Here's Trouble!

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Double cookie baking extravaganza!

If you haven't seen my kitchen (or lack thereof) before, suffice it to say that baking two different kinds of cookies in one night after a full day of work really pushes the kitchen to its limits. Oh, to have a real kitchen with full size appliances... alas, I'm too cheap to pay for that kind of apartment.

Type I: Meringue Kisses (recipe courtesy of Aunt Louie)

Type II: Thumbprints (recipe courtesy of Aunt Mary Ann (NJ))

The aftermath: not too bad if I may say so myself (I'd already cleaned up and put away the mixer when I took this picture... believe it or not the mixer was on that little piece of visible countertop)

Well, I'm thinkin' I might call it a night (w/o making coconut macaroons (recipe courtesy of Aunt Louise)... yes, it appears I'm collecting recipes for my favorite cookies made by my aunts ;-)
Aunt Mary Ann (PA) still hold corner on the market for nut tosses (I don't think I'm there yet!)

I better go wash the rest of the dishes since I certainly don't have space for a dishwasher in that kitchen!

More kitchen time... sans fire extinguisher ;-)

Well, here they are... and all in neat little rows! Who knew it would take so long to make 103 individually wrapped cordial cherries? This turned out to be the product of two nights work (rather than just one night as I had anticipated). In case you were wondering, red wrappers have milk chocolate, gold wrappers have dark chocolate, and holly wrappers have white chocolate... OCD much?


These little beauties are a product of night 3 in the kitchen. These are chocolate thumbprint cookies with raspberry filling and almonds. These took MUCH longer than the 40 minutes claimed by the recipe (found here). My initial assessment is that they are not chocolaty enough. However, I tend to enjoy cookies more after they sit for a few days... I'll have to get back to you on these.

Tomorrow's kitchen goal includes meringue kiss cookies... although I may switch it up for some Aunt Mary Ann thumbprints instead. Note to self: must go to grocery for thumbprint filling!

A box of chocolates... and a fire extinguisher

My first attempt at candy making (if you haven't guessed already) nearly ended in disaster! Please explain to me what would cause a wooden stirring stick in chocolate to spark?! There was smoke coming out of my chocolate... OY! I didn't actually have to employ the fire extinguisher, but I might have if I hadn't been standing in front of the microwave peering at the melting chocolate.

While I'd love to show you a picture of my box of cordial cherries, the batteries in my camera are not charged and I don't know where I put the transfer cable when I cleaned my room (it certainly didn't go back to it's usual home). So for now, you'll have to imagine my foil wrapped cherries covered in dark chocolate, white chocolate, and milk chocolate.

I've made myself hungry... hmmmmm...

A Fielding Christmas

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

St. Nicholas Day...

Well, it's St. Nicholas day... for those non-Catholics who may have stumbled upon this blog, you can read about St. Nicholas here

What does/did St. Nick bring at your house? At my house, St. Nicholas brings each child an onion and an orange along with some other treats. The orange is for how good you were and the onion is for the bad things you had done. We always compared the sizes of our oranges and onions to see who had been better :) We were comforted by the fact that our onions went into the Christmas soup to give some extra flavor.

Please do share your traditions with me... I'm very curious :) Last year St. Nicholas day fell on a work day so each of my co-workers received a small stocking with an onion, an orange, a pack of tissues, and a few pieces of candy. I really enjoy holiday traditions!

In case you were wondering about that last post:
I have no idea why the picture caption that should have read "You're a Mud Pie" did not show up in the post... yes "Katholil" you got your pie right! :)

Seriously... I just can't get away from the mud!

You Are Mud Pie

You're the perfect combo of flavor and depth. You are overpowering and dominant - and that's what people like about you. You bring energy and a new direction to most interactions. People crave you in a serious way. You're that important to them. Those who like you give into their impulses. You don't represent reason. You represent pure temptation. People get addicted to you rather easily. You offer people a dark side that is very hard to resist.

What Kind of Pie Are You?

Backlog... or shall I say BackBlog

The blog has apparently fallen off of the radar of tasks that "absolutely must get completed." Anyway, just to let you know that I haven't forgotten all 4 or 5 of you who actually visit this site (plus the few random passers-by from other countries... yes, I recently added a hit counter that tracks locations) I have compiled a list of posts I wrote intend to write in the near future.
Posts to come in no particular order:

- baked goods... something to do when you can't sleep/feel like baking

• Banana-Coconut Cream Pie
• Merengue Cookies aka what to do with the egg whites after you make a cream pie
• Boston Cream Pie
• Smores Brownies

- Max's reflections on the place he called home (I might have a guest blogger on this one)

- The Phillies Parade of Champions

- Follow the Yellow Brick Road

- Christmas Countdown

- You Bet Your Dupa (haha, I don't have subject matter in mind for this one yet... suggestions welcome... you never know what I might write about!)

