For Your Enjoyment

Quinnipiac Hockey #4 in the country

http://www.insidecollegehockey.com/5Polls/0910/polls_0810.htm
http://www.quinnipiacbobcats.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=17500&ATCLID=204841799

I am obsessed with Bad Romance by Lady Gaga and apparently covers of Bad Romance like this one



Cakewrecks is one of my fav blogs and 2 of my friends got a cake they found submitted, I was insanely excited for them!

http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/2009/11/whiter-shade-of-pale.html


Complete Turkey Break recap coming soon...

War Damn Iron Bowl

I am currently on the train en route to Penn Station. I am meeting up with my sister and we are going to the NYC Auburn Alumni Iron Bowl watch party at some bar on 3rd Ave. The Iron Bowl for those of you who do not know is the annual Auburn vs. Alabma football game. It is one of the oldest and greatest rivalries in football. The game is at Auburn this year, but I opted to be home (perhaps in 2 years when it is back in *uburn I will come down). Until last year Auburn won 6 straight years against Alabama, however last year we weren't even able to score. This year we have a new coach and we are out for blood. I figured if I couldn't be in Auburn for the game I would do the next best thing. I looked up the NYC Auburn Alumni chapter and founf out they have game watch parties and was invited to attended by the chapter presidents. I'm excited to finally see some Auburn peeps in the north. I hope it's a great game and that we come out victorious!

Baltimore Beatdown

I just needed to blog, while it is all fresh in my mind. This weekend I was in Baltimore visiting Sara and we had a fantastical time. Saturday night KDunks came down from Amish Country for dinner and a night out on the town with us. We all work in higher ed and have all had a crazy semester (mine last few weeks were especially heinous) and we needed to "slow off some steam." We did exactly that mostly thanks to overly prices martinis and dirty shirleys (shirley temples with vodka). More fabulous QU alums joined us out Saturday night - Drew, Jon and Katie. We had tooooooons of fun. At the end of the night we all wanted pizza and were waiting for pizza when we witnessed a crazy multiperson fight. It was the first time many of us saw (in person) people getting punched in the face - one guy even spit blood. Crazy. Sara and KDunks ended up begging Domino's for a pizza and we walked home to our friend Cindy's downtown to crash.

And crash we did. Sunday was quite the sh*tshow including a hilarious brunch. Despite Saturday night kicking our asses it was well worth it. Later Sunday night Sara and I went to see New Moon - it was decent. It was my least favorite of the 4 books, but the movie was enjoyable. I actually found myself rooting for Jacob in the movie which I never did in the books!

Monday Sara worked part of the day and even put me to work, but I'm a sucker for Student Affairs. Monday afternoon we went into the city to get my cartilage pierced. I had always wanted an industrial piercing (a barbell in your upper cartilage) so the past few weeks I was dead set to get it despite how painful I heard it was. I (of course) had a hot tattoo artist/piercer do it and it really didn't hurt. I WAS SHOCKED. The first whole wasn't bad at all,t he second one stung because all the blood that rushes to your ear, but it throbbed for an hour or two, but really it's been virtually painless and I love it. If you don't know what the piercing it just google "industrial piercing" it will come up.

Tuesday Sara and I headed to the northeast (with Freddie of course). We made great time coming up. We also found out that QU men's hockey is playing Saturday afternoon at the Q and a bunch of us are planning to go!

Home was been pleasant so far. Tonight I'm mostly like going out for Thanksgiving Eve to the bars with my friend Rachel (my oldest friend). Friday I'm going into the city to watch the Iron Bowl at an Auburn Alumni bar watch party. Then Connecticut on Saturday before heading back to 'bama on Sunday.

Speaking of Alabama my David Cook played in Mobile, AL last night and Atlanta the night before - it was very bummed I wasn't there for either/both of the shows, but I'm having a great and well deserved break!

Relieved

Last night I slept so soundly and I attribute to the fact that work has been so busy the past few weeks and I was pretty stressed out about it. Clearly you all know October was busy because of my lack of posts and the only real real November got so many posts was because I wrote them on the plane to and from Cali.

