOCAL FOR 6 WEEKS! :)

And of course, my LEAST FAVORITE 10 things:

1-not having ice on a daily basis!
2-eating pasta with everything!( I think I've every kind known to man)
3- no air conditioning(ANYWHERE!) & it being SO hot outside!
4- the amount of African mosquitos(NOT OK!)
5- not being able to watch American TV shows( I know, I should be enjoying my time but HEY!)
6- the amount of pollution in the city( it turns monuments black..eww)
7-hearing sirens ALL day EVERY day.( oh & protests & bus strikes)
8-having to take public transit everyday( it's a good & bad thing ok ;])
9- there isn't a good variety of food(after 6 weeks, italian is getting old.sad but true)
10-not being able to go to a walmart or even regular supermarket for things.

Tomorrow we leave at 6:15 am for the airport( in order for early people to catch their flights). My flight is at 12pm & stops in New York CITAYY then homeward bound to San Diego when I arrive at 10pm. I will basically be traveling for 24 hours, can't wait. It's times like these I wish I had a teleport. haha.

Off to dinner. My next post will be from the US of A! WOOHOO!

CIAO( for the last time :[ )

Every good thing comes to an end.

2011-06-28T06:08:00.000-07:00

Yes, it is THAT time. The last full day of my 6 week adventure here in Roma, Italia.
I can't even believe it, I remember getting so excited thinking about it just a few short months ago and now tomorrow I am jet setting back to the United States of America.

I spent this morning taking the last of my 3 finals( the easiest of them all I might add) then my roomate & I went to see the
Spanish Steps. You're probably thinking "It took you 6 weeks to see those?" The answer is YES, it did. We spent all our free weekends traveling and our free afternoons doing non "touristy" things. Nonetheless, I wasn't that impressed. It is scourching hot, hundreds of tourists & of course those annoying Indian guys who happened to see Adrian a 5 euro string bracelet( REDIC!)

This is me and my roomate's last picture in Rome together :( SO SAD!

& then of me and Adrian( after he got swindled haha)

We walked around for a bit & I picked up some last minute goodies for my family at home & then took a taxi back to the hotel( big spenders on our last day haha). I am finishing up my packing & tonight is a big celebration, last night dinner!

This is my entire group yesterday! This has been the best experience of my life and leaving is so bittersweet. I have made some of the greatest friends here & the memories I will have forever.

Wait for a later post on the best( & the worst things about Roma;])

CIAO! <3

Home stretch.

2011-06-27T08:19:00.001-07:00

It's the home stretch boys and girls...took 2 finals today & only 1 left tomorrow morning.

Can't believe tomorrow is our last full day in Roma! We are planning to go to the Spanish Steps & do a little shopping before we have to pack up and leave bright & early at 6:15am on Wednesday morning! Dying to get home!

I just enjoyed one of the last time I will eat local gelato from the ice cream place down the street( seriously, this stuff should win awards it's so good). Now it is back to studying my life away. I hate that it's summer & I am studying, not cool.

CIAO!

And for today's visual...this was at Alanna' Birthday celebration at Scholar's Bar in downtown last week! :)

blah.blah.blah.

2011-06-26T12:59:00.000-07:00

Let me sum up today: sleep in. laundry. lunch. study. study. ice cream. study. study. dinner. study all night.

Our first 2 finals are tomorrow! I hate that finals are required on this trip, shouldn't it be all fun??

Only 3 days until Cal[FREAKIN]fornia.
Can't wait to be home( already started packing...and if you know me, that is saying something!)

PS only 1 month until Jamaica! WOO! CIAO!

:)

2011-06-25T15:31:00.000-07:00

I think I just found a new favorite quote.

Finito

2011-06-25T07:53:00.001-07:00

Today was the last day of classes! Can't even believe I will be heading back to the states in 4 days!!

We started the morning off by going to the Church of Santa Maria de Maggiore( which we were supposed to do yesterday). It is unique because it holds the relics of some of the pieces of the first manger that held Christ.

We then made our way down next to the Colosseum to the Arch of Constantine then finished the morning on top of the Janiculum hill which had the MOST beautiful view of the city. You can see for miles and miles.

Now I am sooooo sad/frustrated because somehow my camera deleted ALL my photos from this ENTIRE trip today. I almost cried. I have been looking at the data recovery process & hope that the geek squad is able to get them back when I get home considering there are 500 on there! Literally, so devastated! I dont even know how that happened.

:(

Everyone is studying this afternoon & tomorrow for our finals on Monday & Tuesday. I am excited to skype my parents later tonight as well! Can't wait to be home. It has started to be EXTREMELY hot here,almost unbearable. I think 6 weeks is such a long time, I have seen so much though so I am lucky!

Until tomorrow, CIAO!

Last friday night.

2011-06-24T05:02:00.000-07:00

IT'S FRIDAY!!! YAY! You may have noticed that celebrities have become obsessed with using Friday in many recent pop songs & as a result I have become majorly obsessed with Katy Perry's new song Last Friday Night. It is such a fun summer song! Me and my roomate play it on repeat all the time! :)

Today, we visited some Christian catacombs about 20 minutes away from our hotel. If you are unclear what catacombs are, they are basically an underground type of cemetary used for centuries throughout Rome. There are actually only about 5( out of the 65 in Rome) that you can visit. These ones were the final resting place of about 40,000 people and there are thousands of graves that have never been opened.

No photos were allowed but we spent about 45 minutes walking through them, seeing different tomb stones & frescos that remain there. It was sort of refreshing because it was so cold underground too!

Then came the fun part...the bus system in Roma is not very consistent. Our professor & my group had to walk around to find a bus stop( since some buses no longer go on the routes they say) for about an hour. But luckily, he cancelled the rest of the morning since it was already our lunch time.

My roomate, her bf & I all went to Hard Rock Cafe for lunch! I seriously didn't want to leave. I had iced tea( though not sweet) for the first time in 5 weeks WITH free refills! They were playing American songs & everyone was speaking English. I also bought myself a cool Hard Rock Roma shirt! :)

Tomorrow is our last day of class. Though I am sad this trip is almost over, I am SO ready to be home.
I also forgot to mention yesterday, Wednesday night we went out for my friend Alanna's 21st bday( which was so fun I might add!)

Here is a picture of the birthday girl(in the middle of course) my roomate Megan & I waiting for the bus to go into downtown!

CIAO!

TWENTY-THREE

2011-06-23T10:46:00.000-07:00

Today, was a nice, relaxing day. I got to sleep in this morning until 12pm( WOOHOO!) then woke up and went to a place about 5 blocks from here called Fiesta & Siesta Mexican Restaurant, which let me just add me and my friends are DYINGGG for some authentic Mexican food & Roma has zero places! This place was disappointing & basically was like El Pollo Loco( NOT OK!)

I spent the afternoon catching up on my reading & starting to study more for my finals coming up on Monday/Tuesday.
Not a too exciting day but it was nice to not have to do much of anything since it is SO hot outside! Only 2 more days of class & 6 days until AMERICA! YAY

I am so ready to be home to the land of the free & home of free refills and ice. Haha.

Until tomorrow, CIAO!

AND for a little visual( since no one just wants to read my posts with no pics).. this is from Pompeii. The story is that my luckily number is 23. My 7th grade basketball jersey number( yes, I played basketball & no I wasn't good). Anywho, I took a pic by it when walking around & it wasn't until I got home that I realized when I held the number up it was backwords & actually said 32. YAAA, another TYPICAL ASHLEY move. haha.

We all just have to laugh at ourselves sometimes right? or in my case...ALL the time.
I just thought it was fitting since today is the 23rd! ;)

Oh hey, it's the pope!

2011-06-22T06:12:00.000-07:00

So since today was a little bit boring( just a hot, long trip to Ostia for the 2nd time) I thought I would talk about our adventures yesterday to get you all up to speed.

Yesterday, we got to sleep in( thankfully, I was SO tired from Spain) & left at 9:30 to head to the Baths of Diocletian! There are really no remains left of this huge bath complex because it is now the Piazza Repubblica( where I catch the metro) but there is a church that was built on top of the central part of the baths that follows its shape.

Then we hopped on a bus( though it took longer than normal due to a strike) to go to St. Peters Basilica! AKA the center of the Catholic Church. Of course it was baking hot & there were hundreds of tourists in St. Peters square but the basilica is well worth seeing sometime in your lifetime. It is beautifully decorated & houses the remains of St.Peter himself.

This is looking down the center isle which ends with the alter over the crypt of St.Peter.

It also houses the world renowned statue of "The Pieta" by Michelangelo. I pushed my way through the middle school tourist groups to get this picture.

Of course St.Peters square is also unique because not only is it it's own city( Vatican City) with it's own police, stamps, mail & can even print its own money it is surrounded by a HUGE colonnade with an obelisk in the center. And obvi they want you to remember that it's home to the Pope because you turn to one side and oh hey...it's the Pope! haha. Too bad the Pope wasn't like my grandpa or something..how awesome would that be!! My face would for sure be used on the stamps haha ;)

I of course made some of my friends take a picture! They are always hesitant but my trip is almost over & I want memories DUH.

Oh and on the note of the Vatican's own guards check out this guys outfit. He seriously looked like a court jester! I wonder if I could borrow this for Halloween? haha.

I am spending my afternoon trying to read & begin my studying for my finals that are on Monday & Tuesday. Today is my friend Alanna's 21st B-day so we are going out tonight to celebrate! BUT Luckily, tomorrow has been made a free day because of the transportation strike1( seriously, there has been more strikes here than I have ever seen at home lol). Missing home like crazy...only 6 days!

CIAO!

Barcelona, Barcelona, Barcelona!

2011-06-21T06:17:00.001-07:00

Was such a chance of a lifetime experience, I still can't grasp that I actually went to Spain & back to Italy within 3 days! Like I said before, the city itself is BEAUTIFUL! It is so clean, the people are super nice and the food was great! Here is a re-cap of my weekend in Espana! :)

Saturday June 18th: Me, Megan, Adrian, Keith, Ryan and Brittany caught a flight on an airline called RyanAir( basically like an European version of southwest..minus the pockets on the back of the seats haha) into Barcelona. At the airport I found one yes ONE english version of a magazine so I had to buy it! lol. Our flight was delayed but when we finally got to the city we went to eat dinner at midnight!

Sunday June 19th: We woke up & first visted La Sagrada Familia. It is a basilica that started to be built in 1882 by the famous Spanish architect Gaudi but when he died in 1926 they vowed to take 100 years to finish( meaning it won't be done until 2026!) It is the most detailed, random, beautiful thing I have ever seen!

I also had the chance to go up in one of the towers, which had great views of the entire city! It was so small though, I felt like the hunchback of Notre Dame. haha

This is me overlooking the city from the top of the tower!

One of my favorite parts of the day was going to the famous street called Las Ramblas! The middle part of the street has tons of kiosks with cool things to buy & there are hundreds of people walking up & down it.

We walked down to the Port of Barcelona, which again is one of the most beautiful views ever. There was a tiny little crepe place where we grabbed a crepe & sat by the water for a while.

This is the view we got from where we were sitting.

I loved that there was a giant cable car line that was over the city too, I've never seen anything like it before! I would have loved to go ride it but we had such limited time I wasn't able to.

We also decided to jump on the giant lion since we weren't allowed to do that on a lion statue we saw in Florence haha.

That night we went out to one of the main squares right on Las Rambles so getting ready so me and my roomie decided to have some fun on our hotel balcony haha.

Sunday June 20th: We decided to sleep in a little bit & then go to the world famous La Boquiera market on Las Ramblas that Barcelona is known for. Let me just say, I have never been in such awe of a market before EVER.

It was amazing the variety of things you could buy & it was so colorful and tasty! How amazing do these things look! :) I got myself a yummy strawberry drink hehe.

We spent the afternoon at the port area again, this time it was a little sunnier than the day before. ANDD of course I had another crepe. ;)

I also of course LOVED the architecture of Spain! It is exactly what you picture it to look like & in most cases is breathtaking.

Overall( If you can't tell already) I had an AMAZING,FABUlOUS,FUN weekend! The only downer: I didn't get a stamp in my passport :(

PS Check my facebook for my photos! :)

CIAO!

HOLA :)

2011-06-20T14:34:00.000-07:00

I'm back...fromBARCELONA,SPAIN that is! Literally, such an AMAZING weekend. Beautiful city, amazing food & such nice people. I will be going back there sometime soon that is for sure!