WORLD SERIES 2008!!!!!!!

PHILLIES WON THE WORLD SERIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

and the city goes WIIIIIIIIIIIIIILD!

Happy Birthday JB!

Well, I had hoped to post a cute pic of us from the Maize Quest... but alas, I have yet to unearth the download cable for the camera. Basically I just haven't unpacked from my week of traveling.

HAPPY 26th BIRTHDAY JB!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Happy 23rd Birthday wishes for my sis, V!

Political Post... sorta... kinda... not really

Your result for The Presidential Capacity Test...

Presidential Success!

100% Values, 84% Charisma and 88% Judgment!

"In America, anyone can become president. That's one of the risks you take." -Adlai E. Stevenson

Congratulations! You encapsulate everything that a successful candidate should encapsulate.

Crack open the whiskey and break out the celebratory cigar. You are destined for success in the Presidential Campaign. You exude confidence and charisma. You exhibit true leadership abilities and demonstrate the ability to make snap judgement calls if the need arises. You are well-respected for your strong values and your steadfast stance on honesty and loyalty.

The USA needs a President like you. You are one of a select few deserving of the influence and recognition commanded by the Presidential title. Congrats!

Other possibilities:

Take The Presidential Capacity Test at HelloQuizzy

More beach fun!

"I told you not to take my picture!"

"Yeeeeeesssssss?!"

"How shall we pose for this picture?"

Still trying to pose...

"Ok, forget the pose."

Check out the harvest decor!

It looks very different around here without all the surfboards, flipflops, ad sunglasses!

Well, my video clips won't get through Google's processing tonight, so I guess you'll just have to wait. Perhaps tomorrow...

Bloggy Awards

I've decided to create a bloggy award. The idea came from a cup of tea...

All children need a laptop. Not a computer, but a human laptop. Moms, Dads, Grannies and Grandpas, Aunts, Uncles – someone to hold them, read to them, teach them. Loved ones who will embrace them and pass on the experience, rituals and knowledge of a hundred previous generations. Loved ones who will pass to the next generation their expectations of them, their hopes, and their dreams.

-- General Colin L. Powell Founder, America’s Promise – the Alliance for Youth.

The first recipients of this award are...

drum roll please...

Aimee at The Mother Load
Megan at Fried Okra
T at T with Honey
Rach at Hannah and Lily

Now for the instructions...
1 - Please bestow this award on all those who have laptops.
2 - Don't forget to go to their blog and let them know.
3 - Please be sure to include the quote in your post!

My spectacular weekend getaway...

Ah, the beach!

What better way to relax than to sit at the waters edge and listen to the waves?

I have to admit, it was a little strange to be there without Mom & Dad. V and I decided to hit up Stone Harbor, NJ. We found it to be very different at this time of year. The town was very empty... and QUIET!

The bears were totally ready to party...

all night long...


(this picture is the same as the last one except I didn't use the flash... it was pretty dark outside)

I still have some video clips to share... complete with relaxing ocean sounds. I think I'll end here for tonight though.

Coming soon:
- baked goods... something to do when you can't sleep/feel like baking
- Max's reflections on the place he called home.

School...

School has started again... I have a burning desire to go to Staples... clearly I need new pens to go with my new planner

(which disappointingly comes in black... not pink like they show on the website :( )

Obviously, I "need" this set...

so that I have enough colors with which to write. But I need a school supply conscience... the little devil sitting on my shoulder whispers sweet nothings in my ear every time I set foot in Staples. If you saw my pen drawer, you would get a better idea of this problem. So, for now, I suppose I shall avoid such places!

Shameless boasting!

I'm shamelessly going to show off my first every bloggy bling courtesy of Aimee!

I too happily look forward to comments left on my perhaps somewhat less than exciting blog! I'm very excited to pass this award on to T at T with Honey, Kath-o-lil at Little Sleepy Head, and JB's blogless mom! (Aimee, you too deserve this award, so I'll send it right back at-cha!)

While I have several posts in the works, homework currently trumps blogging... so, I better get crackin!

Indian guys...

if you're startled by the topic, stop reading now... lest you think me to be racist...

tonight I have only a simple question (with a potentially not simple answer)...
why is it that everywhere I go, Indian guys stop to speak to me?! Seriously!... even at a bar in Bethlehem of all places... not that I was super-surprised tonight here at Drexel (where I'm pretty sure majority of the students (esp on the grad level) are either ABCDs or straight off the plane)

I swear I'm going to start wearing my "You bet your dupa I'm Slovak" shirt everywhere!

A flurry of commotion...

Well, it's been a long time since I posted an update! Work has been keeping me busy... VERY busy! One of my projects is on a very tight fast paced time table. At any rate, it keeps me out of trouble.

Since my last post, my cousin Ted also celebrated his 25th birthday, and my cousin Maria celebrated her 23rd Birthday... Happy Birthday wishes!