Let's quickly review the past few weeks
Sept 28 - Camp War Eagle Counselor Applications are out
Sept 28 - October 23 Camp Publicity and Info Sessions
Oct 3 - 5 Flew to CT/RI for a fab weekend
Oct 12 - SOS Applications are out
Oct 12 - Nov 9 SOS Publicity and Info Sessions
Oct 17 - 22 Caitlyn comes into town/AU Football game/David Cook concert
Oct 27 - 29 Camp Counselor 1st Round Interviews
Oct 30 - Nov 1 Sara comes to visit/AU Football game
Nov 2 - 4 Camp Counselor 2nd Round Interviews
Nov 5 - Camp Counselor Call outs
Nov 6 - 10 California for NODA Conference
Nov 11 - First ever SOS group interview process
Nov 13 - SOS Transfer Orientation Session
Nov 15 - First Improv Show
Nov 16 - 18 SOS Second Round Interviews
Nov 18 - My Dad's 2nd Anniversary
Nov 19 - SOS Callouts

I can BREATHE...finally. It feels good. I honestly feel very accomplished, I have been thinking about that crazy CWE/NODA/SOS time for months and I'm glad it's not only over,but it all successful. I must add it was such a success due in strong part to my fantastic colleagues. I don't think I've ever been part of a stronger team and working them is truly a joy everyday.

In the end we have 34 new Orientation Leaders and 36 new Camp Counselors which is very exciting and I can't wait to get to know them all.

Tomorrow Freddie and I head out to Baltimore to see Sara for the first part of Thanksgiving break before heading to New York on Tuesday for the rest of break. In addition to seeing Sara my friends Drew and Kelly are also gonna be in Baltimore this weekend which I am really excited about. Thinking about this weekend has kept me going through all the stress. I'm gonna need one helluva drink tomorrow!

If I don't blog before next week...Gobble Gooble to you and yours.

Mashup

What do you get when you mix an awesome band (The Swell Season aka the people from Once) with a HIGH-larious actor from my favorite show (Jason Segel from HIMYM)

THIS!

Second Anniversary

Missing you always Daddy, but especially today.
Rest in peace.
April 25, 1949 - November 18, 2007

Bette Midler - Wind Beneath My Wings
Uploaded by jpdc11. - See the latest featured music videos.

I hope to be truly happy again instead every other emotion with some days less terrible than others.

Freddie's Two

Happy 2nd Birthday to my dear pup Freddie...love you mucho
and yes I've continued the tradition of forcing him to wear a party hat and taking pictures of him in it

What The Fox?!

Last night was my first improv show and it was AWESOME.
Not only was the entire cast on point, but I really felt like I had a good show.
I was funny, phunny, witty and not too filthy, but for sure inappropriate.
On top of that we had 89 freakin people come out. WHAT?!?! Crazy.
Much love to Michelle, Codi, Jim, Ella and John for coming out to support me last night.
There is video of the show on the internet, but I will only grant access with a written request.

This was our cool flyer that one of our cast member's made.

California was Legendary

Dear California,

Thank you for showing me a great time. Beautiful weather, awesome people and fun memories. The trip was off to a good start with getting into town nearly an hour early, plus the fact a colleague from Birmingham was on the flight so we shared a cab and got dinner. I have to admit, Disney really intoxicated me with their magic. I couldn’t help, but smile the whole time I was there. I wasn’t even like a “Disney kid,” but I was hooked on Disney. The Disneyland Resort was a great place for the conference, all the meeting places were super close and we were right next to downtown Disney. My room on the 7th floor overlooked downtown it was excellent, I was able to see the fireworks clearly from my room (I often has the balcony doors open and laid in bed watching the show).

I was superbusy at the conference, having a mentor lunch with grad students (that may have been a conference highlight), leading a session for 2nd year grad students on job searching/interviewing, co-coordinating GOT Skills (an undergraduate leadership workshop), going to all kinds of network meetings (I am co-chair of the undergraduate student network), in addition to going to education sessions, presenting an education session on out of state students, going to speakers, meetings, banquets, etc. I love conferences, as exhausting as they are I get invigorated. This year was my 3rd NODA (National Orientation Directors Association) Conference and I really felt at home. I’ve gotten to meet and work with so many people from across the country and I love reconnecting with them face to face at conferences. I really tried to push myself out of my comfort zone in terms of networking with people as opposed to just sticking with friends.

