Elementary my dear!

Buying books. It's a pain in the butt but it must be done. Thank Merlin.....

Thank Merlin? What do I think this is? Camelot?!?

Well, either way the deed is halfway done. Just waiting on one other class and then I'll have completed my twice yearly "give-Rider-more-of-my-money-because-you-know-they-don't-already-have-enough-of-it-as-it-is." Psshhhh. Seriously, $44 dollars for a book I can't sell back? I think not my friends.

Oooh, my currently obsession: Robert Downey Jr. in Sherlock Holmes.

Walking into a room to find this man strapped to a bed naked?? Ummm, YES PLEASE.

Other than the fact that is super sexy, I don't really know too much about RDJr. as an actor previous to this (legit, I didn't even know that Ironman was made into a movie. Does that make me a bad person?) I think he did drugs or a DUI or something of the sort but nevertheless, he was absolutely brilliant in this role. I really liked his onscreen relationship with Jude Law AKA Dr. Watson. Sherlock Holmes mysteries are on my never ending list of "THINGS TO READ!" but I sincerely appreciate that when I do in fact read them I'll have this smashing man as the image in my head. =D

And not for nothing, Jude Law honestly looks much better with a mustache!
Two thumbs up from the chick in Garfield!


What kind of post IS this exactly? Time waster. That's what.

Wrap up the year with some ole' fashioned pictures!

My post to celebrate the year that was 2009! Good things and some not-so-good things but lest we dwell on the bad and indulge the good with some awesome pictures! =D


2009, in a nutshell!


Tradition! My foot is the one with the open toe which is not the smartest choice when there is snow on the ground.... the show we went to see was, er, interesting but trips to Princeton and then random-ness in Burger King can't be beat!
Celebrated my 20th birthday with Rider shenanigans, cookie cake and lots of dancing!
Take us seriouslyyyyyy!

Road tripped to Pennsylvania to see my favorite gay and his popcorn machine. Hahaha.

2009 was definitely the year of Dr. Goldie. Some of the best moments of the year included: "How would you say it to your *whispers* gynocologist?", CAKE and the Cloisters! Just a few of the many things that makes me so so so so glad to be an English major.

I decided to give into my obsession and be Benjamin Franklin for Halloween! And I looked badass.

Thanks to Professor Naar, I discovered that I really do love art. Went to MoMA and saw AMAZING paintings with my own eyes!

It was my year as a member of PHOCUS! The Peer Institute, countless rehearsals and the performances were amazing experiences. Nothing but love.

Saw A LOT of these two ladies the entire year, including my first ska show (Streetlight Manifesto =AWESOME) A trip to Rutgers is always a fabulous experience!

During the summer the entire Rider crew traveled to Amelia's house in Toms River for a little reunion =D

Celebrated my roomie's 21st birthday! And look, we actually touched!

A poem for your thoughts? Good grief.

Hellooooooo everyone! My internet has gone all wonky so I'm not going to post anything too detailed right now. However, I feel the absolute need to post this poem that I wrote about HIM. Don't ask me why, it just feels right. Hahahaha, granted it's lame but it works.

Oh and P.S. @ Jess. Your comment was, without a doubt, one of the NICEST comments I have ever received in my life. Thank you, SO SO SO MUCH for the kind words and I definitely hope to be having little commenting battles back and forth via blogs =D

And now.... the lame-o poem. Enjoy!

There’s nothing you have that I want anymore

Equal perspectives?

Not at all.

I saw love.

You saw friendship.

Only an apple and some lettuce.

10 pages due the next day

Your meticulous blinking and hazel eyes convinced me to help

Not that I needed much convincing

How did I write that?

I never even read the “The Hours”

Always good to have an English major as a friend

7 cups of coffee each and an all-nighter

It got done.

Basking in accomplishment

I didn’t feel used

I felt loved

You hugged me when it was finished

Mrs. Dalloway and Virginia Woolf as the only witnesses

Trapped in a repetitious paperbound cage

Yelling to me

Muffled screaming

It’s all a bunch of lies

He USED you.

It’s OK girls

I know he did

A+

One of the best papers I’ve ever written

Drunk and crying on the bathroom floor

No really, it’s OK for men to cry.

Let it out.

Yes, of course you’re talented.

No, you’re not allowed to drive home.

Yes, we can go to a diner.

I’ll drive.