In other news, JB moved out of the city. He is temporarily living out of boxes at his parents' house until he moves into his own place (which he hasn't purchased yet). Today is going to be a house hunting day with his older sis... hooray for female input! :-D Geegee is going to have a great time with her grand-babies while JB and Aimee go house hunting with the realtor. JB has discovered that his commute to the office takes nearly 2 hours... good thing he doesn't have to go in every day! So, now everyone/everything is about an hour away... my apt. to my office (~1 hr), my apt. to JB's parents' (~1 hr), my apt. to my parents' (~ 1 hr), my office to JB's parents' (~ 1 hr), my office to my parents' (a little more than an hour), my parents' to JB's parents' (~1 hr). Seriously, everyone is an hour away... except for my cousin... he moved closer. He's only 10 minutes away... merely a hop, skip, and a jump relative to everyone else!

Went to an oldies dance this weekend... that was a blast! It was nice to take a break from life for a few hours! ZZZzzz... OK, I'm out for the night...

Birthday wishes...

Happy 25th Birthday to the bestest roommie ever!!

I know she wants to ignore it (something about being old), but surely a quarter century is something to celebrate!

Happy Birthday Theresa!

Geek status...

Found this little quiz over at T with Honey... of course I couldn't help but take it...

64% Geek

Well, there you have it folks.

Concert Time!

To be there or not to be there, that is the question...

When: Wednesday August 27th @ 8pm

Where: Main Auditorium - NE corner of 32nd & Chestnut

What: Summer Chorus Concert

Why: This may be the best summer chorus I've been in yet... and as far as chorus goes, I've been around a while! ;-) (second only to Brian!)

Conclusion: you should definitely be there!

Lest I miss my opportunity...

4 months till Christmas!

(and yes, I remembered to wear my Christmas shirt and earings to work today)

Keep Christmas with you all through the year!

MUSIKFEST

It's that time of year again when Bethlehem turns into a frenzy of concert going activity. While I meant to post about this earlier, I've been too busy festing... and volunteering!

Happy 25th anniversary Musikfest!

A bit of amusement...

Ah, Beaker...

Ode To Joy: The Muppet Show | Funny Jokes at JibJab

The Last Thing you Want to See While Gracing the Throne...

Although I have been unsure if this is a blog-appropriate story, it is certainly an amusing story to look back on... now anyway ;-)

While my roommate and I strive to keep a relatively orderly, well, clean if not orderly apartment, our building mates in addition to Drexel's apparent obsession with construction projects chase the occasional uninvited guest into our place. I returned from my lovely week at the beach for a few brief moments to drop off some stuff that didn't need to go to my parents house and pick up one or two things (i.e. the dirty laundry basket... it's so much cheaper, not to mention easier (a post for another time) to do the laundry at mom-n-dad's). At any rate, since we had stopped off there, I took the opportunity to use the facilities. While gracing the throne, I heard something... enough of something to make me turn my head -














just in time to see a roach making a b-line for my unprotected bottom wandering across the floor. Yelling and screaming commenced. As if the bugger could sense my fear, it came straight for the throne. After falling off as it attempted to scale the clean porcelain bowl it decided to check out the rest of the bathroom. Meanwhile, I continued yelling about roach spray in the kitchen. Luckily, my cousin, T.E. had come to the apt. with me so I was not left alone to fend off the invader. Unfortunately, here I was closed in the bathroom with the invader and an exposed dupa... and T.E. was on the other side of the door with the can of death. He threw in a bucket for me to attempt to catch the intruder, but the darned thing moved too quickly out of my reach.

J.B. to the rescue...
Lucky for me, J.B. came in just as the roach made a move for the door. By this time, I had managed to snag my bath towel from the rack to use as a curtain so as not to expose my poor dupa to my roach killing heroes. J.B. threw open the door and drowned Mr. Roach in a pool of spray! Phew! With the door closed again, I was able to resume finishing my business in peace... or so I thought...

the roach had wiggled it's way over to the wall and was in the process of using the wall to regain its running stance when it caught my eye. *yelling resumes* So, I don my towel curtain again and J.B. attacks with the spray. Mr. Roach ran out of the bathroom, across the hallway, straight into my bedroom... with J.B. in hot pursuit. He was finally able to catch the bugger, or perhaps give him a heart attack. What happened after that was somewhat of a blur, but I decided to place dead invader in a zip-top bag as proof for the exterminator that I do not exaggerate about the size of my roaches. Hopefully we won't see any more of his kind... EVER!

oh, by the way, I think we may now have a mouse... oh, the joys of living in the city, near construction, in a building built in the 1800s... ahhhh

the moment you've been waiting for...

all two of you... since very late last night... yeah, I guess I was very good at building the suspense on this one...

drum roll....

....

...

...

iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit's....

Christmas tshirt day...

5 months (or 153 days) till Christmas!

