The Start of the BEST Season!

Where on earth to begin?? There is so much to talk about!!

AAAHHHH!!!!

Let's see...

The beginning of the month was our friend Timmy's wedding at the Connetticut Street Armory! GORGEOUS!

One interesting night, that's for sure!!

After that week, my mom came over to help make pumpkins for our front porch... We made sure everyone got their own pumpkin, even if they had four legs an fur! I think my mom had more fun picking out the pumpkins... There were so many!

These were the ones we left with:

Before we got to work, my mom got some kitty cuddles!!

Front: Mya and Kisses

Middle: Ares and Velvet

Back Row: Alex, Mom, Jennifer (Me!)

 Velvet's never seen pumpkins before!

And then... we baked the pumpkin seeds!!!

5 Trays FULL!

That was an experience... :)

For the Boston Historical Society, we hosted a Pot Luck Dinner, and had Guest Speaker Kurt Filipiak talk about his paranormal experiences with us.  He also shared his evidence he's found through hunts, and explained all of the equipment he brought that he uses to catch the evidence.  Kurt also has his YouTube Channel dedicated to his findings, called "Paranormal Hotspot". At the end, my mom was presented with a plaque describing the "Michalak" family name from a correspondant for the Am-Pol Eagle, also our own Town Historian. Good food, good company, and some great stories!

Above is Kurt Filipiak, photo from Google Plus.

So why is this the start of the best season ever??

BECAUSE IT'S AWESOME!

Fall is the right temperature where you can just go out in jeans and a hoodie for the day if you wanted, it's not humid, the leaves are changing, and you begin to prepare for a season full of giving thanks... Moreso than what you should be doing throughout the year!

It marks the start of the Fall Holidays, including Halloween, Alex's Birthday, Thanksgiving, and then keeping with the thankful spirit, on to Christmas! (But of course, my birthday before then! haha:) )

Another fun thing is Rocky Horror! This is held at the Palace Theatre yearly, on the weekend closest to, and before Halloween! I've gone for the past 5? years, and love dressing up! This year I went with my friend Tasha, and spent some more time than usual on hair and makeup!

This is what I looked like...:

We had a blast!! We got home around 2 in the morning, but well worth it :)

So now, because I liked having some curl in my hair from Rocky, yesterday I decided it would be fun to curl my hair, and see how it looked.  I liked the curls when I only ran my fingers through it to comb it out, but after a few skype conversations showing my "new" hair, I went upstairs and brushed it out.  Now this look, I LOVE.  I think it's a fun, fairly easy, romantic look good for a night out!

What do you think???

As for school, I went around to each of my teachers to get my grades for mid-term averages...

ALL A'S!!!!

My highest average is a 99.8%!

OH MY GOSH.

Coming up on November 4th, I meet with my advisor to schedule next semester's classes. ALREADY?? It feels like school just started.  This semester is flying by.

What else is there... I know there's more!!

WICKED IS COMING BACK TO BUFFALO!!!!

January 8-26.

Best. Musical. Ever.

Well, maybe.

But it's still an amazing story.

Most people are quick to say how evill the Wicked Witch of the West is. Well, you don't know anything!

GO SEE WICKED!

On the topic of musicals, my genre for music lately has included some interesting Pandora Playlists.  I have two Phantom of the Opera, one Showtunes, and a Movie Scores playlist.  AMAZING and fun to sing along to in the shower.  Also on my playlists:

Etta James, Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Country, and 2000's hits.

Some good stuff!

Posts coming soon (I'm writing this one at school, I finished all my homework):

My new organization binder

A Personal Challenge

Halloween Reflections

School/Careers/Minors and Majors

:) :) :)

Questions? Comments? I love them all!

Please follow my blog :)

xoxoxo



A Month's Worth!

Can you believe it has been one month YESTERDAY that I went back to school???

ME EITHER!!

There has been so much work! 

Working on essay #4 for English, 4th Journal for another class, and nightly math homework averaging about 50 questions a class!!

BUT....

100% on my first math test.

Everything else has been A's (and one B!) which I don't think is  bad for not being in school for a few years!!!