Pancakes at 5AM

Genuine and impervious

Drunken banter

Mouthful of pancake

You slur

You know I love you, right?

I should’ve spit my coffee in his face

Back home at 6 AM

Bad habits don’t die very easily

Bye bye pancakes.

Typical summer night

Smoking a cigarette and staring at the stars

Waiting for your call like a complete sap

I’m the sap

Admitted.

1 AM you finally call, drunk again

Typical.

A threesome you say?

Not what I wanted to hear

You trust me though

Enough to talk about something like that

Sex details for a good friend

More than willing to kiss and tell

Telling me is nothing out of the ordinary

Oh right

I forgot

We’re just good friends

The fights

Instilled in my heart, permanent to the very last word

I still fixate on them

You ignore every feeble attempt I made to speak

Tagged teamed me

Some sort of intervention

No, I didn’t toss you to the side like a piece of garbage

You’re too important to me

You KNOW I love you.

Ignorance.

Things could be a lot worse

It’s not that bad

I’m not going to die

There is no heroic feat to be done.

Egotistical bastard.

My world does not need saving.

Put your god damn cape away.

What happened to the person I fell in love with?

Gone.

Kind of like the pancakes.

We need a break?

But...

...

A break from what?

No, I don’t need help.

You blink

What did you eat today?

Go fuck yourself.

That’s it.

5 months later.

Concentrated on myself

Therapy, lots of it

Freshman year debachery is all I have left of you

But...

...

My priorities are straightened

My problems are fixed.

No more robotic responses.

You wouldn’t believe me even if we still talked.

For real.

Yes please, I’d love a sandwich.

Turkey Trot recap! I DID IT!!!

Saturday, November 21, I successfully ran my very first 5K and feel the absolute need to recount exactly what happened in all it's glory.

Part of me is still buzzing with happiness from it and another part of me still can't believe it finally happened. After all this time, all the training and all the injuries, I ran and I effin' CONQUERED. I started officially training in June, got injured, stared re-training in September and here I am! 9:30 was the time to register and after I let Mandy take a picture of me, "You're first 5K! Awwwww!" she said to me in a mock-motherly voice.

When I arrived to register I was instantly brought to complete and utter nervousness, the only people that were there were part of the Rider Running Club. When my running obsession had first started, I contemplated joining up with them. However, one day on campus I saw them all running and they are FAST. To save myself the possible embarrassment I decided not to get ahead of myself. Although I knew that finishing was the main goal, my fears about my injuries suddenly kicking in began to get to me. These kids were FAST, we're talking less than 8 minute mile fast and maybe even less.

I was being a weenie and didn't to finish last but just kept reminding myself that just finishing at all is a big enough accomplishment in itself. 10 minutes before we started, Sam, Jen and Mandy were there and just kept telling me that this was what I had been working for. The reiterated what I had been telling myself, finishing was all that mattered. It was true, even if my leg gave out and I fell to the damn ground, I would've crawled through the finish line if I had to. I was determined beyond belief. Don't worry though, I didn't have to do that.

16 of us were running (my number being 12) and after a small introduction we were off. The course was easy to follow; we stayed within the campus the entire time so I always knew where I was. Once we started nearly everyone took off ahead of me but there were a couple people who seemed to be at the same pace as I was. My special playlist "TURKEY TROT!" blared in my ears the entire time, specially made the night before for maximum awesomeness. The miles honestly flew by, I kid you not!

Before I knew it, I was approaching the end. Maybe it was a combination of all the training I've been doing and the adrenline of the moment but my leg didn't hurt ONCE and I never really had the urge to slow down. I just kept concentrating on how my body was feeling and the music that was pushing me to continue going.

I had set up my playlist accordingly so that a song from the FAME soundtrack called "Hold Your Dreams" would be playing as I approached the end of the race. Once it came on, I lost all control of my speed and ran like I had never run in my life. Any pain, sweat or tiredness vanished completely; I'm pretty sure that may or may not have been my first runner's high ever. Sam had been sitting on the steps near the library, being my own little cheering sections. She jumped up and started yelling as I reached the finally stretch.

It was one of those times that I honestly think that fate was definitely on my side. I was running the final stretch while the most powerful part of the song was streaming into my ears. Beautiful instrumentals and the following lyrics,

"Hold your dream, don't ever let it go, be yourself and let the world take notice. You'll find strength when people bring you down, they will see, if you would only, only believe"

I hate to sound super cliche about it but it was one of those moments that you would get out a movie.