I just wanted to give a shout out to my Dad because today is his Birthday! WOOHOO HAPPY BIRTHDAY! ANDD happy belated Father's Day! Love you so much!

Today was such an exhausting day but stay tuned for tomorrow because I will be posting a long post on my past 2 days in Espana( with lots of pictures). Can't even believe I leave for America in 9 days, seriously? As much as I am ready to be home I am having way to much fun!

ADIOS! ;)

BARCELONA!

2011-06-18T04:38:00.000-07:00

I am officially leaving for BARCELONA,ESPANA in just a few hours!! I am SO excited. Spain is one of the European countries I have yet to visit & I have always wanted too! EEK! YAY.

They are 6 of us going( 3 girls, 3 guys), it is kinda a process to get there but no doubt it will be fun!
Stay tuned for pictures when I get back on Monday night.YAY!!

I also wanted to give an early shout out to my Dad, tomorrow is his birthday & Monday is Father's day! I am so appreciative of everything he has done for me over the years, he is seriously the best dad( he might deserve a world's best dad coffee cup lol). I am so blessed to have such an amazing family, I wouldn't be the same without them!

Have a fabulous weekend everyone!

ADIOS! :)

It's friday, friday..gotta get down on friday

2011-06-17T06:50:00.000-07:00

I don't have much to write about on this lovely Friday, but to re-cap today we got to sleep in & didn't start class until 9:45 & just visted the Capotoline Museum again ( for the 2nd time). These are pictures from this week that I haven't posted :)

I am currently about to trek 5 blocks with my laundry then go to the supermarket to get some snacks for this weekend cause we are going to Barcelona( in case you have yet to read my excitment hehe).

I am excited to skype my family tonight! Miss them so much! <3 Ciao!

"They're shoat's ..no geeps..."

2011-06-16T08:52:00.000-07:00

Today was a rather long/exhausting today. Everyone in the program shuffled on the bus at 8:30am to head about 45 minutes inland to the town of Tivoli, Italy ( prounounced tiv-oh-lee NOT like ravioli as I thought haha)

We spent the good part of the morning visiting what is left of the Emperor Hadrian's Villa. let me just saw this thing is MASSIVE. It is roughly 300 acres & we spent over 2 hours on not even half of the site. What is unique about this villa is that Hadrian himself designed it based off of places/things in other roman territories during his rein. There is not much left that is beatiful( as it once was). There was this pond that my roomate & I couldn't help but take a picture in front of!

The pond was surrounded in statues & just looking at it made you feel relaxed( which helped cause I am still sick BLAHH)

My favorite thing of the day was when we drove further into town & went to the Villa D'Este. Seriously, this place is breathtaking. It is a total of 7 stories built on the side of the hill, with beautiful gardens & fountains.

Look at how spectactular the view is...I would live here in a heartbeat( just sayin')

It also had BEAUTIFUL walls of Jasmine( which smells amazing!) :))

I had a field day too because I just love anything that looks vintage & worn and everywhere you turned something stood out to me. Look at this amazing staircase....

and because I thought it was so cool, Megan & I decided to take a "prom-style" picture on it. hehe.

After our lunch break in Tivoli, we hopped back on the bus to head for Rome with a quick stop at the first aquaducts that pulled water into the city. I was expecting something really cool( which it was in theory) but it was literally in the middle of a park haha. This is what you saw when looking up..

BUTTT here is the cool part of this....we noticed in the field behind us what we thought were sheep( and were SUPER excited ) so we walked over to their shepard to ask if we could walk through the field to them & take a picture( I mean how often are you in a public park with a herd of sheep just hanging out??) So we run closer & too our confusion they were actually just goats!! Sad day since you can see them at the petting zoo...but the idea of them just being in a big field in Rome was awesome.

And take note of the giant weeds/grass we pranced through to get to them! lol.

Tomorrow will be a nice, easy day with just 2 museums then Saturday we are going to Barcelona! Can't wait! :)

Until tommorow, CIAO!

Postcard perfect take 2.

2011-06-15T11:41:00.000-07:00

"Italy is a dream that keeps returning for the rest of your life." --Anna Akhmatova

I heart Roma.

The Pantheon!

2011-06-15T05:49:00.000-07:00

Even though I am half way through my program here in Roma, I hadn't visited The Pantheon until today! It is one of the symbols of Rome & was a basilica that is still used as a church today & is the final resting place of some major people such as Victor Emanuell II, the painter Raphael & Queen Margarita. It is unique because from the front it looks like a square temple but it actually is round in the back with a giant dome!

To be honest, it is less elaborate than one would think for being so crowded all the time, but it is veryy well preserved. The inside is adorned with gold accents( such as this one). Wouldn't this be so cool to have in your house??

We also went inside to visit some churches in the Campus Martius & saw Aurelius's column( which I couldn't get a good pic of due to some protesters haha). We ended the morning with a visit to the tomb of the emperor Hadrian. We go to go inside it as well & see a great view of the city. It was actually used as a fortress for the Pope during the Middle Ages and looks a little different than it how it did orignally.

Look at the view of the southwest part of the city from at the top! so beautiful! :)

Today was an overall easy morning, not a lot of walking( or note taking for that matter). I am definetley starting to get exhausted of this schedule we have going on here just because we do it everyday. Tomorrow though we are taking an excursion to the nearby city of Trivoli to see Hadrian's Villa!

Only THREE more days until Barcelona! WOOHOO!

CIAO!

ICE ICE BABY

2011-06-14T13:22:00.000-07:00

The first sight of ice since the states called for a celebration. Can someone please explain to me again why Italia doesn't believe in ice? HMMMMM

The Port city of Ostia.

2011-06-14T06:31:00.000-07:00

Like I said yesterday, we only have about 2 weeks left here in Roma. I can't even believe time is flying by this fast. The days have all become somewhat of a blur & we are seeing/ doing so much it's hard to really grasp everything.

Today, we took the bus( then the train) to the port city of Ostia. The same city that is where I went to the beach( see my earlier post about that adventure). Literally, there is nothing in this part of the city where we went except for the ancient ruins of the town of Ostia. The idea is similar to that of Pompeii but the ruins are no where near as well preserved or elaborate as Pompeii.

This is the theater( don't mind our guest professor's head haha).

One of the coolest things about this ancient city was the area called the Piazza of the Corporations which was basically a bunch of small shops/meeting places that had rather large frescos in front of them showing what they could help you get through trade across the Medditerrean. They all look out onto what was a park( later a temple was added).

This is one of the best preserved black & white frescos that is advertising an elephant( possibly ivory) that one could negotiate and get. I thought it was so cute cause it looks like Dumbo! haha

I thought this little niche in a house was amazing because this is where families would leave gifts for a certain god everyday to watch over them. I think this picture( although not of anything super important) really turned out beautiful!

We saw some of the only remaining apartment buildings from the 2nd century AD as well as the small forum and basilica. There wasn't honestly anything that interesting about it or anything that is world known but we are going back to see other parts of it next week so maybe some cooler things will pop up who knows?

I am currently researching things to do in Barcelona, Spain since I( and 4 other friends) are going there in 4 days! so excited!! I have a lot of reading to catch up on but this is way too exciting haha.

Don't forget to check out my facebook for more pictures! :)

CIAO!

Firenze, Italia :)

2011-06-13T12:05:00.000-07:00

I am back from spending the last 2 days in FLORENCE,ITALY! :)

It all started with taking TrenItalia from Roma to Florenzia in the 1st class cabin. The seats reclined & we got some snacks called Freaky Fries( gotta love the name).
We arrived in Florence & head to our hostel, which I might add I have no horror stories from like I thought I would! We went to a family style dinner & out to some local bars where we ran into Pauly D & Vinny from Jersey Shore! It is so funny because all the American people freak out when they see them but the Italians really have no idea who they are( one of them thought they were filming a documentary...Jersey shore, a documentary? YA RIGHTT HA) You can't take photos with them & the ones of them didn't turn out well since you can't use a flash!

This is us girls on our first night out! I must say, the nightlife in Florence is WAY better than Rome & has way more American students too!

We spent Sunday morning visiting the Ufitzi museum that is home to some world famous paintings! This is in front of the fountain in front of the museum! It was cool to be back in Florence & remember things about last time I was there, even though it was a few years ago! :)

We also walked around the shopping area & I of course bought some new clothes at H&M( yes, they have it here WHEW!) and across the famous Ponte Vecchio Bridge which is the gold district & has a ton of jewlery! It just looks so italian too! haha

Last night we went out to dinner again & then to a bar called Red Garder, which had kareoke. It was somewhat filled with high school aged people but it was great to hear & see people dancing to American music! It did start raining( & of course I wasn't going to let the rain ruin my outfit) so while everyone was wearing their rain jacket I happily danced to the glee mashup of Singing in the rain/Umbrella( which my roomie had on her ipod)...talk about total tourists right?

This morning we went to the famous Cathedral called The Duomo, which was built in the 15th century & is famous for it's giant Dome that you can go up in. We didn't get a chance too but it is HUGE as you can see here!

Before we caught our train back to Roma we walked through the leather markets. Florence has some of the best leather around & I bought a cute pair of gladiator sandals! I also got hit on by an old italian man who asked me to coffee then for my phone number(mind you he was at least 30 and not attractive haha) BUT we did see Pauly D & Vinny again! This time they were just shopping. Here is the pic my friend Alanna took( I of course had way to many bags to pull out my camera...typical me ;) )

Sidenote: the amount of gel/guido clothes they wear is even clearer in person. haha. & the producers are not nice at all always yelling at everyone! I was bummed we didn't see Snookie though.

I would say that if you ever get a chance visit Florence, you can see the entire city in about 2 days( it's no where as big as Roma) & is a beautiful Tuscan city! I also want to give a shout out to my other brother Austin who turned 19 yesterday! HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY! Can't believe he is growing up either...everyone needs to stop! haha love you!

Overall, it was a fun but long weekend! I am starting to miss home though. I am tired of living out of a suitcase. only 15 more days. Bittersweet.

CIAO!

Imperial Forum!

2011-06-11T03:35:00.000-07:00

HAPPY SATURDAY!
Just wanted to give a quick shout out to my youngest brother Evan who graduated 8th grade yesterday! I can't even believe he is going to high school...he needs to stop growing up! I am so very proud of all that he's accomplished & I am sure the next 4 years will be even better! Congrats Evs!

As I am currently snacking on my Cheeze-it's,sent all the way from California I might add,Thanks Mom! I thought I would write a quick post about what we did this morning. Luckily, it was really short( only 3 hours whew!). We started off the morning by walking around the Imperial Forum in the heart of downtown Rome. It consists of different emperors forums that over the years got bigger & better.

This is the Forum Julia that was constructed under Julius Ceasar, the first of the forums in this area.

In it was a temple built to Venus that people would offer things to if they adored someone. I thought it was neat that even today people leave roses to show their affection to the once giant temple.

We also stopped to see the Forum Augustus as well. If only we could see how magnificant these places were in ancient times because even the remains today are spectacular to see! At this point, it started to rain! ( of course weather.com said it was supposed to be sunny all day) so I didn't bring my umbrella! But we finished off the morning with a look at the remains of Trajan's forum as well as visit the Trajan's Market( which is now just a museum).

When I got back to the hotel I had a wonderful surprise of a card from my very wonderful friend Kacey! I loved reading it & seeing her little drawings inside! Miss her so much and CAN NOT WAITTT for Jamaica next month! WOO! Here's what the card looked like! Thank you so much girl! love you!

Now I am off to packing because we are leaving for FLORENCE, ITALY in a few hours! We are taking a train( 1st class I might add) that has air conditioning. YES, that is the main reason why we are haha. I will be gone until Monday night, so no new posts until then!

But don't fret, my roomate & I looked up where the cast of Jersey Shore works( it's a pizza place not far from where we are staying) so let's hope I can sneak a pic of Snookie! hehe. Have a great weekend, and Happy Early Birthday to my other brother Austin who is turning 19 tomorrow! :)

CIAO!

"It REALLY is like the Lizzie Mcguire movie!"

2011-06-10T06:15:00.000-07:00

Imagine this...traveling to Italy with your class, finding out you look identical to an Italian pop star, then singing a duet of "This is what dreams are made of" with her at the end of the movie at in the world famous Colosseum. ...THAT is the Lizzie Mcguire Movie. A disney movie( with the bad acting of Hilary Duff but at the time I wanted to be her) that defined part of my childhood memories.

