Raise Your Cup of Kindness

Yesterday I met Steve's extended family on his mom's side.. well, some of them. He has a huge family!

They are all fabulous. Super nice, and so welcoming. From the moment we arrived to the party, they all were talking to me and trying to make me feel comfortable. We were outside the majority of the day relaxing and talking, and then Steve's Uncle Kevin made this amazing steak.. The food was incredible. Steak, garlic bread, mac and cheese, pasta salad, loaded potatoes. Oh my Lord it's a wonder I didn't come out of it weighing a thousand pounds!
After we ate, Steve's mom handed out the cake pops I made. Needless to say, they were a hit. A little structurally unsound, this batch; my mom and I had to add oil to the chocolate coating to thin it out because initially it heated too quickly. But, in any case, most of them made it there and into peoples' mouths alright. As always, they were a hit!
After that and a little time passed by, we left the house we were at and returned to Steve's mom's house. His Uncle Kevin and Aunt Karen had brought their three-legged golden retriever, Tracy. I fell in love. I was cuddling with her on the floor practically the whole time we were there! It was just so much fun. I love his family to death; it sucks that they live so far away!

The kids at the academy are gearing up for their show. They're a little behind where they should be, but I know they'll put everything together. That's what always happens. Hell week is quickly approaching! Steve is going to be coming to help out with opening night; I can't wait to see how he reacts to all the craziness. ;)

Over two months?!

It is absolutely ridiculous that is has been over two months since I last updated this blog. So much has happened since then! Since writing all of it will likely prove to be somewhat trying for my patience, I will try my best to be thorough without going into too much detail, as that likely would be a horrendously long post.

When I last left you all, I hadn't even met Steve's sister Shannon! Well, I got to meet her, and she is fabulous and adorable. Overall, I'd say that Steve has a pretty awesome family. Next weekend I'll be meeting some of the extended, so that's exciting. AND someone is bringing their three legged golden retriever!! AHHHH GIMME DA PUP :)

Easter wasn't anything spectacular this year; I'm not as in tune with my faith as I've been in the past, so I wasn't too into the religion of it. I've become very frustrated with the Catholic church and some narrow minded people, so the last thing on my mind is getting sucked back into it. I would rather be distant from the church and figure out some way to maintain a relationship with God than go along with a religion that I cannot associate with.

The weekend after Easter we had PIE/Emmaus. I managed to wrangle up two candidates this time around; Bradley's (the little boy I babysat last summer) mother, Claudine, and Steve! Everyone loved Steve, and I cannot even express how awesome it was to have him there to share in my Emmaus family. I know he loved the people; he said they were such a welcoming, fun, and loving group. To this day, however, I'm not sure how he felt about the religion aspect of it; I know it's not really his thing. Apparently as of late, it's not mine either.

That next weekend was Steve's 24th birthday! We went out to dinner on his actual birthday. Along with his presents, I made him a card with everything that he loves on it!

It took forever, but I think it came out pretty good!

The next day we took a day trip over to the Quincy Market area in Boston and went to the Boston Aquarium.

My handsome man in front of one of the many fishtanks. 

I was trying to communicate with the fish... I figured if I looked like them maybe they would come over. Sometimes it actually worked! ;)

At the top of the big tank in the middle of the aquarium. 

Nomnomnom :)

Yay! Love this picture... One of the lovely ladies who worked at the front desk took this for us. 

The aquarium was so much fun. After that we headed back to Quincy for shopping and such, and went over to the lit up area right by the shore. We even saw someone get proposed to and engaged! (Thank God she said yes!)

It was SO pretty!

And very romantic.... ;)

I adore this picture :3

It was all around an awesome day. So many great memories made, and we got to spend some nice quality time together. The next day we went over to Steve's mom's house, and she made us dinner and a cake for Steve's birthday. We tried to get the singing candle to work, but it wouldn't until after we were done singing. Oh well, the cake was super yummy, so who cares. :P

"Happy Birthday Stevie Joe!"

