graduation

So, in part one of this post, I mentioned that I don't do well with change, and I usually dread it before it happens but then move on from it very quickly afterward. The days leading up to graduation were sort of a daze, but I was pretty positive on the day itself I would be an absolute mess.

We lined up and began marching in bright and early, and luckily we were graced with a beautiful (but hot in those gowns!) day.


Most of Williamstown turned out to wish us well along our route.


My best friend (and high school boyfriend of four years) came to see me graduate!


Here's a great one of me and the in-laws ;)



And L. and my family

After all the photo-taking (I ripped my gown off as soon as my high school graduation was over, and so I had to indulge my mom this time around), it was time to pack up and get out. Williams is great, but we all joked about the fact that they put on this amazing senior week and graduation ceremony for us, and then four hours after it's over they kick you out (we were required to be out by 5pm that day). The next couple hours were a whirlwind of packing, and so for the couple moments I felt like a breakdown was coming on I immediately had to focus on something else, and kept pushing it down, and pushing it down. I forced myself not to cry when I said goodbye to my best friend C., who is studying in England for a year.

The one moment that day that got me was when the guys in my suite and I took the following picture. We recreated a cartoon that Andrew had drawn earlier in the year for our newspaper. (The scene is probably some amalgamation of us watching a football game and/or playing video games).



You can't really tell in the real-life picture, thankfully, but I completely lost it at this point. It only lasted about 5 minutes (because I had more packing to do), and then, strangely, I didn't cry for the rest of the day (or at all since). I drove home in my car alone and my dad, mom and brother followed behind, thinking the time to myself would help, but I just felt sad in a quiet way I've rarely experienced. It's definitely been the first time in my life that I haven't over-dreaded the upcoming change and then adapted within a couple days. Maybe it's because I don't have a job yet, and am sort of feeling a little aimless and unsure of what to do with myself. L.'s working now, so I spend the day grocery shopping, working out, cleaning, and exploring the city--which should be a great life! But I think until I start doing something that keeps me as busy and as engaged as Williams did, I'm still going to feel this strange disquietude.

On the upside, I do have a lot of fun posts written about our first couple weeks in LA, and I can't wait to share them with you guys!

senior week and graduation

It's taken me awhile to post these pictures and write this post, partly because I've been so focused on my move, but also partly because I was afraid posting them would make me very, very sad. I do NOT do well with change--well, sort of. I dread it more than most normal people and work myself up into a mess, but then two or three days later I am usually 100% adjusted, while most people might not get so upset in the first place, but then need more time to move on. Interestingly, that didn't quite happen with graduating--which makes me fear that I just haven't dealt with it correctly and it's going to rear its ugly head at an inopportune time (which it basically already did, in the middle of Arizona, when I started sobbing in the car and told L. I wanted to go back home to Boston and that I felt horrible leaving my parents and moving 3,000 miles away). But still, that was home-specific, not Williams-specific.

I didn't feel teary or apprehensive at all during Senior Week-- it was just tons of fun with my favorite people in the world:


There was the Mt. Hope dinner dance and tent party.


Mt. Hope is a giant mansion the College owns, and every Senior Week a dinner dance and a champagne brunch the following morning are hosted there.

Of course, even though we were on the lawn of an enormous mansion, we had to go pee in port-a-potties hidden in the bushes. Typical.


Later in the week, we had another tent mingling event...


where joyful selfies were necessary.


Friday night, L., the guys in our suite, and I hosted a cookout on our balcony for all of our families. It was the first time my parents and L.'s parents had met!


Bestie Paloma.



One of the cutest pictures ever. My mom is not a huge fan of "pictures on the internet" so we'll see if this one stays!


After the cookout was our last party all together (aptly named Last Chance).

The night before graduation, my dad and my brother took us all out for drinks at the pub and the Red Herring, our two college bars. It was so great to see all my friends bond with my family.