Merry Christmas in July folks!

hmm... duplicates...

Somehow on of the pictures appeared twice in the last post and one disappeared... so, here you have ityes, the bears apparently had an exciting game of beach volleyball while we were out!

Tonight I went to the last of the Philadelphia Orchestra's summer concert series at the Mann Center. The saved my favorite for last... Carmina Burana!!!! It was amazing! And the weather was beautiful to boot! Tonight's balmy breeze was a far sight from last night's greenish-purplish-grayish sky with lighting, thunder, torrential downpours, and hail... I'm glad I didn't go to last night's concert! ;-) Anyway, the Orchestra was wonderful as always... and Rosen Milanov did quite a fantastic job conducting!

Now, off to find my special shirt for tomorrow... cuz we all know what tomorrow is... don't we?
I guess you'll just have to come back tomorrow to find out :D

my castle on a cloud... well, sorta

Ahh, the beach...
this year was different without GG for the first time in my memory. We just can't provide the kind of care that she needs nowadays. We had lots of "fun bun runs in the sun" and "motions for lotion before doing the locomotion to the ocean"... can you tell we did lots of rhyming?! Happy hour had an official menu this year. (Perhaps I'll post it here one of these days for your viewing pleasure.) The animals got into lots of trouble...
Another favorite part of the beach is building the annual sandcastle... when I say favorite, I speak ONLY for myself! (while others may somewhat enjoy the sandcastle, I don't think it would happen if I was not there) I decided to take a series of construction/demolition pictures this year... enjoy... (btw, we unionized this year during construction)

Architect & laborer's union

Inspector's Union (in the background)

The mostly completed castle (it gained a few decorations)

The Hand Paked Wall Union (with sun hat), Onlookers, and Bathing Beauties

Hand packer's, laborer's, and Digger's Unions with our completed work

Demolition pics...

Shall I move to New England?

After reading T's heart-wrenching blog post about friendship, I feel like moving to New England. While I have only met T, Honey, and Princess once, I think we'd get along swell! Plus, I hear that it still snows in New England... I remember when it used to snow in PA.

Unfortunately, Drexel still owns my soul for another three years or so... and then Schnabel owns my life for an additional two years...

Speaking of Schnabel, I better be getting to bed since I must be in Trenton, NJ bright and early (perhaps too early!) tomorrow morning. But it's Friday... and I get to look forward to a week at the beach!!!!!! Maybe I can work on ditching the farmer's tan while I'm there :-D.

Note to self: don't forget the ice-pops for the guys on the jobsite... it may be my last day with this crew... hopefully they'll finish next week (we were supposed to be finished by the 4th of July. Obviously that worked well ;-) )

ABCs of Me...

I'm going to tag myself for this one based on RC Mommy's response...

A. Attached or single? Not married.

B. Best friend? hmmm... I have several... I think they know who they are :)

C. Cake or pie? A piece of each please... come'on, I'm a Mikitka

D. Day of choice? Saturday... I can sleep in and stay up late!

E. Essential item? a stuffed animal... I still don't sleep w/o one

F. Favorite color? I really wish I could answer this question... most of the time, I just answer this question with a 96 box of Crayola crayons :D

G. Gummy bears or worms? Sour gummy worms.... mmmmmmmm

H. Home town? Bethlehem (PA, not Israel)

I. Favorite indulgence? Sleeping in a fluffy bed with lots of pillows.

J. January or July? hmmmm... I guess July... I like to go in the ocean and build sand castles

K. Kids? No left hand rings...

L. Life isn’t complete without? Music... singing, playing, listening, etc.

M. Marriage date? Haven't gotten there yet

N. Number of brothers and sisters? No brothers, One sister, One "nocturnal twin" (that's a story for another time)

O. Oranges or Apples? Fruit salad with both and more :D

P. Phobias? cockroaches! eeeeewwwww

Q. Quotes? I guess it's better to be who you are. Turns out people like you best that way, anyway. Big Bird

R. Reasons to smile? lol, the first thing that came to mind I probably shouldn't post (it certainly makes babies smile though :D )

S. Season of choice? I like them all... it's too bad that we seem to have missed spring here this year! And we didn't get a good snow storm either :(

T. Tag 5 people: most people seem to have been tagged... if you haven't, consider yourself officially tagged!

U. Unknown fact about me? If I told you, then it wouldn't be unknown!

V. Vegetable? Lima beans... and more recently, asparagus

W. Worst habit? Obsessing over my grades.

X. Xray or ultrasound? Neither... bad memories of kidney stones

Y. Your favorite food? FOOOOOOD!

Z. Zodiac sign? Gemini... twins!

Craaaazy Finger-Toe Shoes!

I got myself a birthday present. I had no intention of buying these shoes, I really just wanted to see them... then I put them on my feet. They feel so awesome... although they look a bit crazy!!

Check 'em out...