Funny thing is when me and my roomate Megan first drove by the Colosseum we BOTH thought of this ending number & "This is what dreams are made of" has become one of the official songs of this trip & also the name of my second album of Rome photos on facebook ;)

As you can tell, we ended our morning with a look inside this historic monument build in 70AD called the Flavian amphitheater, though today it's known as The Colosseum. In order to get to this point & second level of the Colosseum we had to fight through tourists, a rude man pushing his way through our group until he was chewed out by my friend Alanna, a toddler in a stroller kicking me in the calf as I was waiting to get in & funny tour guides with the Mcdonald's style headsets and microphones.

I did manage to get a few good pictures though! :)

To back track a little bit we visted the Roman Forum again this morning( this is our 2nd visit) but the way our classes are set up is they go in chronological order so it requires us to sometimes visit places again to see different things. I posted pictures in a previous post of the forum but I did an amazing shot of the Temple of Saturn, or what remains of it today anyways. Interestingly enough, Saturn was the god that protected the treasury so money was actually minted in the basement of the temple. Talk about multi-use of a building!

>

At one end of the forum is the Palatine Hill, which overlooks the Circus Maximus, has the remains of the emperor Nero's gigantic villa & gives a fabulous view of the Colosseum!

As far as everything else, I still feel under the weather & I am hoping I get better soon because it is hard to take notes slash concentrate when I don't feel good. Tomorrow though, 7 of us are taking a train to Florence( about an 1 1/2 away) for 2 nights. I am really looking forward to being back there as well although I got talked into staying at a hostel. Now, I have nothing against people who do that but I think that there is a purpose( such as backpacking) rather than just because it was an easy thing so I am a bit nervous about how things will turn out...I will probably have an entire post on my first experience with a hostel. HAHA

Oh & I forgot to mention, the program is already halfway over..only 19 more days until America( or as my friends & I keep say UH-MUR-ICA hahah)

CIAO! <3

If you've had a bad day..

2011-06-09T05:47:00.000-07:00

First Off... I have to mention that I am increasingly missing those addicting American T.V shows. Italia has yet to jump on the technology bandwagon and hulu isn't available & I have yet to find another website to watch them on. If you happen to be reading this & know of any...PLEASE let me know. I am having withdrawls.

Now that I am sick..today wasn't a very good day for me. My friend Alanna & I did go to the local pharmacia last night to get some cold medicine but at this point nothing seems to be working for me.

This morning the first place we went was the Piazza de Popolo( AKA piazza of the people). The huge obelisk in the center is actually originally from Egypt( and as you all know, I am DYING to go to Cairo one day) so it was sorta like being there( minus the sand of course). My roomate & I were so excited because down one of the streets in the background in the closest H&M clothing store. In fact, we have already been there twice since we have been there not even realzing what we were walking through.

Anywho, we took a quick stroll through the Church of Santa Maria del Popolo, which is the first church in Rome to be funded by public money( and still is today!) It wasn't anything too special, but this archway was beautiful & is my style of design so I took a quick shot of it. :)

Afterwards, we walked for a little while & toured the museum that held the Altar of Peace, comissioned by the Senate for Augustus. This thing was MASSIVE. This picture doens't even do it justice. As you can see you can walk all the way around it as well as inside it, which is where the actual altar is.

We then went to another museum, and not gonna lie I zoned out by then, Not only were we all starving since we were running late for lunch but feeling bad doesn't help either. Alanna, Megan, Adrian & I went to eat at a local restuarant & it was gross to say the least( I took one bite of my sandwich and left lol) so I ended up getting another sandwich from Mythos( my fav greek place I always write about). :)

Tonight should be relatively low key & tomorrow we are going to the Colosseum! Let's hope I start feeling better :/

Until tomorrow, CIAO!

Postcard perfect.

2011-06-08T12:00:00.000-07:00

I almost forgot...I sent some postcards to my family back home last week. I hope you all have recieved them & now have piece of Roma with you. If you are going to be celebrating something this month, except a little something else in the mail pretty soon!

Love and Miss you all so much! <3

Bad timing.

2011-06-08T04:55:00.001-07:00

I normally don't get sick very often but I am assuming that traveling away from home, being in a foreign place with thousands of tourists, using public transportation everyday and living it what seems like a dorm doesn't help. This couldn't come at a worse time though seeing as Saturday I am going to Florence for 2 days :/

Anyone have a good remedy to get better faster?

Luckily though, all we did today was go to the Palazzo Massimo Museum for the second time & look at a few new statues etc. Good thing I wasn't strolling all over Rome feeling like this.

For now, I am just going to sleep for a few hours in hopes that will help.

CIAO!

PS I miss ice, air conditioning & sweet tea! :)

Life's a beach.

2011-06-07T10:53:00.001-07:00

Yesterday, I wasn't able to post my usually daily post( which I know you all look forward to reading everyday right??).
A group of 7 of us took the train to the town of Ostia about an hour away from Rome to spend the afternoon at the beach. Now growing up in Southern California where the beach is basically my backyard I was pretty happy with the quality of the beach here in Italy. With that though, we paid to go into a private beach that includes a chair rental because the public beaches just aren't well kept at all. It looked like a scene out a movie with the banana yellow chairs & umbrellas all lined up as you can see here!

The sand consisted of black volcanic rock( though it was more of a gray color) & the waves were no where near how they are at home BUT you can't beat the cleanliness and look of a private beach. Me, again be typical me, forgot a bathing suit( though I did pack the other essentials...skittles,nail polish & gum DUHHH) so I borrowed some bottoms & a tank from my friend Alanna!

Last night was a girl in our group 22nd birthday so some of us went out to the local bar called New Age( we are becoming frequent customers there now haha) to celebrate! Today was a really lazy day! My roomate & I slept in until 12, did some laundry & went to sephora to stock up on things we were running low on.

Tomorrow it is back to the grind of waking up early, although we just going to a museum so it shouldn't be too tough of a day.

T-minus 4 days until Florence! woohoo! :D
OH & I found out today Lady Gaga will be walking in the circus maximus this saturday for Rome's gay parade( see earlier post about the Circus maximus) so we may just go to that side of town & try and see her!

and don't forget, I post a lot more pictures & updates on my facebook so feel free to check it out here: OR on my twitter here.

Happy Tuesday! CIAO! :)

Adventures in SO-YO...

2011-06-05T11:31:00.000-07:00

Also known as Southern Europe. They are astounded by the use of some of my vocabulary( examples Mcdons, whatevs, btdubs...you get the idea), it's like a foreign language to them & so they continue to make fun of me. my response: Whatevs HAHA

As you can probably tell by now, I am back from my weekend excursion to the Bay of Naples approximently 4 or so hours south of Rome. So much happened in the last 3 days it is hard to put it in a somewhat short post but I hope you see how exciting it was!

FRIDAY( June 3rd): all 20 of us stumbled onto the bus at 7 am in route to the southern town of Paestum,Italy. It is a small ( I am talking with one main street small) town that is home to 3 ancient doric style temples that are in amazing condition considering their age. The Temple of Athena was my favorite. sidenote:I have been fascinated with the goddess Athena since the 7th grade & it is one of the things that made me want to study history & visit Greece.

Here is a picture of it from further away & of course one of me & my roomate Megan!

The other two temples are further down the site & are Temples dedicated to the goddess Hera. The sheer size of these are even hard to grasp in person( let alone in pictures) but you get the idea.

These are my friends Megan & Alanna in front of the older Temple

& this is part of the group I hang out with in front of the newer temple( and by newer I mean still in AD haha)

After our "class" session of the morning we had time to walk around & get gelato of course & ended up some random pictures. We were thinking these sparkly red hats would be perfect for UGA game days & make it easy to find each other hehe.

Saturday(June 4th): We spent the ENTIRE day touring the ancient ruins of Pompeii! If you have ever been around me & we talked about places I wanted to go, Pompeii was one of them & I even took an entire class last year on the city itself. It was a city covered by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79AD which helped to "preserve" some parts of it that we see today.

This is a picture of the volcano from the forum. It literally can be seen anywhere in the city & in ancient times was 1/3 bigger than today( probably not good property to own haha).

Here is my friend Megan & Matt waiting after lunch to go to the VIlla of the Mystery's, which has one of the most famous frescos!

This is the remains of a temple toward the south part of the city. The detail that remains after so many years is amazing.

One of the most amazing things to see in person was this body cast. There were also casts of animals & other items. They were so detailed it's kinda scary, you could see jewlery, belts and even some had remains of teeth!

I have way to many pictures to show the details of this site but this is a picture of the forum area.

Today, we spent the morning driving into downtown Naples, which is literally like East LA. It is so run down & there is a TON of trash around the city, our professor even warned us to be careful. OHH and I forgot to mention...our hotel( excuse me...motel) was literally from a horror movie with flickering lights, old style creaky doors & an RV park right behind it. At dinner tonight, we talked about who would die first if it was a movie...YEAH no more explanation needed.

The next two days are our free days so it is going to consist of errands & possibly the beach in Ostia on Tuesday & I am counting down the days until Florence since we are leaving Saturday night!
Until tomorrow, CIAO! <3

Just another day here in Roma!

2011-06-02T09:33:00.000-07:00

To catch you all up since yesterday, last night some of us went to an international bar called New Age that is really close to where we are staying. These are some pictures from last night! :)

Today, we got to sleep in & went to the Palazzo Massimo Museum only a few blocks from us. The focus was to look at busts, heads & statues that are from the Republican period that show the detail of face & how they most likely represented actual people. I didn't take any pictures inside but across the street was this statue...who can guess what it is? anyone...bueller?bueller? It's of Pope John Paul II opening his robe to welcome the people of the world. Apparently it's cause quite the uproar here in Rome since it's unveling. I appreciate art, but this is just not that attractive to me! haha

It was also a Italian holiday here today which means everything is closed! This would not be ok in the states considering the grocery is open on basically every holiday.

This weekend is going to be super exciting though! We are leaving tomorrow( at 7 am EWW) for the BAY OF NAPLES! We are hitting a lot of hot spots in the area but I am SO excited about going to POMPEII! If you know me then you know I always have wanted to go there( especially after taking an entire class on it last year). I won't be posting any daily blogs until I get back Sunday night because there is no internet.

I am sure you will understand my fascination for this ancient city once you see the pictures so stay tuned! Have a fabulous weekend!

CIAO!

When I think of Tiber Island I think of Island of Adventure...

2011-06-01T07:09:00.000-07:00

First off: HAPPY JUNE everyone! It's the start of a new month! Summer is going by too fast!

Today, I started off the morning like any other with my American cheerios( no milk I might add since it is hot) before our group got on the bus & took it about 20 min to the Circus Maximus! The main purpose of this place was chariot races or beast hunts all before the Colosseum was built. Unfortunately, today it is literally just a giant open field that has been turned into a park...though there are excavations happening to see if any remains can be found. In the background you can see the remains of the imperial palace that overlooked the large space.

About 2 blocks away from that we visted a church( the name slips me right now) that was backed up to the temple of Apollo & also held the skull of St.Valentine( kinda creepy to see, not gonna lie). Across the street were two ancient temples that backed up to the Tiber River. Part of the area was undergoing restoration so I didn't take any pictures since there wasn't much to see.

After that we walked across this bridge to Tiber Island. It is a super small island that contains the church of St. Bartholomew( it has some of his remains in it as well) & a hospital that focuses on rare diseases. It sorta felt like being on Alcatraz island in San Francisco( minus the giant concrete prison) but in size & the feeling was sorta eery.

Interestingly enough, I learned today that it is Roman law that if anyone falls into the Tiber River, they must be taken to the closest hospital to have their stomach pumped because it is THAT polluted. Maybe the italians need to start passing laws to prevent that? I mean, when you look at it it does have a greenish tint but I feel like I've seen worse rivers but what do I know right? I joked with my friends that I will "accidentally" fall in to get my stomach pumped because of all the carbs & bread I've been eating( of course I was just kidding).

The last part of the morning we went to another Church of Santa Maria( they seriously love that name here haha). There wasn't anything too special about it but the outside was a little different with the clock tower & statues of 4 popes on the roof.

My friends & I went to lunch at another local restaurant & stopped for dessert at a local bakery. I got a delicious mini apple pie( that's the only way I can describe it, it was a little more fancy than that though lol). We also stopped for a local cappuchino at the local coffee shop on our street, a total Italian move. hehe.