There are so many graduation pictures to sort though that I think those are going to go on a separate post of their own, to follow this one. So, for now, to be continued...

graduation week by the numbers

June 1-June 5: Senior week at Williams.

3: The number of English Department awards I've won, giving me a permanent glow all week.

4: The number of parties we have as part of our Senior Week festivities.

6: The number of dresses I've needed for Senior Week events.

20: The number of family members coming to L.'s and my balcony cookout tonight. (Lots of burgers, lots of hot dogs!)

June 5: Graduation Day!

June 13: L. and I set off, with a very tightly-packed Subaru, on our moving adventure, ending up at our new apartment in Los Angeles!

I know I've been really absent these past few weeks, and I am so sorry. I promise lots of Hilton Head pictures, Senior Week Pictures, and of course graduation pictures next week while L. and I are at my house, packing up and getting ready to embark on our big journey cross country!

L.'s Valentine's Day Present (and a giveaway for you!)

Partly to combat the people who claim that Valentine's Day is just a "Hallmark holiday," I never buy anything for anyone when I give gifts.* Plus, there are very few avenues in my life in which I get to put my creativity to use, so I get really excited about the opportunity to make something cute and fun for L!

L. ended up pulling out all the stops, taking me out to a romantic (and delicious!) steak dinner at Mezze, one of the nicer restaurants in Williamstown. He also got us a bottle of champagne and a nice hotel room--sometimes, just having the time to spend by ourselves, off-campus, out of the common room with all our suitemates hovering around participating in our relationship, with no reading packets allowed is the most romantic thing we could do!

L.'s favorite cupcakes are Red Velvet, and so I ran with the idea and decided to modify the recipe and make Red Velvet cookies! I decided to make two kinds--a light, crisp butter cookie dipped in white chocolate, and a thick, rich, chewy cake-cookie sandwich with buttercream frosting. (He doesn't like cream cheese!!! So sad, it's one of my favorites.)

Here's how they turned out:



They were SO DELICIOUS.

I'm trying so hard to eat well this week, but it's going to be VERY hard. Friday we're having L.'s birthday party, Saturday is 100 Days, a senior party (celebrating the fact that we have only--!!!--100 days until graduation!) with an open bar and tons of treats, and Sunday is L.'s actual birthday, for which we're having a mexican fiesta and then the Oscars are right after!

SPEAKING of presents, I have one for you guys because I <3 you! Check back either tomorrow or early Thursday for a giveaway post!! xoxo [*One "store-bought" thing I don't really object to is flowers. I don't expect anyone to be cultivating their own roses for Valentine's Day! Also, if you love to buy chocolates and greeting cards for V-day, that's your thing! I'm just talking about my preferences.]

Why we're leaving New England

By now L. and I are boarding our plane on our way to Santa Barbara, but I wanted to leave you guys with a couple images of what we've had to deal with the last week in Williamstown and why our vacation couldn't come at a more perfect time. We've gotten a LOT of snow in the last month in Williamstown. Like...almost 40 inches a lot. And our roof? Well, it was built in 1901, isn't the sturdiest structure in the world, and isn't as sloped as it should be. So last Saturday night, I walked into my room and noticed the floor was soaking wet. I looked up, and realized that there was a GIANT crack in my ceiling, and water drops had formed along the entire crack and had soaked the floor and the bottom end of my bed. It did NOT look good. It was about 10:00pm on a Saturday night, so facilities wasn't open and I had to call security. They came by, decided it looked very unsafe, and said the on-call architectural tradesman would come by to take a look at it. Luckily, L.'s room with our nice cushy queen sized bed lives down the hall, so I didn't have to worry about sleeping there.