Let's introduce you to a bit of my school...

This is my Foundations classroom... Every room is equipped with a SmartBoard and 2 white boards (SmartBoards are awesome!)

Notice the "T" looking thing above the board? That's called a Tau Cross, and it's in every classroom to represent the school being a Franciscan College.  (Who's named after a nun from POLAND!) 

{Mother Colette Hilbert}

Now that it's getting to look and feel like autumn, I can't help myself and take some gorgeous pictures of the trees! 

This one's a picture I took on campus when I was on my way to the library:

This next one I took the other day... We were having a Peace Walk in honor of the Feast of St. Francis, walking from place to place all over campus and reading a prayer or short description of a working of St. Francis.  We were joined with the nuns from the Convent across the street, the original students of the college who started out in the convent next to the college.  (This event was optional to all students for those that were wondering...)

Another fun thing that the Student Government does for the students is for the bathrooms... and it's a brilliant idea!!!

Wandered into the Auditorium for a theatre workshop...

Aaaannnnddd some fun.. 

As for non school related things, we've been pretty busy! 

Alex went to his partner Timmy's stag party a few weeks ago, and women were allowed to come at 7 to join in on the fun.  We were at a place called Castaways, and the sunset was eerily breathtaking...

Tim and Jamie's wedding is tomorrow! SO excited!!

Guess who started NURSERY SCHOOL!!!

That's right, Ariel!!

I got together with her after her first day and we went to a playground for some fun!

Her mom (my good friend Tasha) brought her over for a sleepover, and we had some fun! Ariel likes being a doctor with my stethoscope, and learned how to listen to breathing and a heartbeat, courtesy of Alex!

After Ariel went to bed, Tasha and I had some much needed girl time!

With October comes Ocktober Fest!!!

In Hamburg, they bring together local beer breweries and import German beer, and have a big adult festival! Alex and I went with some good friends from our former Fire Company.  I must say, my favorite drink wasn't beer that night, it was hard apple cider spice with cinnamon sticks! YUM!

Some other pictures throughout the month:

The colors finally starting to come out!!

Velvet falling asleep, and almost falling off the couch...

How she normally is when I'm doing my homework, if she's not trying to walk all over my chest, laptop, swinging her tail in front of my face, or putting herself where I can't see the screen... like she's doing now... She likes keeping her Momma company! 

Life wouldn't be complete without a few silly faces!!

And for the main project.... 

WE FINALLY GOT SOME NEW WINDOWS!!!!

Finally.  Now we won't have to heat the outside this winter :)

We also got one for our upstairs bathroom, with frosted glass on the bottom so we don't have to close the curtains! It looks SO much better!

Above, the new windows... Below, no windows at all! :)

We also had 2 more put in the guest bedroom as well :)

Next project: TBD, but lots of options! 

POT LUCK DINNER FOR THE BOSTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY 

THIS TUESDAY, 10/8, Town Hall! I'll be there at 6!! 

Have a FANTASTIC night!!

Please follow my blog!! :) 

XOXOXO

Comments, questions, and emails are welcome!

The Start of School

Well, I made it through!

Phew. 

Only one more class that I haven't been to yet! And of course it's English, and looking at the online schedule, I'll be writing an in class short essay! 

But that doesn't even begin to describe everything that's been going on in other classes! 

Let's start at the very beginning... A very good place to start...

(Name that song!)

The morning started out dreary and rainy, going from a light drizzle to buckets!

So, before trying to dodge the rain, I checked my email, and found something that made my morning... A part of one of my favorite poems, that seemed very fitting for the first day's excitement! 

And then, off to my first class! Which turned out to be Nutrition, as they started with afternoon classes. (Hence why I'm going to English for the first time tomorrow.) 

I got there a little early, and decided to do some exploring... 

I found a Mac Computer Lab! 

I found out where the stairs were in the buildings!

Found the Commuter/Student Lounge, complete with computers, fridge, microwave, vending machines, couches, and group work tables. 

And finally, I decided to scope out my classroom for Nutrition....

In this picture, I sit second row, 2nd seat in from the right.  

It was a good start to the day!