This year’s conference built in time for us to explore Disney and southern California. Sunday night I headed to Disneyland with 5 other folks and spent 5 hours have a blast. Luckily we were all rollercoaster people so we did exactly that. First stop: Space Mountain, then the teacups (there was no line so Ella, Shasta and I went while John, Bart and Jim took pictures of us), Thunder Road Railroad (I think that is what it was called), Pirates of the Caribbean, The Matterhorn, Indiana Jones, Space Mountain (again), and Star Wars Star Tours. We had very brief waits at everything. We also grabbed a quick dinner in addition to watching the fireworks and Fantasmic show (craziness). Needless to say after a full day of conferencing and 5 hours in the park we were BEAT.

Monday afternoon Ella, John and I were headed to the City of Angels. I only took 45 minutes to get from Anaheim to Los Angeles and we got some great views along the way. The whole point of the trip was to go to the set of How I Met Your Mother thanks to my friend George from college who is an assistant writer for HIMYM. It was really exciting pulling into Fox Studios and having my name “be on the list.” As soon as we left the parking garage we were in the midst of studio lots. George gave ridiculously amazing directions and we went to the HIMYM offices. We were trying to keep our cool even though we all are HUGE fans of the show. We get to the reception area and have someone fetch George from a writers meeting. Out of all my friends with cool-ish jobs, George takes the cake. He gives us a brief tour of the office – writers room, cast dressing rooms (I took pic a pic of NPH’s) and then we head down to the set. I really had no idea what to expect. I had been to Jeopardy and Total Request Live, but those aren’t real “shows.” There was stuff EVERYWHERE, the studio seems like Woodshop-sets being built and props galore. George was full of fun facts and I had about 8,000 question and comments. First we saw a set piece being completed for a future episode, but I was sworn to secrecy until the episode airs. Next was Ted’s classroom – George told us they filmed Ted’s “wrong” classroom at UCLA. Then was XXXXXX’s office and XXXXXXXX’S XXXXXXXXX XXXXXXX. Finally was Ted’s kitchen and apartment. I can’t get over how small it was and how LOW the red couch is. I took a pic at the piano and one on the red chairs, but they are on Ella’a camera. There was SO much to take in, in the apartment. I was surprised how faux (is that the right word) things were. Everything was very I don’t even know the right word…like dinky. The walls were so thin and it was all about appearances instead of actual quality – which I expected to degree. Finally we made it to MacLaren’s. I think I was most excited about MacLaren’s. The booth, the table, the bar, the mural, too much. Got some sweet pics including George and me in the back corner booth by the mural. It was so interesting to hear all about how the show is made from George. Monday morning the cast does a read through, then the writers so revisions. Tuesday is blocking/rehearsal. Wednesday-Friday they shoot. I asked George about the hours and he was basically like we’re done when it’s funny enough and how we want it. It was cool to see all the casts’ chairs with the names on it. Seriously the whole thing blew my mind. While I was “interviewing” George haha Ella and John got to talking with Chico a set builder and learned some cool stuff too. We were prob on set for 30-40 minutes and in that time they had put all the chairs in Ted’s classroom. John said he noticed a book with pictures and diagrams of where everything goes. Oh and I also saw a script – I took a picture of it (that I can’t post until after it airs). I believe they had just wrapped on the 10th episode and were getting the set together for the 11th. This blog post doesn’t even so justice to how awesome it was to be on set. George had to get back to the meeting, but he directed us down the New York street (it has a real name that I can’t think of at the moment). We took pics on Ted’s stoop and the entry leading down to MacLaren’s. We also saw another part of the block outfitted to be Washington DC for Bones. I don’t watch Bones, but we saw the Founding Fathers Bar and a few other buildings that were impressive. George was such a gracious host and we are so thankful for the experience.