News Flash...

Concert Weekend!!

Drexel University Chorus Spring Concert
3pm - Main Building - Great Court
3141 Chestnut Street Philadelphia, PA

and it's FREE!!!

and it's on my birthday!

My guardian angel... RIP Marie

It is again with a sad heart that I post a RIP message. This one comes very late, I did not know. Since I met Marie, I have always wondered if it is possible that God might grant us a chance to meet our guardian angel in this life. ... story time...

After my second year of college, I was preparing for my first Co-op (it's Drexel's extended version of an internship). I had secured a job with a firm in Moorestown, NJ, but I found myself in the midst of finals the week before I was to start working still without a place to live. My parents house was a solid 2 hour drive from the office. I couldn't seem to find an apartment whose landlord was willing to rent for only six months to a college student. I was supposed to have an appointment to see an apartment and my parents were on their way to Philadelphia when I found out that it had been leased that morning. We went over to NJ anyway and drove around a bit looking for signs of places that might be for rent. Before we headed back to Philly, my mom picked up a local newspaper.

The following Monday she picked a real estate add out of the paper and gave them a call. She picked what seemed to be a local company rather than a large chain realtor hoping to get help with what seemed to be a special housing request. It just so happened that the realtor with whom she was speaking had an extra room and was willing to meet us and possibly rent a bedroom/bathroom in her house to me for the summer. Once again we headed to NJ. We were greeted by Marie, a lovely person with a quaint townhouse in a nice development that was only minutes from the office. We decided that if she felt comfortable opening her house to me it was worth a try. I had no idea how wonderful a situation this would be! (Marie had no idea how much stuff... including a digital piano... I could fit into one room and not have too much clutter.) We spent lovely evenings together chatting, cooking for each other, cooking together, watching the french news(not that I understood a word of it), talking about each of our classes, and laughing about how often I had to call for directions home after getting lost on the NJ roads. Marie and I kept in touch through the next school year and I returned the following March for my second co-op. Marie and I continued to stay in touch. She would often attend my chorus concerts. We would chat about our busy schedules and talk about the possibility of maybe finding time to go out for dinner.

This week, I called to invite her to my next chorus concert and found that her phone had been disconnected. Thinking back on a conversation in which she had talked about moving, I called her cell phone. Again I found that the number had been disconnected. Perhaps she was finally on the trip to France she had been planning to take...? In hopes of getting updated contact info, I called Edgar (the real estate office). She passed away in February... I didn't know... they recognized my name and apologized that no one had my contact info. I can only imagine that it was sudden... as we had spoken not long before then and she had said she was well and I should let her know about my next concert. Although I wish I could have said goodbye, I'm now convinced more than ever that I did get a chance to meet my guardian angel. That my mom's phone call was not just a chance coincidence.

RIP Marie! I will miss you! Don't forget about my concert on Sunday
O:-) I know you'll be there in spirit.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


View/Sign Guestbook
Marie Elizabeth (Franzen) Rader
RADERMARIE ELIZABETH (nee Franzen) On Feb. 8, 2008, age 58, of Mt. Laurel, NJ. She was a volunteer with the Philadelphia Orchestra and member of the NJ Committee for over 20 years. Daughter of Paul W. Franzen of Phila Pa. and the late Lavene Franzen. Sister of Dr. Trisha Franzen, Dr. Paul Franzen Jr., Mark Franzen, Lizanne Hagedorn, Valerie Franzen and the Late William Franzen. Memorial Service Tues. 11 A.M. at the First Presbyterian Church, 101 Bridgeboro Rd., Moorestown, NJ. Memorial Mass Wed. 10 A.M. at Immaculate Heart of Mary R.C. Church, 819 Cathedral Rd., Roxborough, PA. In lieu of flowers the family request donation to be made to Samaritan Hospice, 5 Eves Dr., Marlton, NJ 08053 or to Mount St. Joseph's Academy, 120 West Wissahickon Avenue, Flourtown, PA 19031. Published in the Philadelphia Inquirer & Philadelphia Daily News from 2/10/2008 - 2/11/2008.

RIP Friend, mentor, Mom-away-from-home...

McMenamin, Antonia B. "Toni" (Sulena-Wetzel)	View/Sign Guest Book
McMENAMIN ANTONIA B. "TONI" (nee Sulena-Wetzel), May 13, 2008. Beloved wife of Patrick J. and mother of Cara McMenamin Wing, Esq., Patrick J. McMenamin, Jr., Esq. and Roger McMenamin, Esq; also survived by 7 grandchildren and a brother, Robert Wetzel. Relatives and friends are invited to attend Funeral Mass 11 AM Sat., May 17 at Immaculate Conception R.C. Church, 604 West Ave., Jenkintown, where friends may call after 10 AM. Interment private. In lieu of flowers, donations to The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Eastern PA, 2 International Plaza, Suite 245, Phila. PA 19113 are preferred. www.lls.org
Published in the Philadelphia Inquirer & Philadelphia Daily News on 5/15/2008.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For those in the Honors College at Drexel, Toni was probably the first person on campus to welcome you by name. She knew who we were, she knew what was going on in our lives, her door was open, she was always there for us. Toni was everyone's mom-away-from-home! If you wanted/needed anything, Toni made it happen... like the time a baby-grand piano showed up in my dorm because I mentioned that some of the other dorms had them but the honors building didn't. Toni fixed our class schedules, our housing problems, our co-op issues, sometimes even our personal issues! Toni will be greatly missed!

