tuesday.

It's one of those weeks...

essays. reading. exams. coffee.

'tis the life of a college student.

  

in other news: ashley is visiting this weekend!

she will arrive thursday around midnight!

..even more reason to try and get all of this

work done & not wait until the weekend.

"everybody loves meeee"

this is a little bit behind, but i finally put together

the video montage from my 20th birthday party!

thank you to all of my stunning friends; for 

making it an amazingly good time.

i love you all; and i'm so thankful

to have each & every one of

you in my life.

imovie for mac.

onerepublic: everybody loves me.

just because.

A Few Little Things That I Have Been

Enjoying Lately:

1-primanti bro's dinners with steph ruben & goop. 2&3-delicious home cooked meals courtesy of kelsey; mmmm ravioli! 4-cute little pug puppies napping in store windows. 5-jimmy john's subs for dinner (soso good). 6-puppy night in the cathedral. 7-george; the biggest dog i have ever seen!...slobbering all over the cathedral floor ;)

Day Glow!

I really ought to start designating a day to blogging; i'm so backed up with cool things to fill you all in on! sooo i thought i would start with the most exciting! This past saturday, DayGlow made it's way to the beautiful city of Pittsburgh. What is DayGlow, you ask? Well, it's pretty much this giiiant concert outside with loud dance music and loads of (non-toxic) paint that shoots out of cannons. It's epic. I think just about half of the Pitt campus was there! My friends and I made our way downtown and across the Smithfield bridge to the venue where DayGlow was to take place. We had a wondrous time! Filled with new friends, colorful paint, blown eardrums, and snazzy sunglasses (at night)!

Oh college, how i love thee sometimes...

Here are just a few snapshots from the night:

Obviously we had an amazing time. And we even got to end the night with some tasty taco bell too! I love my friends; they sure know how to have fun. And for all of you who are wondering, the paint came out incredibly easy! Shocking, right?? And thank you to the bussing system, for letting us get on the nice warm bus back to campus; the perfect night!

  ps. a few of these pictures are from the disposable camera

that i took because i wasn't as brave as lauren was, to bring

my own. i love the way disposable pictures turn out; something

about not knowing what they are until you get them developed;

and something else just about the way they look. 

sometimes i wish disposable cameras still weren't invented yet...

  

yay brothers!!

Thank you JIMMMMM for sending me the most

adorable pillow pet everrrr! 

I seriously have the best big brothers that anyone

could ever ask for.

Love them.

on another note: i'm suffering from extreme writer's block, and just can't seem to get rolling on this essay assignment. hummmmm, any ideas on how to get the creative juices flowing???

  

my voice.

"the way you tell a story over dinner is true to who you are, whether that is deeply analytical or extremely witty. At such moments you aren't self-conscious, and you aren't thinking about your editor. you can't invent a voice. and you can't imitate someone else's."


-Susan Orlean


This is from a passage that I had to read from a book for my Introduction to Nonfiction class. I feel as if I constantly need to remind myself that yes, I am a good writer; that I don't need to imitate other people's styles of writing. If I do, then I'm really not the one saying it, am I? If I do, then I'm not even saying what it is that I really am trying to say. I love these kind of moments: when something just hits you.  It's crazy how much I enjoy all of my classes this semester; I'm finding something incredibly inspiring about them all. I'm interested in what I'm learning, and I'm making connections from one class to another. Today I answered nearly every question in my Communications in Mass Media class...that's pretty unheard of for myself. I love it. It's a lot of work, but I'm getting into a rhythm here in Pittsburgh. I'm working hard and I'm really soaking up everything that I'm learning this semester. 


Working hard, but still enjoying every opportunity that I can with my friends.
It's crazy to think that life after college, isn't like college life at all....


feeling good about everything.


happy tuesday!


  

happyyy birthdayyy to meee :)

Thank you to all of my wonderful friends who helped make my 20th Birthday Weekend a blast!

I feel so blessed to have such amazing people in my life.

And even more blessed that I have three more years here with you all.

Here are just a few pictures from my weekend; enjoy!

 Milkshake Factory on E. Carson St.

Taking a walk after the rain in Oakland.

 Enjoying the (very addicting) Pumpkin Spice

Latte Frapp from Starbucks; get one..now!

 Kimmy and Myself; the Birthday Girls! 

Blowing out our candles on our delicious cake

that Lauren baked for us!! :)

 D and Amy

 Maggie and Goop

 Ruben and Myself...enjoying some bangin' pizza!