Tomorrow we are going to the Palazzo Massimo Museum then it's off to Pompeii bright & early at 7am on Friday! :)

CIAO! <3

EEK, it's the end of May!

2011-05-31T11:26:00.000-07:00

Can you believe today is the last day of May? I CAN'T! This year is just flying by & I hate it. This time next year I will have graduated college. ONE WORD: SCARY! EEK!

Anyways, today we spent the morning visiting a few more of Rome's treasures. First, we got to see the basilica of St. Andrea. It has the second largest dome in Rome( which can be seen from pretty much anywhere) & is beautfully adorned with gold, mosaics & frescos as you can see here.

It is huge! I mean, how can you miss this when walking around the streets of Roma?

We got to see the remains for the 4 temples as well as went to the basement of a restaurant that sits atop of Pompey's theater, the first permanent stone theater in Rome. One of my favorite things today was the open street market! They have these all over town everyday & literally sell everything! Of course, I couldn't help but get a fresh fruit cup! YUM!

We walked through what once was the Jewish ghetto during WWII & stopped at the Porticus Octavia built in 168BC & was the start of many victorious processionals in the ancient world. I really liked how one half of the front was columns while the other was an arch, it made it stand out a little more!

Like I always say, I sorta have an obsession with cool architecture & BELIEVE me there is a TON of it here. Today, I walked past this little locally run hotel & it was the cutest thing with the ivy & patio. so presh!

One of our last stops before lunch was the Theater Marcellus( it looks like a mini colosseum). In fact, it actually inspired the design of the colosseum. Today, the top part is actually really expensive apartments( Sophia loren actually lived in one of them!)
I think that it is really amazing how the Romans use ancient things in the modern world, whether it be building similar buildings on top of old ones or just making sure to use the space wisely!

For lunch we went to our favorite little greek restaurant called Mythos which makes AMAZING pita wraps. Seriously, to die for! Then I came back & took about a 3 hour nap. Dinner tonight was the best yet too...pasta, chicken & a cake for one of the girls who's birthday was yesterday! I <3 Roma!

Hope everyone is having a good week & last day of May! CIAO! :)

Just a day at the park.

2011-05-30T08:02:00.000-07:00

Today was our second free day! We originally had planned to take the train about an hour to the town of Ostia to go to the beach but due to the transportation strike( they have them here too!) we couldn't. Some people decided to go to a waterpark about 30 min away while some of us decided to stay back in order to relax.

We walked to the local park about 15 min away where we spent the afternoon reading & napping. It was nice to just relax and take an easy afternoon since this week is going to be crazy. We leave for the bay of naples on Friday!

Dinner is in 2 hours & everyone should be back soon. Not much else going on here in Roma today. Until tomorrow, CIAO!

Italian Novelities.

2011-05-29T11:50:00.000-07:00

I decided since I have some free time( & today's post might not be so fufilling) to assert some Italian novelieties I have learned so far this first week:

1-ICE ICE BABY...have they ever heard of this? I hate that it doesn't exist here. It should be a basic necessity of every country.
2-There are Jersey Shore lookin' guidos here. and YES they wear lots of Ed Hardy. ( I am sure they are much more authentic though). We are going to look for Snookie though when we go to florence in 2 weeks since they are fiming there.
3-Italians LOVE their soccer. and by love I mean shout chants in the subway & wear scarfs with the team colors as belt.
4-There are no cheese-its ANYWHERE. nuff said.
5-Every meal consists of a pasta( as the 1st course) & a meat( as second course). No wonder they have the reputation of having big bellies. ;)
6-Parts of Rome are WAY to touristy. I would have a hard time dealing with that everyday.
7-No sweet tea. I'm DYING.
8-Italian cherrio's are a good snack & great investment for any normal snacking American such as myself.
9-Gelato should become part of every country. Though I am an avid fro-yo lover, gelato is just out of this world.
10-Not having a Walmart( or something remotely like it) is hard for me. There are no all in one type of stores( or I have yet to find one) & finding handsoap to buy took 2 days & about 5 stores.

How can I get a Pope mobile?

2011-05-29T05:00:00.000-07:00

Today is Sunday & we went to the Vatican. I had to wake up earlier than normal so we could make it across town by 9 am( when they open). I also had my first experience with the italian subway system( which let me add was suprisingly cleaner than I thought it would be). The nice thing about going today was that it was the Vatican Free Day which means that we don't have to pay( it only happens once a month & therefore there are a TON of people)

This is my and my roomate with St.Peters Basilica in the background. There are def going to be a lot of just us this trip because everyone else is kinda lame when it comes to taking pictures. I mean when else are we going to be in Rome together right?

I also decided that I am going to post pictures at the end of each week that are from that week that I just didn't post to sort of re-cap my adventures that week, so here is the first one! Happy Sunday! :)

CIAO!

YES! we found a supermercadi! :)

2011-05-28T10:53:00.000-07:00

Today was a pretty easy going day. We left at our usual time of 8:30am( I know, 8:30 everyday this week...I can't believe it myself I NEVER wake up at 7:30am haha). We took the bus into downtown and went to the Church of Santa Maria. It is famous for it's 125 steps leading up to its entrance on the Capitoline Hill as well as its chandeliers that hang from the cielings.

Nearby we went to the Museo Capitolino where many ancient statues as well as ruins from the Temple of Jupiter are located. We ended early and my friends and I( we call ourselves the 06...the original six) went to lunch at a small cafe near the Victor Emmanuel Monument. We took a stroll past the Trevi Fountain & I saw this beautiful kodak moment, seriously every building is so beautiful here.

Then comes the funny part....My roomate & I decided to do our laundry for the first time. We have to trek it about 5 blocks away to a local laundry mat where you actually just drop it off & they wash it all for you( ya, kinda wierd considering our underwear were in there lol ). With that, we actually took the boys' laundry with us( we are seriously like family like I said) as well.

US( being the typical Americans) were hoping there was a Walmart or Target nearby but there isn't. Everything is locally run small shops & we were dying for some American snacks ( like Cheese it's). Never in my life would I be crazing cheese-its LOL butttt we found a supermercadi! In English, that is a supermarket! They had these wierd baskets that actually had wheels which made them a cart( see pic below) and yes, I had to carry my cute cupcake laundry bag through the store( shout out to kacey for making it for me..I LOVE IT)!

Tonight, we are all going to the local Irish pub because the boys want to watch the Barcelona vs Manchester Game. It is our first free weekend & our first night out! :)

CIAO!

Think Indiana Jones meets Tomb Raider..

2011-05-27T11:46:00.000-07:00

We drove about an hour and half North of Rome today to the city of Tarquina. Think somewhat small tuscan town that happens to have a medival castle & towers as part of it with about 10 restaurants and lots of land....basically sums it up. Unfortuantely, I left my camera back home today but my roomate did snap some pics that I decided to use!

First we went to an ancient site of Etruscan tombs that date back to pre AD times. They are located on the top of a hill( in a giant field i might add) that you have to walk underground to see. The walls are covered in the remains of fresco paintings and it smells musty in all sites. Luckily, there was an amazing view of the local italian countryside that me and Megan decided to use as the background for a pic! The boys thought it would be funny to walk through the waist high grass & pretend to be gladiators hahaha.

We got back on the bus and drove back into town where we visited an Etruscan museum located in an old medieval castle. The entire thing looked like it belonged in a Rapuzel Disney movie. For our 2 hour lunch break we went to a local restaurant then grabbed gelato before heading back on bus.

Megan and I put T-Swift on shuffle and took a short nap before we arrived in an even smaller town( ya, it's possible) a little south of Tarquina where we got to see Etruscan mound tombs. These are GIANT tombs that have anywhere from 1-5 rooms in them along with carved chairs, windows and columns all for the dead. We joked about them being small apartments because they are that spacious! Literally, we all felt like we were part of an Indiana Jones meets Tomb raider movie climbing over rocks, down underground, through grass and moss etc.

Other than that, today was just an exhausting day to say the least( but I mean when in Rome right? ) Our florence trip next month is officially booked & I will have my first experience on a trenitalia & trying to cram 8 people in one room. haha

CIAO!

Roman Forum.

2011-05-26T11:43:00.000-07:00

On this lovely Thursday we spent the first part of our day touring the church of St. Clemins. What is amazing about this church is that it's a 4th century church( run by monks of course) that sits on top of not only a 3rd century church, but also a 2nd & a 1st layer one as well! it goes about 3 stories deep & contains frescos & brickwork of ancient priests.

After that we made our way to the Roman Forum. This is probably one of the most amazing places in the city. You literally are walking where the ancient Romans walked. The Colosseum sits at one end and the ruins of temples, buildings & a marketplace can all be touched. We even climbed to the top of Palatine hill where some of the oldest ruins in Rome are located. We got an AMAZING view overlooking the entire forum.

This a picture of most of my group here in Rome, some people missed out on getting in! haha

By this time we were completly exhausted and hot but we walked to a local restaurant for lunch( which has been there since WWII). When we got back to the hotel we started planning our trip to florence in two weeks and then BARCELONA in three. I am SOOO excited to be going to Spain you don't even know, it is one of the places I have always wanted to go!

Everyone here seriously feels like family ( in fact everyone keeps mentioning it) & it feels like we have known each other forever. It's great that the group gets along so well! Tomorrow we are taking an hour bus ride to an italian town North of here, more dets on that coming later! Until tomorrow...CIAO!

Palazzo Barberini.

2011-05-25T14:36:00.000-07:00

Today was an extremely exhausting day. We luckily didn't have class until 3pm but some of us decided to go downtown around 11:30 am & grab some lunch on one of the main streets here in Rome where we ate delicious panini's. :) We then stopped at the Triton fountain

Next we took a stroll to the Palazzo Barberini which is now the National gallery of art antiquity. You can just tell my the outside that it is amazingly huge & so detailed.

The cieling in this Palazzo was stunning. Megan & I layed on benches inside the big ballroom for about 20 min just staring at it. The details are perfect & it is so 3D it looks extremely real!

There was also this GIGANTIC fire place too! I'm talking giant size!

I also was facinated with the wallpaper( which is exactly the same as what I have in my room at home, except a different color). Obviously, it shows I live the good life. haha

We also got a chance to take a bigger group pic! I am the nerd that keeps taking all the random pictures but hey, these are memories I want to have!

Tonight we ended up going to the Irish Pub that is a block away. It was my first time at a pub, but I was extremely dissapointed that they didn't play any Irish music but it was pretty dead since it is a Wednesday night. My friends & I are also planning a trip to Barcelona on one of our free weekends! ( I HAVE ALWAYS WANTED TO GO SO I AM SO EXCITED IF IT WORKS OUT!...and my spanish might just come in handy ;]) well I am off to bed, have to be ready tomorrow by 8:30 am & it's going to be a long day!

CIAO!

OMG we are SO American...

2011-05-24T12:21:00.000-07:00

Day Two in Roma complete. Today was quite a long day, we had to be ready to leave by 8:30am & spent the entire day walking around the downtown part of the city. It was the first day we truly left our little neighborhood & went feet first into the ancient parts of the city.

First up:The moses fountain. Which I didn't get a picture of because I was focused on taking detailed notes in order to keep up being extra studious on this trip( RIGHTTTT ;]) but up until about 2 years ago it was completly black from car exhaust so you couldn't see any of the details. There are no laws regulating pollution here in Rome, so that causes damage to things.

Next Up: The Four Fountains. Conveniently located as a crossroads of Rome's highest hill. Literally cars were zooming by so I only could take 1 picture. But the details on these were so amazing!

We then stopped at The Church of St.Andrew located across from the presidential palace that literally was a sanctuary from the hustle & bustle of the city on a weekday. I won't bore you with too many pictures of the church's I visit on this trip because they will probably start to blur together ( except for the vatican of course!) The alter of this church & cieling are made with real gold & cherubs adorn the circular ceiling.

So some of you may not know that I have a unique obsession with cemetaries ( I'm not obsessed with the dead or anything wierd like that) BUT there is something truly unique about old tombstones & fences that hold so many stories( pretty sure I got this from my parents..Thanks guys). This picture kind of shows how cool they can be.