For Good (Wicked)
I've heard it said
That people come into our lives for a reason
Bringing something we must learn
And we are led
To those who help us most to grow
If we let them
And we help them in return
Well, I don't know if I believe that's true
But I know I'm who I am today
Because I knew you

Like a comet pulled from orbit
As it passes a sun
Like a stream that meets a boulder
Halfway through the wood
Who can say if I've been changed for the better?
But because I knew you
I have been changed for good

It well may be
That we will never meet again
In this lifetime
So let me say before we part
So much of me
Is made of what I learned from you
You'll be with me
Like a handprint on my heart
And now whatever way our stories end
I know you have re-written mine
By being my friend...

Like a ship blown from its mooring
By a wind off the sea
Like a seed dropped by a skybird
In a distant wood
Who can say if I've been changed for the better?
But because I knew you

Because I knew you
I have been changed for good

apartment update

While I have taken more pictures of my temporary apartment, they are trapped on the camera while the batteries are charging. In the mean time, I'll leave you with this thought... the walls are a lovely cream color with white moulding... the green tint was a result of using the webcam for the first pics.

Temporarily relocated to D.C. ... here's a tour

Here's a quick picture tour of my temporary apt. in D.C. It's awesome... there's a full size fridge, a garbage disposal, a dishwasher, a big bed, a comfy full size couch (and a matching comfy chair), two... TWO tvs, a kitchen/dining table settings complete with wine glasses... all this is only @150/day... the "cheap" hotel room I had before was $350/day and had merely a bed, a tv, and a bathroom.
Well, with no further ado, the pictures... (sorry about the quality, I used the webcam for these shots)

When in Rome, do as the Romans...

So for many people, today was the feast of Ascension Thursday... but when I called the Basilica here in D.C. to ask for their Mass schedule I got transfered to several very confused people. I was asked questions like, "Why would there be a different Mass schedule on Thursday?" Apparently (According to Fr. George... who I called in bewilderment) most of the Dioceses have decided to celebrate the Ascension on the nearest Sunday. There are a few (Allentown, Philadelphia, Boston, etc.) who have decided that they will continue to celebrate Ascension Thursday on Thursday. Who celebrates a Thursday on a Sunday anyway? How does this make sense?! I will be back in Philadelphia for the weekend... somewhere in between I will have missed celebrating the Ascension.

Can someone please explain what these people are thinking?!

Bills bills everywhere!

I find myself preparing to temporarily relocate to a hotel in Washington D.C. for work for the next few weeks. I decided it was about time that I set the finances in order... oh my! The living room floor of my parents house is currently covered with little piles from each utility company/bank/credit card/etc. I have managed to get the utility bills filed into their binders and logged in the apartment cost spreadsheet... my roommate will finally get the check that I've been promising!

Ok, enough ranting, back to work!

My First Meme Tag!

Thanks to Aimee I have actually been tagged in a Meme! And I need a break from the hours of homework... so here goes...

The Rules:
1. When tagged place the name and URL on your blog.
2. Post rules on your blog.
3. Write 7 non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself.
4. Name 7 blogs. (um, I'm not sure that I can name 7 as I don't consistently actually read that many... I'm progressing slowly... do you have a blog that I should start reading?)
5. Send an email/comment on their blog letting them know they have been tagged.

Seven non-important things/habits/quirks about me:

- The clothes in my closet are arranged by type (pants, blouses, sweaters, etc.) and each type has their own kind of hanger (black - pants, white - blouses, pink - sweaters, etc.)

- I have always wanted to be the Phillie Phanatic... even when I was a little girl - forget being a princess, bring on the silly mascot costumes!

- I can't stand open drawers... the rest of the room could be a mess, but all the drawers must be closed (with nothing sticking out!)

- My feet are so flat I can suction them to the floor (non-carpeted of course).

- I've had two kidney stones... both during my freshmen year of college.

- I can't stand plain potato chips (salt & vinegar chips are a totally different story!)

- I enjoy singing & playing the piano. Although I have no problem singing/playing in a church full of people, I am super self-conscious about singing/playing when my roommate is home.


