Tuesday, March 20, 2012

St. Patti's Day Weekend

The people I usually talk to every day live the furthest away from me. 


That's what going away to college does to you. 


College forces you to live really close to people; people that you don't know.


College forces you to share a 3-sink, 3-toilet, 3-shower bathroom with 27 other girls. College forces you sleep in room with someone whose sleep habits do not match your own.


Hope you didn't feel this way about your roommate!
College forces you to become close to people in the shortest amount of time ever. College forces you to make the friends that you've been looking for all your life.


Then college makes you graduate. College splits you up from the four (or five or six) years of people it's been forcing you to be with. At least that's how I feel.


After a long span of time with zero road trips due to my lack of car, I headed up to Caroline County on Friday to spend the weekend with Patti and Ben. 


Patti is one of those people college forced on me! I met her freshman year after knowing nothing about her except what was visible on her Facebook and that she was going to be on of the girls living in my suite sophomore year in Chandler Hall. 


I wonder what each of us would have said if you told us then that we'd spend the next 3 years living near or with each other and being nearly inseparable; that 5 years later we'd still be friends.


Patti and me!
When college introduced me to Patti, I'm not sure that it intended on introducing her family to me but I'm glad it happened. I absolutely adore them!


Anyway, Ben, Patti's boyfriend, was the one who actually invited me up to visit with them since I hadn't seen them since December! It just so happened that the weekend he invited me up for was the weekend that Patti's oldest brother, Eddie was home from Hawaii, where he is stationed in the Army. 


It was a lucky (luck of the Irish, perhaps?) coincidence because a) I hadn't seen Eddie in ages, b) I got meet his girlfriend Jess, and c) there was cause to celebrate, which means PARTY! 


Which means food.
Green Deviled Eggs! Patti's idea!

Pasta Salad!

Which means family.

Patti and her brothers!
 Which means fun.
One of the many lawn games being played.

 On Sunday after regaining our energy and attending Mass, I got to introduce Ben and Patti to the amazingness that is Sweet Frog! They were so excited even our trip to Sweet Frog included me getting rear-ended at a stop sign! No worries, everything and everyone was okay. Frozen yogurt made us feel better! 


Patti! I have no idea what she is doing!

Ben and his Sweet Frog!

My creation!
How did you spend your St. Patrick's Day weekend?



Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Weekend Recap

This weekend was actually kinda busy for once. It was my little sister, Aspen's last weekend home on her Spring Break from Virginia Tech. Also, that whole losing an hour due to Daylight Savings Time made the weekend go by faster, thus seem busier. 


On Friday, we didn't do much. Two of Aspen's friends from high school came over and one of them attends JMU (my alma mater). So I talked to him for a bit to try and live vicariously through him since my freshman year of college seems so very far away. 


On Saturday, I met up with Jeremy in Colonial Heights and I finally got my fantasy football trophy and banner. That's right! Remember that weekend when I was drafting this team. And remember how I said I was going to come out on top. Well I did! 


My Bdub's Banner!

Doesn't she look like she's saying, "Touchdown!"

We had a steak dinner to celebrate Lynn's birthday, which was the 12th. Then after we all went to the mall, she made red velvet cupcakes. We also had pineapple upside down cake! So much for me trying to cut back on the sweets; I cannot fight my sweet tooth.






I also did a lot of shopping this weekend. On Saturday, I got a new sports bra; talk about motivation for running! On Sunday, I went to Target and bought some awesome new socks! Aspen and I also went by Sweet Frog on her way out of town. I have no pictures of that because I can't stop myself from scarfing that down long enough to take a photo!


What did you do last weekend? What are you doing this weekend?

Monday, March 5, 2012

A Typical Dinwiddie Snow Day

I'm not one for watching the news on the weekends. On Sunday, my uncle text me and told me that the meteorologist were calling for 1 to 3 inches of snow for our area and that school would like be delayed on Monday.


I hate Mondays as much as the rest of you, so I was all for a shorter Monday. Also I didn't get into bed until midnight last night, so I was praying for more sleep. 


I woke up at 5:45 a.m. as usual and looked out the window. There was no snow. I proceeded to begin my typical morning routine, eating breakfast and drinking copious amounts of caffeine in the form of Pepsi to get me through my day.


Mom and I sit in front of the tv watching the local school closings and delays scroll across the bottom of the screen.


At about 6:05 a.m., one of the three channels lists Dinwiddie as having a two hour delay. Then another. Then finally Mom gets her phone call from the school board saying we officially have a two hour delay. 


We both head back to sleep for another hour and a half. Well I attempted to sleep; remember all the caffeine I drank? Not a good idea. 


At approximately 8 a.m.,  Mom wakes me up and tells me that school is cancelled. I look out the window; there is still no snow. But I figure it's on its way. So I unset my alarm and fall back to sleep.


I'm not going to tell you what time I actually got out of bed for the day because it was embarrassingly late. I will tell you that there is still no snow. The temperature outside is now above freezing.








There are places north of us who got 3 to 4 inches of snow and still sent their students. 


Dinwiddie, on the other hand, just had a snowless snow day. And hey, I'm not complaining!


Did it snow where you are today? How much? What do you like to do on snow days? (Remind me to tell you the story of my favorite snow day during college one day!)

Sunday, March 4, 2012

My Family's Food Mecca

I'd imagine most families have a certain restaurant they always frequent.


At least, mine does.


Our place is Cracker Barrel






That's where I spent a couple of hours last Sunday celebrating my Uncle Jamie (February 25) and Uncle John's (March 5) birthdays.


My family goes there for every birthday, wedding, funeral, or just because we're hungry. Okay not every. That might just be a slight exaggeration. 


Why Cracker Barrel? I think we're all fans of the home-cooked Southern foods and how much food they give you. I always have enough left over for a second meal. We also take home a ton biscuits when we leave. 


Also, there's probably that space issue. Cracker Barrel always has enough room to accommodate "Kennedy, party of 17." That, my friends, is not an exaggeration.


Where does your family congregate to eat? Do y'all have a specific place y'all always go?