 Even Alyssa came to our Birthday Party!! :)

 the girls

 Kelsey!!

 Maggie and I...matching in our jean jackets ;)

 Exploring all the possibilities of the Magic Bullet...

 Lauren and D took me to Lulu's

Noodles for my Birthday dinner!

old roomies reunited :)

 Laur and I

 And Goop treated me to dessert at

The MilkShake Factory!

 Love my friends.

There are 55 flavors at The Milkshake Factory and 

tonsssss of other desserts too. I had a PeanutButter & Jelly & Banana

Shake...it tasted exaccctly like a PB&J sandwich! I think I'm newly

obsessed with this place. I want to take everyone here!!!

here's their cute little website if you're interested

It was a good weekend. I enjoyed tonnssss of delicious food (breakfast at Pamela's included!!) and lots of good times with my friends. I think this was the first weekend where we really were able to get everyone together. And it was so nice being able to celebrate with Kimmy too! 

And to make things even better, I got all of my school work done for the weekend today and even have had some time to relax! Let's hope this week flies by!

untitled:

I miss this guy. He picked up this little bag the last day that I was home in Harrisburg, and according to my mom and dad, it hasn't left his sight! Every time I look at this picture I just start to laugh. What a goof :) But ANYWAY, life here in the Burgh has been pretty busy lately, and I apologize for the serious lack of blogging! I promise that once I get more into the swing of things and get a set schedule down, that I'll be able to post more! (I really feel like I am always saying this..ughh! I'm sorry!) The workload is big this semester, but I know that it's all worth it in the end...and I really do love all my classes this semester! (maybe not psych, but that's a different story). But anyway, tomorrow is my birthday!! And today is my friend, Kimmy's, birthday! We're both turning 20, so our wonderful friends Lauren and Daniela are throwing us a little birthday party tonight with all of our friends. There will be pizza and cake and Happy Birthday singing and lots of laughing and dancing! It'll be a great time...and a nice break from all this homework that I've been doing! I'm going to TRY to take some videos of the night/weekend so that I'll have something to put together for on here...and I'll definitely take lots of pictures too :) But ANYWAY, in the meantime, I guess I should sum up what I've been up to this past week...

My Week; in short

1. Chipotle dinners and Razzy desserts.

2. Lots of rain (thank you Pitt, for that free umbrella!)

3. Study sessions in the library with Goop!

4. Free food and activities on-campus.

5. Job applications and tons of essays...

5. Pick-up games of basketball!

6. Coffee at Dunkin (love).

7. No Pirates game :( boooo!

8. Free Rita's from our wonderful friend, Kelsey!

9. Long walks around the city.

10. Jersey Shore Nights.

11. Double rainbows!

12. Long Lothrop talks with Maggie, Carol, and Alyssa.

13. Skype dates with friends and family!

14. Lots of phone calls from my wonderful brothers :)

15. Tons of lunch dates consisting of hilarious conversations. 

16. homework. homework. homeworkkkkk.

I feel like my week is really summed up in two words: homework & food. Ahwell, I guess I can't REALLY complain...I'm in a wonderful place with wonderful people. My life is good. 

Again, I hope everyone back home is safe and that the water damage isn't too awful...you are all in my thoughts and prayers!

prayers

Blessings to everyone back at home dealing

with all of this awful rain & flooding.

I hope none of the damage is too bad;

you're all in my thoughts & prayers.

xoxo

   

Pitt v. Buffalo

Just a few photos from the first football game of the season!

Well, we won our first game against Buffalo! It was a 6pm game but the heat here has been absolutely brutal, so we didn't leave campus until closer to kick-off. I'd say it was a good decision...we weren't as close to the field as we normally like to be, but we definitely avoided lots of heat exhaustion and sunburn! It's always a good time when you can cheer on your school and feel the unity as everyone wraps their arms around one another, singing "Sweet Caroline"...nothing gets much cooler than seeing and hearing that...

 i love this place.

(now let's just hope this rain doesn't keep up all week long!

although, i'm not complaining about the drop in temperature!)