Of course, the next weekend, we threw Steve a birthday party. We had it at his friend JD's apartment, dubbing the event fe-STEVE-al 2012. (See what we did there?) It was a lot of fun... from what I remember. When you drink a bottle and a half of wine, you tend to not remember the majority of your evening. But we definitely got some winning shots from that night...Please, oh please, enjoy. 

Steve's Birthday banner that everyone signed ;)

Kisses! :)

Steve's Birthday cake that I made for him. Turn 24 LIKE A SIR!

Epic game of Cards Against Humanity. Seriously, it's an awesome game...look that shit up!

Did I mention that the cake was rainbow with a cookies n'cream filling? So tasty! ;)

Everyone pitched in and got Steve tickets to go see Rammstein* (*this is probably not spelled correctly...). Needless to say, he was SUPER excited. So cute ;)

I just love this picture. I was so drunk, and decided to hit Steve with his Birthday Diva scepter. Just...love it. 

The next morning. I was VERY hungover. I may or may not have vomited shortly before this picture was taken. 

It was an AWESOME party. It would have been a great weekend overall, except on the way back Steve's car broke down and we spent the entire day Saturday in a car garage waiting to get it fixed so we could go home. Good news it she's fixed now! Steve wants to get a new car now more than ever, though. He hates that thing. 

Okay. Here comes the big stuff. I GRADUATED COLLEGE. Say what?! I honestly never imagined that day coming, but it did! May 5, 2012, I graduated Keene State College with a BA in English with a Writing concentration. The weather ended up being completely gorgeous, and it was just an allover perfect way to end my time at Keene. That and driving my friend Megan's pick-up truck... that was on my life list! Here are some pictures from the event. 

Steve and I before the ceremony. I was laughing because Megan pointed out that Steve's energy drink was ruining the previous picture, which he hid behind his back right before she took this one! ;)

Shaking the hand of President Giles Gee as I received my cute little fake diploma!

The graduates! Well, some of them. You can't see all of them from this angle. 

After graduating! Those are the gorgeous roses Steve got for me :3

Me and my roommate of two years Susan. 

Now, there were nice pictures taken of me and Megan. But this one is so much more fun. ;)

Me and the family. We're only missing Craig, Bridget's boyfriend. 

See now comes the time in the post when I'm supposed to talk about my plans for the future and all of the beautiful things I'm going to be doing now that I'm out of Keene. Well, see, I haven't exactly gotten that far. But I will tell you, if one more person asks me what I'm going to do, I swear to Christopher it's going to get ugly. 

For now, I'm looking for a job. I'm hoping to get something full time during the week so that I can save up and move to Boston sometime early next year. I'm helping the kids at the Academy finish up their play, so I'm at the elementary school volunteering every afternoon during the week, which is super fun. They're doing Happy Days the Musical... strange, but good music. 

In the next couple weeks I have a lot to look forward to! I might be getting a temporary babysitting job that could potentially start this week, I'll be meeting some of Steve's extended family next weekend, my friends Catie and Jay are getting married June 1st, my graduation party is June 2nd, and my 22nd birthday is June 4th! I will do my darndest to try and update this more, especially now that I'm home with not much else to do. 

This didn't exactly go the 'short' route, but it was decently thorough as promised at least! :3

One for the books...

This weekend I experienced one of the most terrifying things I've ever witnessed.

Steve and I went to a metal concert. I'll admit, I went into it very nervous. I had imagined people thrashing around moshing on the floor and getting trampled or injured in some regard. Steve told me that it wouldn't happen, that the most that would occur would be that I might get shoved a little bit and it would be crowded.