Next Up: we took a quick stroll by the Quirinal Palace( home of the king of Italy)...though i might add, it looked like a dorm building. YES it is old. YES it is supposed to be monumental. but you would think it would be more elaborate than it is. I was expecting a Buckingham Palace type of place yet this didn't reach my expectations. This fountain in the front had a great story, these 2 statues were found under the stables located behind it. Imagine finding something like that, WOW!

This is a picture of me and my roomate Megan overlooking part of the city. :)

We walked through uneven, cobble stone streets trying to avoid knocking down vespas or getting hit by litte italian cars( or tour buses for that matter, man those drivers don't stop for anything!) to fontana de trevi. Or as us Americans know it The Trevi Fountain! The legend says if you toss a coin over your right shoulder you will be back to Rome( which of course this is my second time so I tired convinving people it was true). The water in this fountain comes through aquaducts that are over 2000 years old, obviously these Romans were pretty smart!

We took a quick stop & pushed our way though all the tour groups( you know, the ones with the headphones, running shoes & socks, fanny packs, huge hats etc) to get a spot for a picture.

By this part in the day, we were all a little tired, hot and hungry but we powered through and went to the Victor Emmauel II monument in the center of town. Though it was designed in 1885 it wasn't even finished until 1935 & it served as the tomb of the unknown solider for WWI & II. Literally, this thing is HUGE! I mean, we all like ourselves but this was rediculous. There was actually a military ceremony going on so we weren't able to walk up the steps but we want to go back at night when it is all lit up!

We got to go into another church & out front was this monument of an oblisik held up by a cute little elephant. It is interesting to me because there are multiple of these eqyptian obilisks around the city that were brought from Egypt when it was part of the Roman empire. It is cool to see egyptian writing in an italian city( though i don't actually understand it haha)

This is a picture of one of the many water fountains around the city that I mentioned before. They run 24 hours a day & are free
drinkable water that you can fill up your bottles with. I have definetly become a regular in the neighborhood where I am living. [:

The afternoon we had to ourselves so a group of us walked around for a little & went to lunch before heading back to shower, cool down and take a 3 hour nap before dinner! We kept joking on how we didn't realize we are SO AMERICAN! haha We love our refills, free water, frenchfries, air conditioning, English as a first language & sweet tea. :)))

I also took this postcard perfect picture today. When you think of Italy, don't you think of this? I am so happy that I am here & experiencing everything!

CIAO!

It's like the Lizzie FREAKIN' McGuire movie!

2011-05-23T09:10:00.000-07:00

Today was our official full day here in Rome. This is a look down our street ( Via Collina) which has an amazing local gelato shop & a famous italian cheese shop( yes, my roomate & I stopped to buy some brie YUM!)

We started off our morning at 9:30 am( though most of us were still extremely jet lagged since that would be around midnight back in the states). Flavio is the owner of our hotel & hand cooks all our meals for us. We had fresh baked crissonants, bananas & yogurt. Cereal isn't really an option because they serve warm mik( which doesn't taste too good! ).

We then started walking aroung the northern part of the city, which is where we are staying. The architecture here is beautiful( I mean, we all know rome is famous for some pretty impressive villas, sculptures and fountains). We stopped to see the American embassey( which is a BEAUTIFUL old villa about 4 blocks from our hotel) as well as learned where the nearest atm, laundry mat, markets & restaurants were.

Our next stop was seeing the Servian wall, which was the first wall that surrounded the city of Rome. It's so wierd how there are so many ruins & ancient history here yet there isn't much preservation being done at all. Things are just fenced off but there isn't pngany signs or texts to explain the importance of things. We walked through a local fresh market that has everything from fresh fruit to clothing to soap ( & YES my roomate & I did buy strawberries because they looked so delicious! ) This is a picture of the northern gates of the city that is where Garabaldi entered on his 2nd attempt to take over Rome. It is a huge intersection in this part of the city.

The afternoon was free so some of us decided to wander around town & found a small little sandwhich shop where we ate the most delicious panini's ever! We also have been enjoying the free water fountains that have continuous water running 24 hours a day on the side walks( i will post a pic of one soon! ) & took time for our first group photo! :)

In our break period, some of us girls decided to watch the end of the Lizzie Mcguire movie...you know, the part where she perfoms in the Colluseum! We decided that being in Rome reminded of us that & that "What dreams are made of" might just be a theme song of this trip( along with Stereo Love because that just sounds italian haha).

I am also going to start putting things I learn while i am here or just find interesting....So for today:
1- everyone drives the smallest cars! & parks on sidewalks or basically anywhere they want to!
2-Italians actually learn english in their education so most of them actually understand it( even when they act like they don't, well most of the younger generation does anyway)
4- All streets & plazas sound so similar in their names, it can get confusing.
5- Like i said earlier, there are this never ending water fountains in random places in the city, that have drinkable water ( even though the pipes look rusty haha)
6- It randomly rains here( or more like thunderstorms) & the drainage in the city is horrible

Tonight some of us might go check out the Irish Pub that is about 2 blocks away, which is locally owned by an Irish man so that should be fun! Tomorrow we are headed for the more downtown area of Rome which means we will hopefulyl see some major historic sights! That's all for now. :)

CIAO!

benvenuto

2011-05-22T07:36:00.000-07:00

CIAO ...BENVENUTO A ROMA!

YES i am officially here & this is the first post of my 5 week study abroad in Rome, Italy!
After waking up at 3:30 am in California, then catching a direct 10 hour flight from Rome i have basically been up for over 24 hours and lost an entire day but thats ok because I am in Roma! <3 I have a cute little room( with just one other girl, thank goodness I am not in a triple WHEW!) overlooking Villa Collina.

This is the cutest little hotel called Hotel Ercoli. It was built in the 1800's & is the entire 4th floor of an apartment building. my group was welcomed by the owner himself ( a cute little italian man that literally knows maybe 5 words of english) but he likes to wink at us girls & joked about giving us spagetti for breakfast because that is real Italian hhaha. my roomate & I unpacked 7 figured out how to use the wifi( which is a huge deal because he just installed it & it was previously a plug in in his own personal room lol )

Breakfast & dinner are handcooked & served in a tiny little dining room overlooking the quad area. And as i am blogging this it just started to pour here :( at least tomorrow will be a beautiful day!

It is currently 4:45 pm here ( 9 hours ahead of the west coast) & we have our first cooked dinner at 7 pm followed by a walk around our neighborhood ( hopefully it stops raining). Tomorrow starts our first meeting at 9:30 am & visits to many places around the city!

keep watching for updated posts on my trip here in Roma! Ciao <3

and the year is coming to an end...

2011-05-09T16:41:00.000-07:00

Yes, it is that time of year again. Last minute reading, late night studying, cramming sessions and LOTSSSS of caffine.
What does that equal= FINALS!

As of tomorrow at 3:30 pm I will be finished with my junior year in college. Literally just thinking about being a senior is scary, I cringe everytime I look on facebook at my friends in graduation cap & gowns. Where has the time gone? I still remember freshman year in high school. Anyone else out there think that college goes by way faster than high school? Cause I sure do.

The fact that I have been living in Georgia for 9 months now is yet another thing that amazes me. Last year at this time I was nervous to check my email hoping I would get into one of the 3 university's I applied to and now look at me. As they year is coming to close and grades start getting posted I can't believe another summer is here. I leave in one day for CALIFORNIA and I don't think I have ever been this excited ( I know, I say that everytime I go home haha)

It's going to be almost 3 months before I am back in the south & I am sure going to miss the sweet tea as it's own food group, chick-fil-a sweet potato fries (best invention everrr! ) and the normal hearing of the phrase " ya'll". But with that comes the exciting oppurtunites I get to travel the world in the next 3 months!

I am going to Santa Cruz this weekend for the Gamma Phi Beta formal ( which I missed my own here). It's been almost a year since I have seen everyone so it should be a great reunion. Then in 12 days I jet set off to Rome, Italy for 5 weeks of bliss...filled with gelato for breakfast, real pizza and cute italian boys, not to mention tons of history ( yes...that's my history geeky side haha)
Then its 78 days until Jamaica. Where I can't wait to soak up the sun & enjoy the wonderful swim up rooms( YES SWIM UP HOTEL ROOMS! YAY).

I am so excited for what lies ahead & the summer before my senior year in college. As much as I wanted to grow up, I am quite content where I am at & wish I could stay here forever ( minus the finals..which I should be studying for right now! BOO :( )

Can't wait for the summer to remember. <3

The 3 choices in life.

2011-04-12T20:13:00.001-07:00

I've always been a big believer in inspirational quotes & finding a quote that defines your life. Lately, I've been referring back to the quote " You have 3 choices in life...Give up, Give in or Give it your all".

This semester has been the toughest few months of my entire life. Not only are my classes & professors extremely hard but life in general has been extremely tough. March 31st was my grandmother's birthday, The first one that she has ever missed. It's hard knowing a loved one is literally not anywhere to be found. She of course, wanted it to be a day of the celebration of her life but how is one to celebrate when they are sad?

Though I have all these AMAZING and once in a lifetime things coming up, I have never questioned my future as much as I've had this year. Things I loved, I suddenly dislike. While things I disliked, I know love. I feel like people always talk about how life gets confusing sometimes and then things work out and I can say that I have hit that point in life.

I am counting down the days until summer( 28 days to be exact!!) and a little over a month until ROMEE & 3 or so months until JAMAICA! I can't wait to see places & things I have always dreamed of. That is where most of my motivation is coming from honestly. Hopefully things will continue to work out in my favor and life will become a little less confused....until then I have chosen to Give it my all...

<3

welcome to hollywierd.

2011-03-27T19:22:00.000-07:00

So as usual life gets in the way of the whole trying to blog thing but here's an update on my life.

Spring Break 2K11 has come and gone :( I went home to California for the week & 3 of my gphi sisters drove out to beautiful so cal for break ( CRAZYY I know!) but it was there first time in Cali & it was sure memorable. Of course I wasn't really fond of traveling to all the tourist hot spots( since I am a local and all) but I got to show them around sunny downtown San diego, Coronado, the world famous zoo and of course Los angeles and hollywierd! so here is a sum of of SB!

Beautiful Hotel Del Coronado.

San Diego Zoo. & yes Mckenzie had never left the south before...and she literally was born driving a tractor. Oh & she enjoyed blaring country music on the 91 freeway or on the streets of SD. and yes we got some strange looks

We took a VIP tour of Warner Brothers Studios in LA. the best part was getting to the see the sound stage where the Ellen show is filmed. It is so much smaller than it looks ( of course no pics allowed due to some copyright thing :( )

Last but certainly NOT least. HOLLYWIERD. so yes, they didn't believe that hollywood is a little strange. I did explain to them that it was not like how it's portrayed in movies & celebs aren't really seen around there( which is understandable considering there's constant star tours, chinese theater tours, people on the walk of fame etc). the highlight of the entire day was the fact that this black "rapper" was rapping into a child's microphone talking to this little girl telling her not to be scared of strangers, he isn't going to hurt her. ya...they def realized they weren't in georgia anymore hahaha

Basically one of the best spring breaks to date. It was pretty laid back, relaxing and a nice break from school.

peace & love

Next up: countdown till I leave for Rome for 5 weeks & Jamaica in july( oh yes, I will talk more on this vaca later!)

secrets

2011-02-01T18:55:00.000-08:00

I've been currently obseesed with Secrets by One Republic lately...so here are a few, interesting facts about me...

1-I only eat red & green skittles...together.
2-I love tomatoes but I hate ketchup.
3-I'm obsessed with sweet tea.
4-I love antique shopping.
5-Cupcakes are my favorite(and making dessert my favorite thing in the WORLD)
6-I love frozen yogurt.
7-I want to travel to all 7 continents before I die (& I've already been to 2! )
8-I LOVE european history.
9-I hate the sound of clinking silverware in a quiet restaurant.
10-even though reality tv isn't reality...I can't get enough of it ( well most shows anyways! hehe)

<3

THAT time of year.

2011-01-29T12:55:00.001-08:00

You know that time of year when you can't remember the last time you actually got dressed up. or how all you remember is wanting to cuddle up in bed and watch movies because it is freezing outside. YUPP, you guessed it. It is still THAT time of year.

The winter days are still bone chilling temperatures( thank goodness there hasn't been any new snow & it doesn't rain a whole lot WHEW!) but I literally have no motivation.
Don't get me wrong, I attempt at being motivated. I go all day everyday from 11am until 9 or so at night. Its school,gym,school, internship, sorority meetings, internship,study,bed. Almost everyday.