Me and George


On Ted's stoop


So we are driving around on like a HIMYM high trying to figure out what to do next, we so down Rodeo Drive and then we’re on Sunset Blvd at a light and we see a sweet Bentley next to us…all of a sudden Ella goes “Oh sh*t John Travolta.” Sure enough RIGHT NEXT TO US (I was sitting in the back right of our car and John was in the back left of his). John and Kelly Preston were in the chauffeured car all decked out. I was like OMG John Travolta has a movie coming out Old Dogs. It was too late for us to follow the Bentley since we were in a turn lane, but we decide to go to Hollywood Blvd/Walk of Fame area and sure enough half the street is closed for the Old Dogs red carpet. We park and like go to the red carpet area. We end up being by the doors of the theatre (El Capitan) past the red carpet. We were like 5 people in from the railing and I had a good view of the red carpet. The best part was the celebs were coming RIGHT OVER TO US. Travolta did it first and I was too shocked to get my camera. All in all we saw John Travolta, Kelly Preston, Rita Wilson, Tom Hanks, Robin Williams, Jenna Elfman, Dax Shepard, Seth Green, Kevin Nealon, Forest Whitaker, Lori Loughlin, John Voight – I’m sure there were more. The crazy part is we were practically leaning against the windows of a ice cream shop next door to the El Capitan and all of a sudden the entire cast is in the ice cream shop taking pictures. They closed the doors, but the regular people that were in there got to stay and Tom Hanks went and sat with folks because he was not in the movie, but there to support his wife. So crazy. We ended up driving around the Hollywood Hills in an effort to get a good picture of the Hollywood sign. Sadly it doesn’t get lit up at night and it was so dark for pics, but we were literally at the highest point we could get (legally). The view of the sign was sick and the view of LA was enchanting (smog and all…it made the lights twinkle). We had no idea where to eat, so after some phone calls we ended up back on Sunset at a place called Ketchup which was apparently on the Hills. It was very trendy, but good too. We headed back to Anaheim at like 9:30pm and I was actually up looking through my pics and watching a few clips of HIMYM from season 3 that I have on itunes just to solidify the fact that OMG I was just there and it was legend-wait for it…

They Got More Bounce in California

I’ve gotten quite a bit of flack for falling off the face of the earth in terms of blogging, I would feel guilty if it wasn’t for how freaking BUSY I have been lately. I’ll break the past few weeks into a few posts for you guys so it isn’t as intimidating.

I am typing this in a word document in the air about 45 minutes away from landing in Orange County. It’s 7pm my time (central) and I’ve been up since 6:20am after going to bed at 12:30am after callouts. I actually went to work early this morning and worked the morning to get everything set for both me leaving work-wise and conference-wise. I am headed to DISNEYLAND for NODAC – a national orientation conference. I am gonna be jam packed at this conference. I am leading a round table discussion for graduate students on interviewing/job searching, have lunch with a bunch of graduate students as a “mentor”, co-coordinating a 4 hour undergraduate student workshop, presenting an education session on out of state students and going to a bunch of leadership type meetings on top of just “attending the conference.”

*Day one of the conference has been super busy, but also hella fun so I didn't get to post all this until now, I will type up another word doc on my flight home to post then I get back as well!

Selections Like Whoa

On top of all my visitors and other excitement I’ve been HELLA busy preparing for SOS and Camp selections. The past 2 weeks were Camp Counselor round 1 and round 2 interviews. That means I sat in about 80 5 minute first round interviews and 70 12 minute second round interviews. Wednesday night was our selections meeting that started at 4pm and ended and 2:30am – typical. Last night was one of my favorite times of the year. Call outs for Camp Counselors, it is so exciting. Last year I really loved it because I didn’t know what to expect. It’s crazy because it marks the end of one chapter and the beginning of another.

On Monday our SOS orientation leader applications are due and Wednesday is out FIRST EVER round one group interview. Very exciting, but also nerve wracking. Then we have an SOS session next Friday to be followed up the next week with round two interviews and SOS Call outs on the 19th. Meanwhile I’m en route to California for a conference and am blessed to have wonderful colleagues and student leaders to get have thing ready for Wednesday when I get back for first round interviews. Don’t get me wrong I spent a lot of time prepping as much as I could before I left and talking with my colleagues and students so I am not totally bailing on them. I trust them and I feel confident in the work I did prior to leaving.

Jumbotron Punk

Sara came to visit Halloween weekend. Friday afternoon we just kind of hung around and chilled out after crazy work weeks. I also worked on my Halloween costume “Project Runway” style. I pretty dressed up as an edgier version of myself, but I claimed I was a “punk.” I had a Miami Ink Skull t-shirt that I was to shred up. I ended up giving the back of the shirt a laced corset look and make the sleeves drapier (apparently that is not a word). I also added some strategic safety pins to my shirt as well. Friday night we didn’t dress up instead we went to a blockparty downtown where Delicious’s band “Miss Used” was playing. We also did some window shopping before grabbing dinner at Brick Oven – I had never been and always wanted to. By the time we ate it was pretty much time to go out and we were already parked downtown so we headed out for the evening. Interesting times as always and went to bed around 2:30am.