I'm not sure exactly what they did, but when I checked back the next morning and the ceiling, though still cracked, was at least dry. I figured they had chipped the ice off the roof, since the pressure from the build-up was what had caused the leakage in the first place. But THEN, Tuesday afternoon as I was headed into work the leak was back, and it looked worse. I called facilities and they promised to send someone over to fix it. When I got back at 5, I realized they interpreted "fix it" as "use duct tape to tape a giant tarp over the entire crack and try to make it drain over a bucket." My first thoughts were "wow, THAT is going to fill up with water and fall down," and wouldn't you know, two hours later it did just that--spilling water EVERYWHERE, including all over my bed. By now I was more than a little frustrated, so I called AGAIN and asked them to please fix the ceiling, rather than taping a temporary tarp over the problem. Another architectural tradesman came back and, I kid you not, put up ANOTHER tarp that was "better made" than the first, meaning he used a lot more duct tape. They said they wouldn't be able to permanently fix it until spring, when all the ice was off the roof.

By that time it was getting really late and I was sick of dealing with the problem, so I went down the hall to go sleep in L.'s room. I put on my jammies and crawled into his bed...only to discover that it was absolutely.completely.soaking.wet. The ceiling above HIS bed had opened up as well and was leaking steadily all over the bed. At that point, I couldn't take it anymore. It was late and I was exhausted and all I wanted to do was go to sleep in a warm bed. I made L. call security again, at which point they said, "didn't you already call about this?" He had to explain that no, I had called earlier, and now it was happening in his room too. FOUR officers showed up this time, followed by the poor architectural tradesman again, who had had to leave his warm house (on campus, to be fair) for the third time that night. Oh, and the reinforced tarp in my room had fallen yet AGAIN, so he had to fix that too.

By 3am that morning, this was what my ceiling looked like (photo not taken at 3am, as you can tell by the light through the window, and also because at that point I was way too pissed to be taking photos):


And this is what L.'s looked like:


We slept on a futon, got 4 hours of sleep before we had to get up for work, and were very grumpy. And that is one of many reasons why we need to escape to sunny Santa Barbara and sleep in a warm, dry bed.

Blizzard 2011 by the numbers

Number of times I've left the house today: 0
Number of times I'll be leaving the house today: 0
Episodes of How I Met Your Mother watched: 9
Number of pizzas we're ordering for dinner: 2
Temperature outside: 19°
...Feels like: 7°
Inches of snow already fallen: 16
Inches of snow predicted by the end of the storm: 32

I've got to get out of New England...

2010 in Review

I can't believe New Year's Eve is tomorrow!

Goodbye, 2010! In the past year, I...

Turned 21!

Went to Santa Barbara with L. as my 21st birthday present.


Celebrated L.'s 21st.

Went to Hawaii for the first time ever! (And have been dying to go back ever since!)


Celebrated my one-year blogging anniversary.

Had an amazing summer in which L. and I officially tested the waters living together and I worked full-time at my wonderful job in publishing (which I'm going to miss so much!) Oh, and hung out with Justin Long too.

Started my senior year at Williams. (In the same year Williams was named the #1 college in America by Forbes! Yay Williams!)


Attended my brother's wedding.


Celebrated L.'s and my two year anniversary.

Went to my first ever NFL game (and first ever Packers game!)

. . .

Looking ahead to 2011, it is going to be a BIG one for me. In it, I will...

Turn 22 (the age to me that seems truly "adult-y")

Finish my thesis! Oh joyful day! (Here's hoping I can keep it under 100 pages...)

Have a fantastic Senior Week, which will include traveling with all my friends to Hilton Head, dinners, parties, champagne brunches, all culminating in the day I...

Graduate from college!!!

Pack everything I own in L.'s Subaru and move across the country/move in together.

Begin working full-time hopefully at the job of my dreams for which I'm interviewing in March (fingers crossed it all works out!)

Adopt a puppy (?!?!)

I can't wait. And I can't wait to share it all with you guys! Things can only get more interesting from here on out...