And then I crossed the finish line. I felt the tears form in my eyes and although I did want to cry, I actually didn't. I've never been more proud of myself than at that moment. I had finally beat the odds, beat ED, beat everything and everyone who thought I couldn't save myself. And I proved them all wrong. I was living proof that recovery IS possible. It was just an amazing moment.

I grabbed some of the free swag (Gatorade, granola bars, tiny waters and energy supplements) and then found out my time.

27:08.

Holy shit.

27:08.

I couldn't believe it. Back in June I was lucky enough to be running 11 minute miles and now? Now I could pump out 9:30 minute miles like they were NOTHING. It was unbelievable.

What has happened since then? I'm still running 5 days a week, slowly pushing myself a little bit more each day. Working my way back to 5 milers and am actually running ANOTHER 5K towards in December. Another thing to look forward to! And who knows, maybe sometime in the future I'll be training for a real marathon. How's that for an accomplishment? =D

Topic, topic, topic, running!

Blogging in the fine arts computer lab. You know, the usual. I've got fifteen minutes until my Publication Design class. I'm just going to touch on a few events but am not going to promise that I extrapolate on them on a later day. Lest we forget, I'm a crap bloggie blogger sometimes.

Topic #1: Halloween! A whole group of us planned on taking NYC by storm (bad joke....) for the second year in a row. There was more of us and because last year was such a success it was only natural that the trip be repeated. However, when Mother Nature wants to rain, she's going to rain. It was a DOWN POUR and it didn't help that we couldn't find where the parade started AND the massive amounts of weenie people freaking out about the rain didn't help. Did that stop the fun though? Hell no. I'm fairly notorious for not letting something like rain ruin my day so I was OK with what had happened. The rest of the night resulted in all of us roaming the streets of NYC (more than 50 blocks). We saw a plethora of bonkers Halloweeny people who were still in chipper spirits and remained as optimist as possible. Granted, it was no village parade, but it was still a good time and there's always next year.

Did I mention that I was sexy Benjamin Franklin and we had Krispy Kreme doughnuts? Oh yeah =P

Topic #2: Peppermint Mocha Latte. OK, so it's not much of a topic. I had it earlier today and well, I don't recommend it. It was just WAY too strong. I don't know if they're all made like that but even though I like the flavor of peppermint this was just too much. Sigh, if they would just have the Pumpkin Spice Latte for ALL of winter this wouldn't be an issue!

Topic #3: Poems. I don't like writing them and had to sit through a class of them today. It wasn't pleasant. I did have to read mine out loud and the professor said, "That was very good." Compliments are always welcome but coming from an art professor? Errrr.......

Topic #4: Running! I was a little stressed about running but everything seems to have fallen back into place. I'm less than 3 weeks away from my 5K and am prouder than ever to announce that I am back to running 4 milers again. My leg? It's been a little iffy but after the first half mile it gets warmed up again and everything has been going quite smoothly. Not going to jinx myself though! I need to be careful either way. This is a topic I PROMISE I will be updating on. =D

Ahh, it's 3:16! I've got to head to class.

Until I blog again my bloggie loves!

Honey Sunshine, rainbows and... Domo? What the hell kind of post is this anyway?

A good one, that's what kind!

OFFICIAL POST! PREPARE YOURSELF BUMPKINS!

Whoa, overly dramatic much? Nevertheless, I'm here to give a proper update as to my life that is Rider University. There's a lot to mention so I'm going to attempt to keep it as entertaining as much as I can!

A rainbow? What a perfect way to begin! You can imagine my excitement when looking out the window and spotting this beautiful creation of Mother Nature just chillin'. You know, being pretttyyyyy. I took thousands of pictures (by that I mean 8) and it brightened my day to no end!

Let's move to the food situation, my favorite part! On the picture front I'm kind of lacking but I'll do my best to suffice with my eloquent words... or so I say =P

So let me describe Dalys Dining Hall, it's... interesting, I guess you could say. The selection of food is quite vast and it's especially exciting if you're a freshman. However, two months in and there's a chance you'll start getting sick of it. There are certain things that are always at Dalys, no matter what day is. This includes pizza, french fries, grilled chicken, cold cut bar, soups, ice cream, the wok station, bagels, the salad bar, the antipasto bar and the elusive WALL O' CEREAL. This is Dalys in a nutshell.