  

AHHH!! I'm so excited! Too excited!!! Beyond excited actually! One of my very best friends, Rachael, just started her very own blog! :) She's a sophomore at Happy Valley this year as a graphic design major, and well, she's just awesome at everything she does. So check out her page at: Rach's Blog. And follow her!! She's wonderful :) Welcome to the blog world Rach!

week one:

Well, it's been one week since I've said goodbye to the burg and hello to the (other) burgh! And even though it's only been one week, I can tell that it's going to be a lot different from last year. In all the right ways though! First off, there's more walking. With my dorm being a 15 minute walk to all my classes, a 10 minute walk from Lauren's house (we call it Dawson, for future reference), and a 10-15 minute walk to all the closest food places and Steph's dorm, well...my sneakers are going to get a lot of wear this year! (and as we all know, Pittsburgh is NOT flat...these hills are STEEP man!)

 But I don't really mind. Not yet at least....I'm trying notttt to think about the snowy months ahead ;)  But with all this extra walking, and the placement of my dorm building, I've discovered a few new food places on and off campus! So of course I've been chowing down! One thing I love about my friends? That they love to eat as much as I do...

 Chipotle with Steph, Mag, Kelsey, & David

 sushi outside on the Cathedral Lawn

 create your own pasta!

iced mocha from the new coffee place i've 

discovered on campus...this could be dangerous :P

Another thing that's different about this year? The fact that not all of my friends are in dorms...or even near each other for that matter! It makes it a little more difficult to see everyone over the week, but the weekends are when we can really get together. It's cool though, everyone being so spread apart, because we're all just meeting more and more people! AND I get to enjoy a delicious home-cooked meal every once in a while....courtesy of Laur :)

 pork chops. rice-a-roni. applesauce.

:)

What else is different this year? Definitely my school work-load. All of this reading is kicking my butt!!! I'm enrolled in five classes, and even though it's a lot of reading, I really love my professors AND what I'm learning this year! So I WANT to get all the work done!...it's just...so.much. I'm sure I'll go through my stressful moments (like those weeks where four papers are due plus a project) but I know I'll get through it...just gotta work hard! ;)  I'm taking a sign language class, intro to nonfiction writing, communications of mass media, psychology of personality, anddd a slavic class (dealing with vampires) called Blood and Empire.  See what I mean though?...don't they all sound pretty interesting!? And I'm in my own room this year...so no excuses for not studying!! ...right??? (ps. totally have the best view from my window this year; looks over the enntttiiire city of Oakland; love it). 

Another thing that I absolutely love about my second year here at Pitt? The fact that one of my best friends, Steph, is here for the year. It's nice to have a little piece of home here with me...especially someone who knows me so well. Someone who can sit in my room and we don't even talk for two hours cus we're both just doing our own thing. That might sound weird...but you'll know what I mean if you ever have to awkwardly sit in a quiet room with someone who you don't know very well...

So, like I said before, being here, and being so spread out, it's given us the opportunity to meet A LOT of different people...liiiiike:

Steph's roommates! (minus one) 

enjoying some Lulu's Noodles on Craig St.

groups of people! (new and old)

at Amy's 19th birthday celebration;

thrown by her older brother!

Ms. Phyllis! Our security guard who insists on knowing

everyone's name (no joke).

pictured here; at the activities fair (blown up on a

huuuge poster board!)

Spiderman!

(probably the most random)

Football players!

Steph and her friend Kemji; notice her awesome

Ninja Turtle backpack...complete with a hood for

when it rains!...which it does...a lot. ;)

Basketball players!

so.so.tall....

And even female a cappella singers!

at: the Activities Fair, held in The Pete

So yesss...LOTS of new faces this year...even more that I didn't get to snap a picture of! It's pretty cool not being a freshman anymore...you feel like you know what you're doing. And you still have those awesome friends from last year...like THESE guys:

David!

Lauren!

Ruben!

Goop!

with the Lauren's

and many MANY more who, again, weren't pictured this week...no worries, I'll get em ;)

So overall, I'm really really enjoying being back here. There is always sooomething going on. Someone to see. Somewhere to go. Some homework to do. I wish I had a little bit more time for some clubs this semester, but I may have to hold off until nextttt semester. Because this is gonna be a busy one! But that's how I like life..busy. The kind of days where as soon as you hit the sheets at night, you pass out. And you don't wake up until that alarm goes off at 7:00 the next morning...

 Splatter painting in the lounge!

Let's hope this fortune cookie is a sign that I should

stick with this Communications major!!

Until next time, I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend; enjoy 

this beautiful weather while we have it! I know I am! :)

this weekends agenda:

 friday panera plans with lauren.

saturday night football game; go panthers!

sunday homework.

monday afternoon pirates game; go bucs!!

happy labor day in advance!