Reindogs

Life is good. I'm nestled comfortably at home, sipping on hot chocolate from the Keurig and nibbling a Lindt chocolate sampler, and since I'm feeling just so holly-jolly I thought it was the perfect time to share with you my afternoon a couple weeks ago with the Reindogs, especially since my own little Reindog, Abby, is snoring peacefully at my feet.

What's a Reindog, you ask? Well, obviously it's a dog dressed up like a reindeer. And Williamstown, being the tiny, weird, quirky, Stars Hollow (anyone get the reference? anyone?) town that it is, holds an annual Reindog parade every year, where anyone in town who has a dog can dress him or her up like a reindeer and march in the parade that goes down Spring Street, our only commercial street. There's also little kids, but I don't like them as much, and they definitely weren't as cute as the dogs.

This year, I got to be an elf, which essentially means I got to pass out candy canes to all the little kids along the parade route (well, that and being Santa's right hand man, obvi.), but the best part of the job was getting to judge the Reindogs and pick the winners!


YOU GUYS. There was a red wagon full of tiny Golden Retriever puppies! I think my heart literally exploded. There is NOTHING in this world cuter than a red wagon full of tiny Golden Retriever puppies.


This is who we picked to win for Best Temperament. She was so quiet and sweet! Love her.


All the Reindogs assembled on the steps of Chapin Hall on campus. Can you spot me? Hint: I'm dressed like Santa and wearing fantastic riding boots.


This is Caleb, the defending champion. I thought he should have won again and wanted to give him the prize, but Santa felt like "another dog deserved to win." Needless to say, I was outraged at the politics involved in the Reindog judging. Caleb was CLEARLY the most convincing Reindog. I felt like he was going to take off any minute.


FUTURE DOG ALERT. When we graduate in June, L. and I are getting a yellow Labradoodle. Well, I'M getting a yellow Labradoodle. L. is getting a black Labradoodle or a black Standard Poodle. They're going to be best friends.


I told you I live in Stars Hollow.


I can't even post any more. I am literally dying, they are so cute. There's my other potential future dog, over on the left.

Oh, and all images via iBerkshires.com, in case you couldn't tell by the giant watermarks that clearly indicate "don't steal these pictures and put them on your blog." Oh well.

Homecoming!

My favorite weekend of the (school) year (obviously Christmas is first!) has come and gone. Homecoming is always the best weekend at Williams for many reasons:

-You can eat as many hot dogs as you want
-You're allowed to partake in...traditional beverages...before 9am.
-You literally see every single person you know (including alums!) and it's wonderful.
-FOOTBALL.

The list goes on and on.

Friday night before Homecoming I hunkered down in the kitchen to cook enough food to feed an army...or L.'s a cappella group. They're basically the same thing. On the menu were:

Spinach and Artichoke Dip



Buffalo Chicken Dip (Appropriately named "Crack Dip")


Spicy Queso Dip (the picture came out looking really gross...trust me on this. It also involves a shot of Velveeta in a pan full of butter. Not sure you guys need that.)

Puppy Chow


If you haven't had puppy chow...we can't be friends. But really. It's only the best and easiest to make treat you will ever find. EVER. All it takes? Chex mix, chocolate, peanut butter, and powdered sugar. That's IT.

If you guys are interested in how I made these scrumptious treats, I'll post some recipes and instructions next week. They all came out DELICIOUS, if I do say so myself, based on the glowing reviews I got from throngs of hungry boys the next day.

Homecoming morning is like Christmas morning. The feeling of absolute excitement is in the air, you're actually excited to spring out of bed at 8am, and it's totally appropriate to eat and drink everything you want, as early as you want. I got up super early and played Homecoming Santa, aka drove to Dunkin' Donuts and bought food, coffee and hot chocolate for my suitemates (who were also a group of hungry boys...I guess I like to mother.)

We had some delicious homecoming morning beverages, including Bailey's and Hot Chocolate, Amaretto Coffee, and Vodka Cider.


After we were full, warm, and happy, we headed down to the tailgate. The tailgate is quite possibly the best part of Homecoming (as if you could only pick just one).