Personally, I have no problem with the place most of the time. There's always fresh spinach, a good amount of veggies (including whole sweet potatoes!) and a bunch of other things that keep this nutrition savvy girl content. However, it's still a challenge to eat there sometimes, not going to lie, but I've been handling it very well if I do say so myself! I need to start branching out and exploring the possibilities of creating new/fun/healthydeliciousawesome things! Dalys has a lot to offer and I just need to be creative! You know, spinach salads with the fixins is always amazing but I know there's MORE out there!

And as for food reviews, er, I kind of suck but I will say that I received my sample of Kashi Honey Sunshine and fell in love with them!

They sort of reminded me of Cap'n Crunch but with only a hint of sweetness, not at all overpowering and it didn't leave a weird taste in my mouth afterward (sorry Cap'n!!). Along with that, they're also packed with 6g of fiber (WOOT), all natural and only 100 calories per serving. The price is steep, as are all Kashi products, but next time they're on sale I'm definitely buying a box! Thumbs up!

Onto the next, running! So... I'm happy to report that yours truly will be running her first REAL 5K in the beginning of November!!!! I cannot even begin to talk about how excited I am and how much my love for running has grown; it's unbelievable. I started retraining when I first got back to Rider (not knowing about the 5K yet) and started out slow, despite my annoyance with having to build up my endurance all over again. However, it was the best thing I could've done. By limiting myself to 2-2.5 miles for the first few weeks I was able to reintroduce the high impact back to my legs. Now, I'm FINALLY back to 3-3.5 miles with no pain... I couldn't be happier. Even my speed is getting better, which I wasn't expecting. Today I ran a practice 5K in 30:32 with a pace of 9:47!!!!!! Now I know that compared to the other women of the blogworld that's still pretty novice but I've never been in training long enough to get under a 10 minute mile... and I finally did it; I got down to the single digits. I feel so accomplished and so proud of myself and just, so elated. This is only the beginning, it's only up from here!!!

Other random happenings include:

• I ventured to Rutgers to see my girls Liz and Danielle, which was amazing. We saw Streetlight Manifesto, a ska band, and well, there was dancing, people pushing everywhere and it was just a giant sweaty good time! I also had my first bubble tea which was delicious to the 1000th power. Liz ordered it for me (since I had never had it) and she later told me it was sweet yam flavored.
  
  

Is that not the best thing ever?!?!? See the rainbow sitting in the background? Yup, clearly it was meant to be. I want another one. Right now. Hahahaha. Oh dear, I love my G-field crew, so, so much!

• I saw FAME and it was spectacular. We all danced in the aisles... and in Starbucks. ;)
• My classes have been going really well and I'm enjoying every single one of them!
• PHOCUS is also going really well. We just finished up alcohol responsibility week and although I was sick I contributed the best I could.
• Yes, I got sick, AGAIN and it sucked just as much as it did the first time. My throat is still bothering me a little bit but otherwise I'm fine. I'm sick of being sick!
  

Eeeeee, could this be the end already? I think I've covered everything important and as much as I would love to sit here and keep on blogging I must do that thing called homework. Jane Austen is calling my name.... I must attend to her wishes!

Enjoy the rest of the day everyone! =)

Damn it Domo, get out of my pictures!

"I'm dying my hair nylon yellow"....Silly, silly boy.

It's been a long time since I've blogged, guilty as charged, but alas, I have to put it off again on the count of homework that must be catered to. Art paper, front page paper design and I have to finish and tidy up my story for it's debut in the workshop tomorrow! Eek! Everyone seems to be very kind and professional about the constructive criticism so I'm not THAT nervous about it... "that" being the key word in that sentence.

The main reason I'm taking a break from my paper writing is because today is HIS birthday and, because I suck at life, he's been on my mind. I very rarely think about him anymore (Can you believe it?!?!) but certain things spark my memory back up. I mean, I've changed into a completely different person since this time last year and since seen him only once this year, I wonder if he's changed as well. I still do think that he had a huge impact in my recovery and as much as the situation sucked I'm a better person because of it =)

Yeah, sorrrrry for that little, well, whatever that was. People don't seem to like when I talk about him so I don't really mention him that much anymore. Everything is OK now though, just another part of life!

I'm going to try to blog for real later, meaning there will be a bunch of pictures that have yet to grace the blogworld! Until later!

This is carved into the desk I'm sitting at... I do love when positive messages make appearances in my life at random!