The opening band played and everything was still okay. I was pressed up against strangers, but was holding onto Steve all the while. Then the main band, Mindless Self Indulgence, came on. The crowd went crazy. We were in the middle close to the front of the stage, so there was no where really to move. The people started thrashing around so violently that it would near impossible to stand; people next to us fell over. It was at that point that we left the floor to go stand somewhere else. We got out and I was really shook up, but we went to the one of the first levels near the floor. (The theater was gutted and there are levels for people to stand; no chairs). A girl standing next to me slammed down on my foot, who was obviously wearing stilettos. I just started crying. I was already on the verge from the experience in the crowd, but that pushed me over the edge. Steve took me out to calm me down, and then we found another spot to stand. His friends had trouble in the crowd too, and all of them said that it was the most out of control thing they'd ever seen at a metal concert aside from the actual moshing pit. Steve was on edge, too. Some drunk guy was trying to mosh in the section we were in where everyone was just standing and watching, and I really thought Steve was going to try to fight him; I had to pull him back off the guy. I was so happy when we got out of there.

I got to meet Steve's mom this weekend, too! She was really nice. I got to see his house and hometown... I hope to go back sometime and see what it's like during the day.

Next weekend I get to meet Steve's sister. Then I'll have met the whole family! :D

Nearly a month?!

I am absolutely appalled at myself that I have not updated in nearly a month. There is really no reason for that. I want to become more regular in updating on here. The problem is that since this is a public forum, I find myself slightly filtering myself in order to protect a few things in myself from being entirely too public.

However, I can fill you in on the goings on lately!

The whole decision I made to give up on pastry school for now? Yeah. Not realistic in any sense. There was no way I can sit in some office for the rest of my life. I love to bake so much... making that into a career is all I can see myself doing. I will get there somehow, I'm just not sure in what capacity yet.

My first Valentine's Day with a Valentine was absolutely amazing. I went to Steve's apartment and we exchanged gifts Friday night; mainly because I was way too horribly impatient to wait until our celebration the next night. So I gave him his gift that I had been working on for the two weeks prior. I made him a cake pop bouquet and filled the jar I put them in with construction paper hearts which each had something I love about him written on it. I made him a cute little card too; it was extra sappy, of course.
He got me an orchid plant and an absolutely gorgeous necklace!

The flowers are so beautiful!

He found it all on his own! I love it so much :)

He made this adorable card too ;)

Saturday night he made me dinner and we had a couple drinks and watched The Notebook.. such a romantic movie, and my all-time favorite. It was an absolutely fabulous weekend.. and I couldn't have been happier than to have spent it with my love. 

We were also celebrating our six month anniversary! I can't believe over six months have gone by already. It's been the best six months of my life, and I've literally never been happier. Steve is more than I could have ever hoped for in a man, and I am the luckiest girl in the world to be able to call him mine. 

In other news, I am officially now on a diet. I am tracking calories using an online food journal, one that has worked well for me in the past. I want to lose about 15 or so lbs. I'd like to tone up, too. By the time I turn 22 in June, hopefully. Yet again, I will use my birthday as a goal date. It worked last year! Let's do this!

Things Change

I suppose my mind has been in what can only be described as a tizzy.

I've been really starting to question whether pastry school is the right thing right now, but I have come to a difficult conclusion. I have given it a ton of thought, and I have decided to hold off on the pastry school thing for now. I absolutely love to write, but had written off having any sort of career with my English degree since I didn't think I would be able to do anything with it. I guess it turns out that English majors have one of the most versatile degrees!

So as of right now, I'm going to try doing something with it. Maybe a writing job, maybe something in publishing. Whatever I do, I can do it in the Boston area, so I won't be deterred from my strong desire to move and live there. And it's not like I have to stop baking. I can do it as a hobby, or do some small jobs on the side.

And I figure, Cordon Bleu isn't going anywhere. If I try out the writing thing and completely hate it, then I'll go to pastry school. There is absolutely no rush here, even though I have found myself putting ridiculously unrealistic expectations on myself.

I am getting a degree in English with a Writing Concentration in May 2012. I have worked so hard and long to get there, why not at least give it a shot? I love to write... wouldn't it be awesome if I could do something with that?

I started applying to some freelance writing jobs, to maybe get published and bring in a little extra cash. Hopefully someone will respond to one and I'll be able to add to my resume!