We ended up pummeling Wesleyan, with a final score of 45-7.


As fun as the day was, instead of being as in the moment as I thought I would be, it only served to further drive home the fact that in seven mere months, I'll be leaving Williamstown and moving across the country. There will be many, many more Homecomings in my future, but I don't know that they'll be as special as the ones I've had actually going here. And, though you'd think my senior year Homecoming would take the cake for best one ever, nothing could beat freshman year, when ESPN College Gameday came to cover the Williams-Amherst game, "one of the biggest least-known rivalries in college football."



We got to shoot a commercial for Gillette and everything! Oh, the glory days.

Do you still go to your college's Homecomings? Are they not as big a deal as they are here at Williams? (Unless you went to, you know, Ohio or Michigan. In which case, you're laughing at my definition of "a big deal.)

The Recipe to a Perfect Fall Day:

1. Wake up and realize that it's sunny and warm! The elusive perfect New England fall day.

2. Go for a walk and take pictures of burgeoning foliage on your pretty campus.


3. Convince your boyfriend to wear his glasses for the whole day, because he looks the cutest in them, and it makes you want to snuggle more, which is a bonus for him.


2. Get yummy wraps to-go and bring them to Weston Field, where you will promptly watch Williams football beat their wussy Hamilton opponents.


4. Go out for a yummy dinner, which your boyfriend treats you to, because he was raised in the Midwest and thinks that a gentleman always pays on a date, even after two years.

5. Get a drink at your friendly neighborhood pub.


6. Meet up with your good friend Zeb and giggle when he and your boyfriend do really bad Zoolander impressions.


7. Go to bed happy and cozy, and pray that winter doesn't come for a very, very long time...

Sunset Hike on Mt. Greylock

I've just begun to eye the mountain of luggage and laundry that needs to be done upon moving back home last weekend, and I have about a million doctor's, dentist, hair, and other appointments. But this morning, I'm putting all that on hold and looking forward to catching up with everyone's blogs and sharing some pretty pictures we took last week on Mt. Greylock, the tallest peak in Massachusetts, on a sunset hike.

Growing up near the White Mountains in New Hampshire, I've become an avid lover of hiking. In high school, I would go twice a week during the summer, and sometimes on weekends. (If you're interested, some of the mountains I've hiked include Tuckerman Ravine, Mt. Washington (6,288'), Mt. Cardigan (3,121'), Mt. Moosilauke (4,802'), Mount Crawford (3,119'), The Flume (waterfall), Mount Major, Mount Tecumseh, and lots of others that I can't remember right now and would have to ask Big Relationship, who was my hiking-buddy.)

Unfortunately, once I left for college my free time to hike decreased dramatically. But I was not going to begin my senior year at Williams having never hiked Mt. Greylock!

L., Zeb and I packed up a bag and took a short-ish hike to the summit of Mt. Greylock, as we didn't get going until almost 5:30 and we were racing the 7:50 sunset.


First, we took the Money Brook Trail to the falls. Unfortunately, we've had the driest summer I can ever remember, so there wasn't much water to speak of.

The sun was setting fast, so we rushed to the top to make it in time to enjoy the sunset.


The Lodge on top of the summit. The top of Mt. Greylock doesn't even feel like Massachusetts to me. It has a very Pacific Northwest feel to it.



Now you can see why Williamstown is in the "Purple Valley." At night, all the mountains and the sky surrounding Williams become this deep shade of purple.



When the sky became more purple and blue than red and orange and the moon was finally out, we left the freezing winds on top of the summit (don't worry, we had driven a car up before the hike--we didn't want to hike down in the dark!) and got some warm, yummy food at Moonlight Diner, Williamstown's resident 1950s style restaurant. My only complaint was that we didn't have enough time to hike! I'm looking forward to doing a difficult, whole-day hike some Saturday this fall when we're back at Williams.