My internship has been going more than great! The displays in the store look AMAZING! and the photo shoots we have twice a week are turing out fabulous! And this past week we started planning for the spring Fashion Show we are planning/running for March 30th. In the coming weeks we are going to be having model castings, MC castings, meetings with the non profit org we are working with and fittings. and somewhere between that and being in charge of the T-shirts( which they want almost one a week I might add) I have to find time for school.

I remember last semester I felt like I had no motivation because I wasn't busy enough. Being in 2 clubs wasn't as demanding as I thought and since I went from being on the exec board to not having as much responsibility I truly didn't know what to do. Now this semester things don't stop. So where does one find motivation? Is it in the self fulfillment of getting straight A's again or in the idea of knowing that I have to keep my grades up to go to Italy in May? Is it it knowing I don't want to get on academic probation in the sorority( which I am proud to say I have never been on). or is it knowing that I need good grades to go to grad school and have a future?

I have yet to determine where I am going to pull my motivation from. I assume for everyone it is a different thing that motivates and pushes us, but for some reason I have yet to find it this semester. Let's hope I do soon...

Peace and Love.

CIAO ITALIA

2011-01-22T21:13:00.000-08:00

It's OFFICIAL! As of today, its only FOUR months until I am jetsetting to Roma...yes Roma!
Land of fliratious italian speaking boys, original pizza, scouters as transportation, hundreds of pictures...oh and school of course!
May 22-June 29 I will be living in a place with thousands of years of history( and yes that's the history in me that I know so much about this part of the world).

I can't wait to be back there! It is one of the most beautiful and enriching cities in the world and I get to share it with 19 other UGA students. EEKK! I am so excited when I even think about it.

Time to break out my passport yet again. CIAO ITALIA

It's 2011

2011-01-13T21:13:00.000-08:00

Which means there will be 2,011 better things about this year than last year!!!
Of course everyone sets their new year resolutions...which in most cases don't all get completed but I thought I would share mine.

Numero uno- Prioritize my life a little better.
Two-Get more involved. There are always things I could do more to help out so why not contribute where I can.
Three-one word :GYM! enough said.
Four-Put 110% into my internship. Hopefully it will lead to a job for next year (FINGERS CROSSED)
Five-Meet new people. I've done a good job of that considering im 2,300 miles away from home but you can never have tooo many right?
Six-Use my time wisely. Yes, maybe not watch as much Real Housewives of Bev Hills( though I can't get enough of Lisa).
Seven-Make more homemade( and healthy meals) rather than having Sweet Tea as my main food group. This is going to be the hardest one! haha
Eight-Take in the atmoshphere that I am in. Not everyone can experience the things I do and there are truly memories I won't forget and have changed me for the better.
Nine-MOVE ON from my past. I'm better than that now.
and Ten-try and blog more. It's a creative outlet that is better than writing 10 page history papers haha.

Time to get started! :)

If I could be anyone.

2010-12-11T17:52:00.000-08:00

It would be Katy Perry! Lately, I've been seeing her everywhere and everytime she looks fabulous! I love that her outfits are totally unique and colorful and she does her own thing! I love that she always has fun when she's performing and her makeup and outfits are to DIE for! I mean..glitter shorts?? AMAZINGG!!

I just wanted to share my addiction for her. I can't wait to see what she does next. <3

Oh baby baby

2010-11-18T20:22:00.000-08:00

When someone asks you the question..."What is the cutest thing you have ever seen", what do you say? Some may answer by saying the 90 year old couple holding hands in the grocery store was cute or the 5 year old brother holding his little baby sister. well I would have to say BABY ANIMALS!!! and I am pretty sure these pictures speak for themselves on why they are the cutest things everrrr!

How precious are these tiny little things! This makes me want springtime so I can see all the baby animals out and about!
This certainly made my day...I literally could stare at these and sigh for hours because they are just presh! love love love.

Off to bed. Early classes tomorrow and can't wait to go back to Cali on saturday for a whole week of break( which is much needed I might add) PLUS with Thanksgiving always come delicious homemade food! YUMM

Peace and Love.

Fallin' for you.

2010-11-02T15:04:00.000-07:00

Pumpkin Spice Latte's. Warm apple cider. Cozy socks. Yepp It's that time again FALL! :)
The leaves around Athens have been turning over the past weeks and are lovely covering the pavement and sidewalks around town.
I am so excited to experience a real season since California is known as the state with no seasons. It is just dandy.

With that said, this past weekend was Fall Break. Thousands of students roadtripped to St. Simons Island on the coast of Georgia for a weekend of fun. The entire hotel was all UGA students covering the beach like ants(actually it is known as FRAT BEACH). Then it was off to Jacksonville, Florida on Saturday when the Bulldogs took on the Gators.

It was a close game and overtime lead to the defeat of the dawgs but it was an amazing experience too see that much school spirit from both teams.

This weekend the Dawgs take on Idaho state and it is parents weekend! My parents and little brother are flying in to Atlanta on Thursday and I can't wait for them to experience the BULLDOG NATION!

Back to sipping my warm apple cider and turning the pages on a book dealing with America's history.
HAPPY FALL :)

Heroes of the Hedges

2010-10-15T20:02:00.000-07:00

Was this years HOMECOMING THEME!
I have spent the last 2 weeks working day & night to organize homecoming events with BYX! We successfully won 1st place in the banner contest, drew a great design at the street painting contest and today had the most spirit in the homecoming parade!

It was a week full of laughter, ballon fights, late night walmart trips, superheroes, 1 am street painting and some Gphi's and BYX boys! Although it was chaotic and stressful( and I got like 5 hours of sleep a night) it was way worth it!

Tomorow is the homecoming football game against Vanderbilt! Let's hope the DAWGS rock it between the hedges! SIC 'EM!

The fun never stops.

2010-09-25T15:18:00.000-07:00

So being in Georgia I have come to the conclusion that the fun just never stops! Yes there is no beach, no disneyland & no San fransico concerts but who knew this city an hour and a half from atlanta & 5 hours till the ocean could be so much fun!

Last weekend was the football game vs Arkansas( & yes we lost, but it was hilarious listening to the "hog call" & seeing these Arkansas fans try to be louder than us YEAH RIGHT..this is bulldog country).

This past was big/little reveal and I was happy to get my new little named Kelly & grow our family all the way here in GA

Last night was FIELD PARTY 2010! Imagine 150 gphis with their dates. A band from nashville( which had a veryyy cute lead singer). A giant bonfire. A cooler full of drinks, a bag full of snacks. hundreds of blankets. Cowboy boots & of course lots of boys.

Their was dancing.smores.a lake.so much fun! It was the first date night of the year & I can't wait for next years!
Today the Bulldogs take on Mississippi State at Mississippi. Lets hope they can kick some butt & win this one!!
GO DAWGS!

All in all the fun never stops! You certainly need some time management skills here because there is ALWAYS something to do!

Tomorrow is Sisterhood Sunday. We are going to CORNDAWGS!! a giant maze. So excited!

Peace & LOVE ...& to more studying on a saturday!

Go Dawgs!

2010-09-05T16:53:00.000-07:00

There is nothing like a Georgia Bulldog Football game!
I feel as if I have been offically initatiated into UGA after experiencing yesterday's football game against the University of Lousianna-Lafayette. It was a great 55 to 7 victory here in Athens!

There were about 90,000 fans in the stands( not quite full but pretty close). It was great to see all the girls dressed up( it's a tradition here for everyone to dress up for the games!) and all the Greek frats and sororities reppin their pins & sunglasses!

I enjoyed a game day hotdog & souvenir cup while learning all the Bulldog chants & hand motions! It was great!

Next home game: September 18th vs Arkansas. Watch it on ESPN! :)

GO DAWGS!

Life lesson.

2010-08-18T20:08:00.000-07:00

You know when they say "the more you care about someone, the more you will get hurt in the end?"

Well I never quite believed that. ( ok i believed it but I guess I never knew what it actually felt like).
Now that it's the 21st century we are surrounded by media with happy endings, perfect dates, theme songs and lasting love.
Now i'm no expert and I certainly don't have all the experience in the world but I now know what it feels like to be burned.

I always remember my grandma telling me you will learn so much and you will wish you could go back in time and know what you know now. I now COMPLETLY understand this.

I trust everyone to easily. I believe everyone without question. I love unconditionally. I keep my word. I treat my friends like family. I am honest,trustworthy and genuine. and I know my true friends know that.

I think back on my past year or so and although i don't officially "regret" anything I do wish I could change a few things. I might have met more people and given up on others. maybe even altered my life a litte bit. I can honestly say I have learned so much for only being 19.

I have learned what it feels like to be lied to. to be treated badly. to be played.

At the time I thought all people have gone through this. When you care about someone you are completely blind to the bad.
Lately, I wish I could go back and change my life completly. rid myself of the selfish people.

I wasted my time, my emotions, my laughter, my smiles, my photographs and most of all my memories on someone that is complety self revolving. Ya, I'm not going to say I didn't have good times( because believe me I did) but did those get rid of the bad...NO!

Why didn't I listen to my family?! to my friends?! They were always looking out for me. They could see through the bad.They could see that I deserved better. That there WAS better.

I have never in my life been so disappointed in someone. so hurt by someone. so PLAYED by someone. the fact that things happened behind my back shows the true character of you. your actions are 10X louder than your words.

I think what hurts the most is wondering whether the whole time my grandma was dying I was getting played? NO WONDER you weren't there. There is not ONE minute i would have given up with her for you. She was( and always will be) 1000 times better than you. She knew the true meaning of love.

I know that life goes on and being in Georgia only helps me more.There are new people.new oppurtunities.
I will find someone better than you. more caring than you. more genuine than you. more understanding than you. and mostly more supportive than you.

Although you are a memory that fills my mind, you are one that I can learn from and one that I WILLL learn from.
I am the best thing you will ever have. the most genuine, the most caring, the most helpful and most supportive person you will ever know.

I have done and shown you more than any of your friends ever have and I know that you are aware of that.

It is apparent that you broke my trust. my love. my heart and my friendship but you didn't break my values, my goals, my ambitions or my true friends.

People like you continue living their lives the same way.It's a revolving door.
You could have talked to me. You could have respected me as much as to pick up the phone and call.
The past is the past. the damage is done.

I am ready to rid my life of the stress. the rudness.the lies. the humilation.
Honest to God I am now a stronger person, so thanks for that. I now know what I deserve and what I want out of life, so thank you for that as well.
Good luck with life. I think you are gonna need it more than I do.

College Dream.

2010-08-08T10:45:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Athens,Georgia. Welcome to Bulldog Country!

I have officially arrived in the south. This past week I have moved all my things into my new house & said goodbye to my parents to start a new year with a new atmosphere and new goals. Gamma Phi started their work week this past thursday & recruitment starts on Wednesday then school officially starts on Aug 16th!

I am still getting used to the random thunder storms. the humiditiy. the sweet tea being the "normal thing" ( which i love i might add). the intense school spirit around athens and of course having a gamma phi house and a totally different way of doing things.
I am sure the bulldogs will continue to surprise me as the weeks pass on. here are so pics that describe this past first week!

This is me and my dad shopping long hours in walmart to get what i need!

Me showing my love for the bulldog! cant wait for football season to start!!!

the front of my new house! it looks out over a lake and is superrr cute!

My time here in Athens has just begun and I cant wait for school to start and meeting new people!
It really is a dream come true! ( minus all the tests and homework)

When you were young

2010-07-26T20:12:00.000-07:00

Today I was blissfully turning radio stations when I came across The Killers "When you were young".
I remember back to the summer when this was the theme song & I could hear it blasting from other students cars in the parking lot. Every nerd, jock and cheerleader ( ;]) was blasting this.

This made me think how fast life goes by. The fact that I am turning 20 in a little over a month doesn't help either. I think back to the days where status didn't matter. We all thought our parents knew everything. The "cool" place to hang out was either the mall or the movies ( or in my case by the pool). No one judged you by what Tv shows you watched, what kind of music you listened to or even the clothes you wore.

When you were young. How we all looked forward to friday's free period. the parent vs teacher basketball game. the school plays.

Now-a-days it's completely different. The brand of clothes matter. The way we talk matters. How we act matters.What we say matters. What we watch matters. How we even walk matters. What has happened with this world? With new technology comes more problems. Each new problem becomes another. People don't have pride in our government anymore. People take exaggerate everything. It has become a complicated world.