I can do this. I can do this. I CAN DO THIS.

The Beginning of the End

Today, January 17, 2012, I begin classes in my last semester of college. Where did the time go? People always tell you that college will fly by...

In a sense, I would say that it's completely true. It feels like the time has completely escaped. In another sense, it feels like high school was yesterday.

But I guess there's really nothing to do about it now, right? The best I can do is be thankful that I got to experience it all. It was definitely not what expected college to be. I am not the person I had expected myself to be. Things turned a completely different direction. But you know what? I am so glad it did... I am so happy I can't even stand it.

In the next couple weeks I'm going to be going to an open house at Cordon Bleu in MA, a certificate culinary and pastry arts school. Things are getting real, and it's scary as hell, but awesome.

Valentine's Day is coming up... this will be my first ever year with a Valentine. I have always loved the holiday, despite the obvious loneliness that accompanied it especially as I got older. I don't know what it is about it, but Valentine's Day has always had a special place in my heart. When I was little, I think a lot of it was the sudden rush of candy into my possession. As I reached my teens, I became aware of how it served a time for people to slow down and show their significant other that they truly care for and love them. I yearned for that so deeply...

Now, it's finally my turn. Now, I won't get to spend the actual holiday with Steve since it's a weekday and being as we're in a long distance relationship the circumstances just don't allow, however the weekend before we will celebrate. Honestly, I don't care what we do. We don't have any plans yet (that I know of, that is), but all I care about is that I get to spend as much time as possible staring into his eyes. Those bright beautiful blue eyes...As much time as I can laying in his arms... running my fingers through his hair... listening to him laugh... watching his dimples when he smiles... feeling his heart beat.... watching him breathe...I just want him. That's all. All I ever wanted was to be in love with someone as I am with this boy. I cannot even express how much I love him, and how much I am completely and wholly grateful that at the end of the day, I get to call him mine. <3

First Post of 2012!

So far 2012 has been a great year, and 2011 couldn't have ended better.

For New Year's I went to Boston and spent the holiday with Steve and crew. New Year's Eve we went to Boston's First Night and walked around looking at the ice sculptures with Mike and his girlfriend Sam. It was a lot of walking, and eventually we decided we just wanted to go home and drink.

Steve's roommates Kyle and Larae had been home all night with their friends Alex and Sam brewing beer and watching TV, so when we got home around 11:30, we turned on the ball dropping special with Dick Clark.
Midnight hit, and there was New Year's kissing all around. I had never had a New Year's kiss before.. it was awesome! Not only because it was something I had never experienced, but it was with the amazing man that I love.
Eventually everyone went home and we retired to Steve's room for the evening. Overall it was a fantastic weekend.

Steve came down to CT for this past weekend.. he got here Friday night and we spent the evening watching Friends and relaxing.
Saturday we started by going to see Bradley (the little boy I babysat all summer) and his parents. I hadn't seen them since August! I had truly prepared myself for Bradley not to remember me, but he totally did, which was super exciting! By the end of our visit he was cuddled up in my lap. I love that little boy.
From there we went to Staples so Steve could see if they had something he needed for his broken computer chair and so he could meet Cisco. After chatting with him for a bit we headed off to the Trumbull Mall so Steve could try on some sunglasses so he could decide which ones he is going to get since he is ordering them online.
We went home, had dinner with my parents, and then went to my aunt's house for dessert and a movie. We watched Secretariat.. awesome movie. My Aunt Claudia and I made this Reese's peanut butter cup ice cream sauce.. it was SO good. There's still some left.... I can't wait to eat it again tomorrow, not gonna lie.
Sunday we just bummed it up. Watched Friends, ate food. Not much else, but it was nice and relaxing.

I just need to take a second to talk about Steve. Starting this new year with him and getting to know him for the past five months I cannot believe sometimes how lucky I am to have him. He is so good to me, and he is everything I have ever wanted in a man. I love him so much that I can't even describe it. As my friend Julie would say, ::heavy sigh::. :)