Saturday was a football game against Ole Miss with an 11:21am kick off…yuck. Unfortunately we were running a bit behind and didn’t make it in the stadium for pre-game, but we did see the fighter jets fly over which was pretty cool. I didn’t have high hopes for this game at all. On like the first drive Ole Miss scores…grrrrrreat. Did finally score a few times in the first half, but the highlights of the half were our SOS jumbotron commercial and Sara and I getting SERIOUS jumbotron time. I was in an orange cowboy hat and managed to make eye contact with the camera guy who got a close shot of us that was up for like 30 seconds…out of control. My cell phone was blowing up with texts after that. Just when I thought the game couldn’t get any more exciting it did. The third quarter was the best quarter of football I may have ever seen. Auburn dominated and scored 3 times right in front of us. There were so many great plays. Going into the half the score was 10-7 Auburn and after the third it was like 38-22. No one ended up scoring in the 4th and we have an awesome Auburn victory. Also the rain managed to hold out, it only really sprinkled during the game, but after the game it rained pretty hard.

Another highlight of the weekend was getting read with Sara for Halloween night…good play list, some adults drinks and lots of make up is always a fantastic time. Sara transformed into Wonder Woman with full regalia and a bump it. I transformed into a “punk” with a bright pink faux hawk, a lip ring, black lip stick, my awesome shirt, fishnets, and the best fake eyelashes I’ve ever worn. Fun times Saturday night talking to so many people. The quote of the weekend goes to a guy hollering at Sara being Wonder Woman and saying “I’ve got a wonder in my pants.” HA-LAIR. We were out til like 5am (maybe 6am with the time change).

We pretty much laid on the couch all day Sunday vegging out. Such fun times. I can’t wait until I head down to Baltimore and see her in two weeks!

Sister.Cook.Weagle.Fox.

Going back to Mid-October in 1 weekend I have two visitors, an AU football game, a David Cook concert and improv practice. Seriously October 16-18 was ridiculous. It was a weekend full of going out and late nights in addition to a lot of driving, not to mention that it was freaking FREEZING that weekend too. Plus freaking Auburn lost to Kentucky which was really disappointing, however out Camp War Eagle Jumbotron commercial aired in the 2nd quarter(after some drama) so that was cool.

The best part of the weekend was David Cook. My sister last minute decided to fly down for the game and concert. Like every Dave concert I have been to I’ve had to drive HOURS. He was playing like 2.5 hours away at the Georgia State Fair. I wanted to get there early to try and meet him pre-show…turns out we rolled up to the fair a few minutes before their busses arrived. Clearly we went to the pavilion and stood by the stupid “walls” (fences) around the busses. We were able to see through the joints of the fence and there he was….like less than 5 feet from me. Clearly he was behind a solid 8 foot fence and I couldn’t meet him, but that didn’t stop me from yelling funny comments at him and the rest of the band. I (along with all the other fangirls) were able to take pics through the joints of the wall which look a little stalker-esque, but I don’t care. After a good bit of staring, yelling and picture taking Cait and I explored the fair.

Oh my fairs are….umm…interesting. All different types of people and deep fried things. I had my first official corn dog and deep fried oreos – personally I didn’t think they were worth writing home about or anything, but when in Rome right?

The concert itself was at 4pm…when Dave greeted the group he was like after 130+ shows this is the first time I’d said “good afternoon.” This was their last show before a 2.5 week break and I must say they had a pretty stellar playlist including my jam “Souvenir” as well as “Kiss on the Neck” – with a little “Hotel California” mixed in. I have to say his banter was the highlight of the show. After the show we waiting around by the fences, but they all had flights to catch so of they went as did we.

After like 4-5 hours of sleep by Friday and Saturday in addition to driving round trip to the airport and the fair I went to improv practice. I showed up a little late due to traffic/getting lost. Improv is good times. We have a pretty solid group and our first show is Sunday, November 15. I had an “off” few weeks, but I’ve felt more “on” as of lately…we shall see. Oh and our group’s name is What the Fox?!

Caitlyn ended up staying through Thursday of that week so we just hung around a bunch, which was nice and laughed a lot which was even nicer.