Even though we can't go back to the middle school crushes. The valentine's day cards for the whole class or planning your yearbook outfit wayyy in advance, we certainly can simply our lives. We need to take each day as a blessing and not be in such a hurry. The world needs to appreciate things more, each other more.

I wonder what would happen if we could go back a few centuries and do it over? HMM

Love is stronger than death.

2010-07-22T13:01:00.000-07:00

July 21, 2010.
A day that will never be forgotten.

After a long struggle, my grandma passed away last night defeated by the horrible disease of cancer.
No matter how prepared you think you are, you can never be prepared for the loss of a loved one. My grandma was such an inspiration to me and I am so blessed to have her in my life. I inherited her creative eye, cooking skills and charismatic attitude that made her such a joy for anyone who has met her. I am at a loss of words for how I feel. On one hand I am so heartbroken & sad that something like this could happen to a young and joyful woman but I know she is in no pain now and she told me that she will be my guardian angel.

I think that it's a sign that yesterday afternoon I had an urge to go get an angel wing tattoo on my left wrist in honor of her. I wanted it for a while but for some reason I felt that I had to get it yesterday, and I am so glad that I did.

I will never forget the way my grandma made me her famous french toast everytime I spent the night. the way she would help me make ANYTHING out of nothing because she was so creative. the way she called me and my brother "kiddos". or drove to Santa Cruz many times just to see me. the way she didn't know how to use a computer but would skype me to talk to me. the way we would watch cooking shows then make the food. or her famous chickin n dumplings. There are so many things that I learned from her, I can't even imagine what I am going to do without her. She was such a special person and I know that she watching over me now and like she said "I will see you again someday".

I will love you forever Grandma & I will never ever forget you. You will always be in my heart ( and on my wrist)

“Love is stronger than death even though it can't stop death from happening, but no matter how hard death tries it can't separate people from love. It can't take away our memories either. In the end, life is stronger than death

Fascination at its Finest.

2010-07-14T14:51:00.000-07:00

It is obvious that fashion trends change weekly causing you one season to be "in" and the next season "you're out"(thanks Heidi Klum). I myself always have these creative ideas running through my head and lately they have seem to rub off on my entire family.
My dad for one has successfully bought & decorated the inside of his building complete with a red, black and white theme ( go Dawgs ;] ) from authentic antique pictures of NYC, leather chairs, granite counter tops and the list goes on. Let's just say this place looks quite spiffy and my favorite quote is when my dad says " If I was gay, I would be an interior designer and be so good at it" HILARIOUS

Then there's my little brother Evan. Who now thinks that he's 14 ( as of July 3) his room is too "babyish" and needs to be more modern. Now it's complete with modern lighting and pillows and (my favorite addition) a comfy chair that is covered in texting acronyms such as TTYL, TGIF, BRB, LOL. I wanted to get the other one but that couldn't happen.

Then there's me. Even though I am leaving in 3 weeks every time I go into a home goods store I get so Excited! I seriously just want to buy everything!! I think of a future house and how I can decorate each room with eclectic themes and colors. It's like heaven at my fingertips. That sounds dorky but it's the truth.

All this couldn't happen without my new favorite store home goods. No matter when I go in this store I find unique pictures, colorful vases, disco balls, vintage inspired furniture. I went in there yesterday and bought an entire new bath set for my new bathroom at school. Complete with a lacoste bath mat, unique hooks, hot pink towls and a green shower curtain. I am so so so excited to have my own bathroom decorated in the way I want.

With all these creative juices flowing I am inspired to create new curtains for my room as well as new pillows before I have to leave. I guess I must get to it!

<3

Sweet Home.. Georgia

2010-07-06T19:17:00.000-07:00

Yes, Georgia not Alabama.

It's officially going to be my home for the next two years of my college career!

Some highlights it houses a stadium that holds 96,000 screaming bulldog fans.

It has this cute guy as its mascot( UGA VII is his name)

Red, White & Black are the colors that the entire town( and state) for that matter wave on a daily basis.

Not to mention it's amazing greek system and remarkable Gamma Phi Beta house! It doesn't get any more southern than this with their annual chili cook off and movie on the lawn!

I can't believe I am going to be moving 3000 miles away to the city of Athens, GA that I have only seen once but I couldn't be more excited. Plus I am going to be living with 3 other gamma phi girls and starting a whole new life on the East Coast. I can already hear Katy Perry's California Girls playing out of my car while other the sweet southern look at me like an alien! OH WELL California Girls do it better anyways ;)

It's official

2010-06-15T01:22:00.000-07:00

My underclassman days of college are OFFICIALLY over. I am officially a junior. an upperclassman. and half way done with my college education and so much closer to walking the steps of graduation ( although it scares me even thinking about how far/close 2 years is)

This past year has been full of ups & downs. I have experienced so much more than I could have ever imagined. I have been in good, bad and inbetween situations. I have learned life skills that are irreplaceable.

I look forward to continuing this chapter of my life in the coming months and am excited what it is going to bring (besides my 20th birthday of course).

My next step: Gamma Phi Beta international convention in Orlando, FL next week! Not only will I mingle with my favorite disney characters, I get to meet 800 sisters from across the country...it is going to be one heck of a sorority event! It is going to be an experience of a lifetime and I am so lucky/excited to be able to go a represent our chapter!

Until next time, that's all folks.

Peace and Love

Ash

little guy.

2010-05-25T23:07:00.001-07:00

How can you not love this?! I came across this today and starred at it for probably 20 or so minutes. The other students around me in class probably I thought I was one of the tree huggin, no shoe wearin' hippie. But come on...

Someone please tell me where I can get one?!?!

Although I got distracted by this little guy, my story has more detail. Rewind 10 min before I came across this picture.. I walked into a lecture hall of 200 people and sat down(toward the front of the class I might add)just like any other Tuesday and yupp the chair broke! Literally the screw was missing and the one side completely collapsed. Due to my cat like reflexes I was able to catch myself before falling compleltey falling on by butt, but still a wee bit embarressing.

----->>>>>>>>>Now fast forward 3 hours. I am driving home and a biker(who shouldn't be biking for many reasons I won't go into on here) cut his right hand turn a LITTLE BIT tooo short & completely hit my car. thank goodness he didn't fall off or anything but sheesh. Bikers should have to get a license because they just think they rule the rode.

It's been raining the past 12 hours and I am literally counting down the seconds till Summer 2010. I'm over this place, I need to go back to the familiar. So mathematically it is 15 days until I go home. and 28 days until I go to Orlando for GPHIB convention! Then it is smooth sailing for the summer.

Peace and Love

"bow girl"

2010-05-11T00:21:00.000-07:00

Say Hello to my new obsession: BOWS!

I'm talking bow necklaces,bracelets,shirts and expecially headbands!

I mean who can resist this

<-----!

They are such a fashion statement and add a little bit of Chic-ness to every outfit. They are cute and effortless and due to my new obession.. my new nickname with the boys of Sigma Pi is "bow girl".

I mean BOW GIRL?!

...I think of it as more as a compliment I suppose. Fortuntately for me Santa Cruz isn't the next capital of fashion, so when a girl has style people notice. Basically you know you're dressed "fashionable" if people stare at you or the lady at the dry cleaners thinks your going to a special occasion just because your hair is curled and you have pink smokey eyes. Story of my life. =]

The bow trend is a fashion statement that is to be kept for a while. You can't put a price on elegance.

Welcome to the Circus.

2010-05-03T00:23:00.000-07:00

So one of the greatest perks of being in a sorority is being able to participate in Greek Week each year, more specifically getting to chreograph parts of our lipsync rountine. That's right, it was the the Gamma Phi Beta Circus!

Our 4-5 hour practices each week for 2 months finally paid off in our 8 min routine that of course placed out of all the other orgs.

Of course it wouldn't be an actual circus without all the right ingredients(performers) right?

We had the circus dancers start us off to Circus by Britney Spears. Then we had the clowns(my group & the best group I might add) lay it down to Get Buck in here by DJ Felli Fell. Then it was a surprise performance by the Magicians dancing to I can transform ya. Then it was a shock with the Mimes dancing to Blah Blah Blah by Ke$ha. Last...but certainly not least...we ended with Freakshow by Britney Spears with all of us, including confetti,poppers, streamers. Basically a BIG BANG to the end of the dance.

And everyone thought Sigma Pi's blacklight rountine was sick. DEFFF not!

Here's me in action..Facials and all. In fact I got the best facial award at our weekly meeting. All those years in cheer must have paid off!

I'm glad Greek Week 2010 brought all the greek orgs together. From the frats in speedos and ripping their shirts off, to the girls that thought they were Fergie..it was certainly a fun a week (which of course put me behind in school and for midterms)

Not gonna lie,5 weeks until Summer & I couldn't be happier. I can't wait to be back in so cal, laying by the pool listening to lady gaga. AHH If only life was always that carefree.

Peace and Love

The old man is snoring.

2010-03-12T16:55:00.000-08:00

You know those days when it is raining outside and you are all cozy in your bed and have no motivation what so ever to do anything.. ya today is one of those days.

If only I had a fire going with some hot coco and a snuggle buddy ( although my body pillow suits me pretty well & doesn't talk back or anything).

One final and a paper is keeping me away from going home for spring break! Although I am quite sad we aren't taking a family trip to NYC ( like we have before) I am excited to go home and spend some carefree time with my friends and family ( especially my kitty and my brothers new puppy Roxy).

This year has been one of those stressful school years that I wasn't quite ready for. The constant drama in Gamma Phi, the new execs picking up all the things that the last exec didnt do etc etc. It wasn't what i signed up for but I am handling it as best as I can and going from there hoping that it can only go up from here. So it is sorta nice to have a day( or 2) that I can literally do nothing but eat, sleep, CSI marathons and facebook it alll day. Although I know tomorrow it is back to reality and stress with the studying.

Looking at the calendar I CAN NOT BELIEVE that it is already MARCH 2010! I know I say this probably every month but honestly I am going to be 20 this year. 20! thats a number I never thought I would see ( not in a bad way) but I always thought It was much farther off than it truely is.

Well I have to be a self motivater at the moment because our CLC from International Headquarters is here for the next 5 days and lucky me I have planned every detail of her visit. Starting with taking her to dinner in 30 min to the best panani place in town. YUM.

Then its back to NCIS and CSI.

Someone tell Asher Roth ..Oh how I loveeeee college. ;)

Peace and Love.

Quite Beachy

2010-03-06T23:30:00.000-08:00

For the past 2 months I have been hard at work with constant emails and phone calls to plan and coordinate Gamma Phi's annual Friends & Family day...and today it all paid off!

In a room overlooking the ocean and the pier with walls full of floor to cieling windows. Multi-colored sand centerpieces with aqua pebbles as an accent. There were tables showing off gamma phi apparel and a delicious brunch. To top it off I bought custom little glass jars with gamma phi beta labels and filled them with assorted jellybeans,SUCH A HIT! It all Turned out so beautiful!!

For the 3 hours we had our brunch I certainly got my practice of public speaking (although I'm not fond of hearing myself through a microphone, I don't know how lady gaga does it all the time). I made my parents proud so that is what mattered & I must say I feel as if I am a natural born leader...and today it showed.

I'm so excited to upload the rest of the pictures depicting all the tiny details of what the event and view looked like. I have got nothing but positive feedback and it was much better than any other Friends and Family day before( not to be concieted, it's just facts). I guess my extra effort in trying and finding a location for 160 was so worth it.

I am so glad that my mom and my dad were able to come. Along with my grandparents and my little brother. They got to see me and (my big) Helen's hilarious music video to thank our parents for their support. I was crying or laughter. I mean nothing beats a 1 am music video with stunna shads, hairbrush microphones and our GPHIB letters on! so hilarious!!!All in all, I am enjoying every minute of being AVP and today it especially showed. I couldn't be happier!

I am currently running on 4 hours of sleep( thats what I get for going to a sigma pi social at 11PM and then having to type up things). Sleep is a MUST!

Tomorrow it is back to reality...but 10 days till spring break! :)

Peace and Love

Public Education.

2010-03-04T13:22:00.000-08:00

Today marks another day of protests on all UC campuses in the entire state as well as in Sacramento to protest the 32% increase in tuition starting this past quarter.