Name 7 blogs:
- The Mother Load - except she already did it (seeing as she tagged me)
- T With Honey - but The Mother Load beat me to it
- Rest Your Head
- I know JB's sister Julia had a blog (but the address seems to have been left on the old computer)... perhaps she'll reply to this post with a link? :-D
- 5?
- 6?
- 7?

If you should be 5, 6, or 7, please let me know!

Another cold night under the bridge...

I have concluded that I am definately not cut out to be a homeless person. I find myself spending yet another cold... well, maybe it's just cool... but the wind coming off the water makes it feel cold (I digress) night under my most favorite bridge on the NJ turnpike. The end seems so near for this series of tests, yet each day it seems to get further away. 8am tomorrow seems like an eternity sitting here close to midnight. Everyone else (the other two guys) are sleeping... one in his car, the other with his hoodie pulled over his face (he actually looks like a homeless dude!) For now, it's just me, the dial gauges, and the sump pumps.

I have light, power, powerade, pomegranate juice, snacks, and a few more layers of clothes to put on as it gets colder/windier yet I feel sad. Oh how I'd love to close my eyes for a few minutes... but I know better! A few minutes would quickly turn into two hours of missed readings before the other guys would have to wake up to take their readings. We only have two more sections to test on our 4th bridge(of 4 bridges) in the project. This is a project that I have been working with since I started my job soon after graduation. I am ready to see this project wrap up. I am getting weary of this schedule of not having a schedule.

Update:
It's always an adventure at the bridge... the soup I had for dinner meant a midnight port-a-john break. It was getting pretty damp so I decided I'd grab my carhart bibs while I was up near my car. When I went to walk back down under the bridge a guy walked up to me with a diesel can. His english was very broken but I guessed that he had run out of fuel as I could see his truck stopped a few feet from the end of our bridge. I quickly got the inspector under the bridge on the phone cuz I had no idea who this guy was or where he came from. It turned out that all he wanted was a little fuel but I live in West Philly folks... I wasn't taking any chances! The two guys who are out here with me for the test took care of the situation... now, back to watching paint dry...

Project HomeFront Corps.

Well, I finished Project HomeFront Corps. with no time to spare! The shirts were finally finished at about 4am on the big day of the Baptism of Bun. Unfortunately I did not have enough presence of mind left to remember that I wanted to take pictures to post here on the blog. Soooo, I'm gonna leave it up to Aimee to help me out with this one and post some pics... or send me some to post :D. Each member of the HomeFront Corps. got a tshirt in my take on their favorite colors (rather, whatever shade of their favorite color family I was able to find in their size).

Field Trip to Mantua

Getting up early was totally worth it!

Easter Outfit...

So, I promised someone a picture of my Easter outfit with the complete with the pink shoes. I'm not sure who that someone was... perhaps Kathy? Well, I thought I'd get a nice picture with the Home Front Corps... I even took my camera. Alas, I forgot to take said picture. So, this will have to suffice. It's almost my full Easter outfit... I had white tights on with it earlier in the day.

Incidentally, the Home Front Corps looked adorable sporting their Easter finery! My favorite was Sally's dress... although Francie's skirt totally passes the twirly test!!!

I realized that I didn't have a pink ribbon for my hair at one of the rehearsals last week. Since I had to go for gas on Saturday morning, I decided to stop at Tar-ghey to see if I could find something. I found that headband after about 2 minutes in the store... it totally matches the material of my dress! I couldn't believe my eyes. I was pink from head to toe! :-)

Joyous and Blessed Easter!

Saint Agatha - Saint James Church (Philadelphia, PA)

While I hope the Easter Bunny was good to all, I pray that you not forget the significance of the true meaning of Easter. This is a time of great celebration for the church. Easter is more than just one day. Easter is a season... a season that lasts seven weeks. The Easter season concludes with Pentecost and the coming of the Holy Spirit.

May you have a holy, blessed, and joyous Easter season!

Please pray for those members of the collegiate population of the greater Philadelphia area who are preparing to receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit and Confirm their faith on April 5th!

A bit of politics...

So, with all of the talk about candidates I've finally decided to write a little post on the topic. This isn't going to be a long post so as not to provoke too many harsh words in my comments section. However, I will say that I may have chosen my candidate... Walter for President

A little speech from Walter himself!

Well, there you have it folks!

Shuffle Time Meme... amusing!

Saw this one over at T's ... thought I'd give it a try

Q: How does the world see you?
A: Gimme Three Steps - Lynard Skynard
ummm... not really sure of what to make of this...

Q: Will I have a happy life?
A: Little Bitty - Alan Jackson
might as well share, might as well smile... life goes on for a little bitty while

Q: What do my friends really think of me?
A: I Surrender, Dear - Bing Crosby
my friends need me?

Q: Do people secretly lust after me?
A: Under Your Spell Again - Johnny Rivers
HAHAHAHAHA!!!!