10 minutes after this class, I had my Foundations Seminar Class!

That was really fun! 

We went over the Syllabus and then played some ice breaker games.

~Classroom Bingo: Sign where you have done what was said in the square, and the first one to get BINGO won!

~4 C's: Pick one word for each that describes you:

Cartoon Character

Color

Car

Cuisine

My answers were:

Lois, from Family Guy

Blue

F-150 (Pickup Truck)

Seafood

Why do you think I chose those answers??? :)

And then we went around the room and shared our answers.  We ended the class with a trip down to the Professor's office so we knew where it was.

With classes done, I had a wonderful surprise to end the "College Day"! I went up to the Dining Hall for the Welcome Back BBQ, and ended up seeing my niece! 

She's turning 3 in October. She needs to stop growing up! SERIOUSLY!

She can count to 5.

She's been potty trained for a while now.

She knows her ABC's.

She can talk in sentences.  

She knows she's 2 1/2.

She does Tumble Bee.

She starts Nursery School this Fall. 

Stop growing up!!!

And then, a dreary end. (Kind of!) I went to work from 6-9.

And then TODAY!

Started with MATH.  I'm an English major for a reason...

Math and I do NOT get along! 

But the Professor seems really nice, and after the lesson today, I was able to understand what she was doing, and finish the 1-47 odd homework she assigned! 

And finally, Research and Ethics...

I really don't know what to write about this class yet... I'm going to read the Syllabus a little more and do some reading and exploring on the website...

But this is my view!

Complete with a computer screen that's bigger than the keyboard...

Off to make dinner, and watch a movie with my puppy and kitty!! 

Alex works late... maybe 2 movies! 

A clip of the first one:

(Which is AMAZING!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lBUlCADoNU

(Copy and Paste for a spine chilling, phenomenal clip!)

xoxoxo

Orientation Goodness

Tonight I had College Orientation!

OH MY GOSH. 

Have you ever been so nervous before that you just want to CRY? 

I was so nervous on the way there, and walking in signing in, get your parking pass, etc.  And then OH MY GOSH you have to get your picture taken in front of a TON of people you don't know. 

If you're more of an introvert like me, you are normally good with smaller groups, or one on one.  Large groups of 40+? Forget it.  (But hey, my ID picture didn't turn out that bad!)

And then, into the auditorium we went, to go over the Orientation Packet. (And trying to weed myself out of staying an introvert the entire night, I sat in the 4th row of the auditorium, a few seats in, almost directly in front of the podium. Yay!)

And thankfully, there was a TON of information in the packet, and answered all the questions I came there in my mind to ask. Like where do we go to access our student services online, college email, their expectations of students, etc. 

There were a few things that really stood out to me. 

One, is that they have a Career Development Center, where they help you find a job both during and after College, help prepare and tune up resume's, and work with what kind of job you want.  Now yes, I did start a new job.  But I don't know if I'll stay there... very dreary and mindless with some interesting managerial staff.  I'd hope to find something I'd enjoy going to every day and use it for more than just a paycheck and a weird schedule.  

Second, is that they offer tutoring, both student to student, but also Professional tutor to student on Fridays.  Student tutors are PAID by the college! So hopefully after my first semester, and knock on wood and keep your fingers crossed that I keep my grades high, I'd love to become a tutor.  

Third, is that EVERYONE, and I really mean everyone, is devoted to each and every student's success.  The VP of the College talked initially, and said that his door is always open no matter the situation, the Academic Services advisor told us to come in and keep her updated on everything, have a cup of coffee with her, and would be there for us to have help with homework, help with professors, or just to vent.  There is no staff member I have met that has not been genuinely interested in seeing each student succeed.  

Tonight will be spent reading everything else in the orientation packet, like a little transfer student guide, campus events, etc.  I really can't wait for this semester to start, although I could hold off on the first day jitters.  Definitely... 

Well, off to finish up dinner & greet the Husband after a long day for him at work.  

School Start Date: September 3rd.  

AAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! It's almost here!!!!

xoxoxo

Comments, questions, and emails encouraged! I'd love to hear from you!