Of course I find it ridiculous that we are paying more buckaroos, yet classes are being cut and teachers are being fired and I can barely get into the classes I need to take for my major without being here for 6 years or something.

Butt the fact that they block the entire campus is absurd. I think its funny because we have already paid for today and for classes( and I know they are trying to make a point) but rocking cars, and laying in the middle of the street is NOT the answer...at least from my non liberal point of view.

Class was cancelled(which although doesn't make me go to campus) it does make me strive to transfer even more next year.

I know it's going to be hard leaving my sorority and my newly found friends but this is just not the Utopia of a college that I was looking for...I am blessed that I can even go to college, especially in this economy, but there is something far better out there for me.

A place where people don't live in trees, or walk around barefoot and care about their looks, their school and the extra curricular things...now I need to find that. maybe on the East Coast?? we will soon see! :)

My life be like..

2010-03-03T16:58:00.000-08:00

Christmas 2009 Has come and gone..along with New Years and Valentine's Day sheessh

I enjoyed by much needed break at home and in the snow. The olympics have some what inspired me get back on the slopes again before the snow melts, but I am no gold medal olympian( although I consider myslef to be at least a bronze ;])

There is no shame in that..right?

I am good at attempting a mid ski lift photo sesh though..

At this point in my life, I feel as If all I do is Gamma Phi things or school. Never in my life have I looked forward to the weekends so I can spend the days doing homework with no distractions...oh wait I do now! There is only 2 weeks left in this quarter then its 10 days for Spring breakkk 2010! I can't believe I am so close to being done with my second year of college :( nooo I don't want to grow up. ( in th

Over the course of the past weeks I must say I've done some pretty memorable things. I have had some ups and downs the last months butttt I have times that I will never forget.

We hosted a Jersey shore inspired social with Theta Chi...

With all the bronzer, accents, and attire it was much of a comedy show I might say myself. I didn't go all out as everyone else but I am not even close to being snookified

Sigma Pi hosted a "Snuggies and Thuggies" Social. Although I was considering buying/wearing a snuggie I opted for a more the more"grunge-glamour" thuggie look along with my Big who went for the jersey shore "snookie" look :)

I am keeping my fingers crossed as I have applied to 4 schools already to transfer to for next year...all out of state. I'm sorta nervous but equally excited.

Saturday is Friends and Family Day for Gphi that I have planned all by myself,pictures of that up soon and I get to see my family on Friday!

As it is pouring outside I am so thankful to be cuddled up with my hot coco and portable heater, I don't know how homeless people do it. I would have not motivation to survive. Back to writing about espionage during WWII.

Peace and Love

maybe the next best thing?!

2009-12-16T22:30:00.008-08:00

I have been addicted to America's Best Dance Krew since season 1..always excited when the day it airs comes on & I'm able to sit down with a snack & watch the creative and intricit dance moves. ABDC !!

WELLL good thing the executive producers came out with a new show known as THE SING OFF..and yes I am now addicted to that( along with my mom & dad as a matter a fact..he thinks hes the next simon cowell ) righhhhttt dad

It's a show where groups sing a capella...with no instruments.

Groups from all across the country(and world actually) from college kids to soccer moms.

hosted by this guy..who could resist right? I mean we all know he truely is 98 degrees maybe even hotter!

I'm thinking I could certainly be his next Jessica Simpson.. ;]

Anywho, This show has only been on for 3 nights and the live finale is already on monday ( and yes I searced for tickets :[ ) with live performances as well.

BUT I did contribute a little anxiously texting the number on the screen for my favorite group..so I'm hoping that helps.

Oh and did I mention the grand prize is 100,000 and a sony record deal! how cool is that!! for singing...with no instruments.

I think artisits of today's world need to learn how to do that before they add all the computer tricks into it.Then maybe we will have some real singers..can I get an AMEN(AMEN!) haha

Well this is Ashley

Signing off of the Sing-off(gotta love Nick's corney lines)

until MONDAY! can't wait! :]]

Does time have wings?

2009-12-05T23:02:00.000-08:00

Wow. How is it that it is already the end of my fall quarter of my sophomore year of college?! One year ago I was just settling in to the shared dorm room & com

munity showers, now I live off campus in a house with its own address.

The past 10 weeks of school have sure been hectic! From fall recruitment, to the long hours of workshops, to getting a little & taking part in my first initation.

So lets play a little catch up on what my life has been like the past 3 or so months!

We had a loyalty circle pumpkin carving contest at our house with all of our GPHIB sisters.

Mine is the one of course that has the cat carved in it-as a model to show the love I have for my black cat hocus!

Gamma Phi hosted Crescent Classic-70's themed at the local Santa Cruz bowling alley! All the greek orgs got together and raised money for our national philanthropy-Campfire USA...while having tons of costume fun & great greek rivarly. GO GREEK!

I spent Halloween 2009 as a punk rocker...well my "fashionable" version of a punk rocker as everyone kept telling me...what can I say??even when I dress up I have to look a little bit put together!One of the most excited & memorable things I did this year was get my little Miranda...

In Gamma Phi we get big and little sisters when they are new members, and those are the girls you know the best, who show you the ropes of school, classes, frats etc. Miranda is such a sweet and personable girl & I am so glad that she is my little! &of course Helen as my big became a grand-big this year! how exciting!! ANGEL FAMILY!! <3 style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Q2xLtAyTn2M/SxtU9mEI6hI/AAAAAAAAAEE/Ed-pyl0UW4k/s320/DSC00095.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5412012794382445074">

All in all this has been a pretty fantastic beginning of my sophomore year. I have become closer to my older friends & made new ones along the way. My sisters have shown me that they are always there and I have never had so many laughs in my life..they are true friends. On top of that I am so excited to say that I am Epsilon Omicron's new ADMINISTRATIVE VICE PRESIDENT! after 4 rigours weeks or elections and a speech I was elected to be AVP & I couldn't be more thrilled to use my skills and really be a leader for all my other sisters...oh and the icing on the cake my big Helen was elected Membership Vice President-talk about big/lil domination!

Well back to paperwork & studying for finals...oh the college life, couldn't be any better though!

peace & <3

SOPO to the MORE. ;]

2009-09-24T19:52:00.000-07:00

Can you believe that today I began my sophomore year in college?! I remember my sophomore year in High School...that was 4 years ago!

Not only I have turned 19 already.but I live in my own house(along with 2 other sisters) && Recruitment is next week!!

Tues was OPERS..where I got to flier to new girls interested in gamma phi-so that was soo much fun...3 hours in the heat BUT it was fun!

<<<---me & my housemates!!

Anyways..so today I was actually able to drive to my first class as a sophomore, and park on campus..it was certainly the best part of being a sophomore and because of the UC wide walk out, all my classes were cut short!YAY

i love being able to make my own food, sleep in my own bed, watch tv when i want, not walk down the hall to the shower.its such a relief. and I LOVE being back with GAMMA PHI <3

going to make myself some pancakes & watch TLC.

only one class tomorrow-wooohooo!

P.E.A.C.E && L.O.V.E

cereal?!

2009-09-05T00:53:00.000-07:00

Well hello there bloggers(even though no one reads this but my mom probably,but hey thats ok)

Anyways.Today was a blast!

Other than the fact I had to wake up early, and drag myself out of bed..I spent the day with my cousin & my grandma at the Ontario Mills mall and Victoria Gardens. I got some of the cutest articles of clothing,shoes, and accessories for back to school at outlet prices-who could beat that?!

So the cereal thing. Today i saw this quote that stated "be the fruit loop in the world of cheerios" & with all my new clothing, I decided I already am and I am happy to stay that way. Through all the people watching at the mall and being in utter shock looking at what people actually wear, they stick out in a negative way. I mean do they not own mirrors!? So today's lesson:be yourself and stick out in a positive way so that others may aspire from you.

5 days until I turn 19! ;]]

Peace && love.

How do you love me?

2009-09-03T22:12:00.001-07:00

Not only is this a Hey Monday song(that is very catchy & gets stuck in your headd) but is extremely relevant in my life at the moment.

The lyrics let your imagination explore all possibilities, and for most relate back to an experience they have had.

Now my question to myself is how is it that the letters l-o-v-e can mean so much but at the same time not saying may mean even more! I have yet to find the answer as to why people change, and why people don't learn from their mistakes and most importantly why people continue to do things that are hurting the one they so call "love". I'm not sure that anyone can ever grasp that answer because it is like trying to explain why the sun is hot or ice is cold...thats just the way it is, just like I guess that's just the way people are.

But I think the hardest part of this whole thing would be the part for someone to realize that this just isn't going to work and that the future is even more bright than the present. But how do you forget all the laughs you had, or the smiles you shared, the fights you fought, the gifts you exchanged, or the kisses you shared? you don't! you don't forget about anything, but appreciate that you had that special time together and move on..reaching for the future and pushing aside the past(At least for now!) in hopes that one day that significant other may realize they had the best thing they ever will, that they took what they had for granted but was too stubborn to admit it. That is all the satisfaction that one needs.

And the most important thing to take is that one day they'll wake up and realize what they had & you'll be waking up next to the guy who already knew & your happiness is the most important of all.

Peace and love.

As the days close in.

2009-09-02T23:01:00.000-07:00

....I woke up today thinking about this past year and what i've not only been through,what i have experienced,what i have seen, and most important what i have learned!

I can not explain in words how lucky I am to have the family I do,it's things like these that people take for granted everyday...especially in these hard economic times. No matter what i need my family is always willing to give what they have to accomadate me-and i can't even fathom what i would do without them.

Last year I turned 18,i know. 18 years i have walked this Earth.I couldn't even believe it myself.

I remember turning 13,then 16..then 18.wow.

I went away & completed my 1st year of College... joined gamma phi beta, and learned how to literally live on my own. no more homecooked meals, or peace and quite at 3 am, or the constant school supplies always there when i need them.i have grown up a lot.

Not only did i enjoy the festivities that come along with being in a international sorority, i went house hunting for the first time, celebrated holidays in the company of new friends & altogether adapted to Northern California(which i think should be a different state btw!)

As summer approached I was able to come home & return to the lifestyle i have always known for these many years. Of course there were a few curve balls thrown in my game, with my gma being the hospital for 11 or so weeks. But it just pulled our family closer than ever & made us truly realize the power of prayer.

First stop for summer 09:Provo, UT! Where I went to visit one of my best friends Haley! Not only did I get to experience UT like the locals, but went to East High where HSM3 was filmed, ate Cafe Rio for the first time, and spent a night clubbin in Salt Lake~it was certainly different than Cali but it was a blast & I hope to go back soon!

Next up:Southern Florida. Fort Myers was our destination for 11 days, where we enjoyed bike rides, owl spottings, lots of ice cream cookies, pool days, movie nights & just all around relaxation of this humid place.whew! Then it was to Miami! home of people like brooke hogan & csi miami duh! My family & I(plus my cuz kayla :]) had a blast, there were even some wierddd people who had monkeys on their backs(dont ask, i sure didnt)

Then it was my 19th birthday party, already another year down.Officially the last year i was a teenager, where have the years gone?!?! I am now going to be starting my 2nd year of college, with new gamma phi's coming in, transfer applications that need to be finished, on top of school. it is going to be ONE HECK of a year. OHH and the fact that i now live in a house with 2 other sisters,should be fun hmmm-i wonder what this year is going to bring????? ;]

Well that's all for now.

hope all is well.

Peace && Love.

Pictures :]

2009-08-31T23:10:00.001-07:00

So here are some pictures from this summer:its my summer in a nutshell really..

It's been a while.

2009-08-30T21:16:00.001-07:00

WELL..as the title states it has been a while since I have posted anything,ok months actually.

This summer has been a rollarcoaster of emotion to say the least.

My grandma has been sick, causing her to have 3 surgeries in 11 weeks...and was in the hospital/manor care for all 11 weeks.

She finally was able to come home, but has a long healing way to go.

MY family and I went to the beautiful(yet humid!!) state of FLORIDA! for 2 weeks, where I rode a waverunner for the first time, enjoyed late night trips to cracker barrel, and saw more than enought alligators. OH and enjoyed my share of thunder storms! we also went to MIAMI.( I'm in MIAMI B*&^#) haha.what an adventure!!

As the summer comes to a close I have enjoyed as much as I could possibly enjoy.

My 19th birthday is coming up, along with my move back to my cute lil victorian house in Santa Cruz.

yay.

I'll post pictures soon.

going to sleep.

peace and love.