Q: How can I make myself happy?
A: Livin' La Vida Loca - Eddie Murphy & Antonio Banderas
Rockin! Totally me! :-)

Q: What should I do with my life?
A: Old MacDonald Had A Farm - Flatt & Scruggs
Really?! I wouldn't mind a farm house, maybe some animals, don't know about a whole farm!!

Q: Will I ever have children?
A: O Holy Night - Linda Eder
Ummmmm... ?

Q: What is some good advice for me?
A: Chapel Of Love - Darlene Love
Is that so?

Q: How will I be remembered?
A: If You're Not In It For Love, I'm Outta Here
Not particularly sweet...

Q: What is my signature dancing song?
A: Little Queenie - Chuck Berry
I recently said I'd like to go to a sock hop... well, I suppose this is a start

Q: What do I think is my current theme song?
A: Fur Elise - Vince Guaraldi Trio
Keep Christmas with you all through the year!

Q: What does everyone think my current theme song is?
A: Dig In - Lenny Kravitz
Interesting

Q: What song will play at my funeral?
A: The Bells of St. Mary's
Does this mean I will end up at a parish called St. Mary's?

Q: What type of men / women do you like?
A: Man of His Word - Bob Carlisle
AWESOME!

Q: What is my day going to be like?
A: Whip It - Devo
LOL! Here comes the task master...

Dust off those thinking caps!

Coming soon... a post about my midterm project. If you thought the last post was deep, wait till you see the evolution of a water droplet in 3D! For now, I must put my tired brain to rest.

In other news, I got to meet Aimee & Robert's Bun. Very cute, although Sally steals the cute show blowing kisses from her high chair with her flowing blonde curls all around her face.

Frustrations of a Cool Nerd God... partially resolved

If Math scares you, stop here!

If you're still reading you either may understand some of this or you didn't take me seriously ;-). So, Homework #3 was to convert a 2D Laplace Finite Element Method code into a 3D Laplace FEM code. My challenge with this class is that I don't know the math or the program so where there's a problem... well, things all fall apart... occasionally including myself. This one (with a little help) went fairly well. I was unaware that you could have a three dimensional matrix (oh how I wish I had taken Linear Algebra)... but in the end, I didn't need one anyway. The picture shows my pretty results for the Unit Sphere provided by the Pavel (the prof). (UnitSphere-515p-2375t) It has 515 points and 2375 tetrahedral elements. Now, back to the midterm project.

I'm a little frustrated on this one. I spent many hours, including a meeting with the professor and another student, getting the first part (of three) to run properly. After the inclass midterm exam, Pavel wrote the whole code for the first part in class.... ARGH!!! A number of people were discussing how they had not yet started the project so this was great. grrrrrr. I'm currently having trouble with part 2... but we didn't really get any advice there since he did all of part one. Kicked in the butt for being a hard working student again... is it just me?!

Ok, enough ranting and raving... back to work nah, off to the beer distributor - cuz I have my priorities straight ;-)

Nerd Test... not that I needed a test to tell me that I'm a nerd

Blog neglect...

Blog neglect seems to have become the result of quite a full schedule these past few weeks.  Although my class this term is interesting and I have an awesome professor, the work has been taking a LOT of time!!!!  Perhaps as a result of my lack of Linear Algebra and Matlab knowledge.

So, to help give me a kick start on some posts, feel free to leave a topic in my comments... you all have such interesting blogs that generally my draft posts seem rather dull.

In other news, Congratulations to John's sister and brother-in-law on the newest addition to their family who has finally come home!  The blog pictures are soo cute!  Maybe we'll see him in person one of these days.

Ok, back to matlab... hmmm

A lovely wedding!

Congratulations to the new Mr. & Mrs. Piscopo!

I got to spend a lovely evening out celebrating Lori's marriage to Jimmy! I always enjoy a good dress up occasion. So, for this one I got a new dress... I really wasn't shopping for myself when I found it... I was attempting to respond to a request from TwithHoney on her blog for a dress that wasn't red or black but I fell in love with the dress. And who can't pass up buying a $188 dress for $58... and that was including shipping! Thanks, T, I really love my new dress! Unfortunately, I forgot to have someone take a full length shot of the dress to post here, so for now all I have to share is the sitting down with shawl version.

However, I can share a shot of the perfect shoes I found to go with the dress (thanks to a little get away from all these guys shopping trip that the Schnabel girls took one evening during a Project Management training weekend. I must say, these shoes were a new experience in the walking department. In general, my dress shoes have straps or buckles or they are strappy and stay so that something has to be done to take them off. I'm not usually good in the slipoff slipon fashions. My flat/wide feet with narrow heels just don't do well in slipons... besides they usually look silly. Well, popular opinion at the DSW in DC said that I had to get them because they were a perfect match for the dress and they looked cute... and best part, they were on clearance sale!!!

Soooo, here you have it... the shoes... w/o feet... and with foot (yes, singular foot... couldn't get a good shot of both feet by myself)