philly half

all ready for the race!

so this weekend i went up to philly to see two of my lovely crew ladies where we had a mini reunion and ran in the philly half marathon!
it was a great time and we had fun catching up and talking about running and the college days.

i took the train up saturday and met jeanne and chelsea at the expo. we also quickly met up with a sorority sister of mine from college who was also running and chatted with her for a while! yay running bringing people together!

so after the expo where we picked up our bibs and everything else we headed back to jeanne's and carbo loaded at jeanne's favorite italian restaurant - which is delish. i've eaten there so many times! and then we continued to chat about life and everything while watching movies and being lazy before going to bed at 9:30. haha! wild saturday night! but hey, we were getting up at 4:30 to go run 13.1 miles!

favorite picture from college

so i know i've written about it before. but the 5 ladies i rowed with in college are just amazing and such an inspiration to me. i ran my first half marathon in 2010 with 2 of them in the town we went to college. we are all off doing some amazing things in our lives and while we don't see each other that often when we do it is great. so running the half with jeanne & chelsea, and knowing a 4th was off in kansas running a full marathon. so we still push each other 6 years later!

so we were up bright and early and made our way downtown to run. we hit a ton of traffic going in but still made it in time to to wait in the porta potty lines and get to our corral no problem. and since we got there kinda late we weren't standing around too much before! here we are before jeanne left to go to her corral, since she was earlier than we were! wooo pre-race!

ready to run!

jeanne, chelsea and i pre-race! wooooo!
 

so chelsea and i made our way to our corral and took off our throw-aways. best $5 i ever spent on sweats! and then got in line to start!

you can see the start line!

favorite sign of the day! this was right before the start! 

chelsea and i right before we started!

while the race started at 7 - our corral didn't start until right around 7:30. so i was all ready to go! my race plan was to a)finish and not walk b)wanted to finish under 2:30 c)goal of 11 minute miles which was a final time of like 2:24. so i grabbed a pace band at the expo and had the 2:15 & 2:30 ones and after thinking used the 2:15 one and also wrote in the 11 min mile times under. and that was the smartest thing i did. so chelsea and i ran the first mile together and i was at a 10:45 and feeling pretty good. i wasn't too fast and right where i was comfortable. and i just continued running, i didn't see a mile marker for 2 and that kinda threw me off. but when i did pass 3 i was running just over 30 minutes. ummm, so i was going a little faster than i wanted. i tried to slow it down, but miles 4-6 i was right on for the 2:15 finish. so i figured why not try for it. 

running by independence hall! woooooo! i was so pumped to see this and think about the constitution!
yes, i know i'm crazy. 

and the great thing about running through philly was the people cheering and the fun atmosphere on the streets. it really does help! i loved laughing at the signs as i ran past! so around mile 8 it had a slight incline and this was where i started to feel it. and miles 8-10 were a bit rough. this was a bit of the hilly part of the half course and where i get tired in a race. so i started to slip on my times. but as long as i was hitting under the 11 minute miles i had written in i was happy! so after i hit 10 miles, right by the please touch museum, i was like ok. i got this. 3 miles. 33 more minutes. and so i continued to push through. and i never saw marks for 11 miles - so i had no idea on my pace. i was just hoping i was where i wanted to be! and then i saw 12 and i was happy with my time. and for mile 12 you ran along the waterside of boathouse row - which made the rower in me SO happy! i needed that little push - plus running it with 2 of my rowers made it great. and so there is a coxswain recording i used in college the mornings of races and i keep it on my mix - it is mary whipple - my idol coxing the 2003 worlds and it is just great. so i put that on for mile 12 and just had her voice while running the last mile. and when i got to the top of the half marathon/marathon split i pushed it even more, and then i went into a sprint for the last few little bit to cross the finish line! woooooo!

 i was so happy when i saw my time. i finished in 2:22:10. so i ran 10:53 splits. i was sooo happy! my mom had been getting my texts while i ran so i immediately had one from her and i made my way through all the lines to see how my friends did. i met up with jeanne who finished with her goal of sub 8 splits! woo! and then chelsea came in right after me at 2:26 and she beat her goal of under 2:30! so we were all happy!

wooo! finished the 13.1! 

so after we headed to an early lunch and the walking felt soooo good! but i wasn't feeling too well after the race - my stomach was killing me. so i wasn't feeling too great after. and then we all headed back to jeanne's house to shower before chelsea and i headed back home. i had a bit of a wait in amtrack station before my train, but it wasn't too bad. the worst part was when i got into dc i had just missed the metro, so i had to wait 18 minutes for the next one. uuuugh! i was so sore and tired. all i wanted was my bed!

and today - was rough. i was so sore. my legs were killing me! i don't remember hurting this bad last time! and i don't think being at work all day at my desk or in meetings helped! but i was so happy that i did such a kick ass job!

the 3 of us were talking about doing the pittsburgh half in may! so adding that should be fun! we've decided it will be a fun tradition to keep up with. trading our oars for running shoes! i need to email our coach to let him know about our run this weekend!

so i'm proud that i finished my second half marathon. that 11 months after knee surgery i was able to run 13.1 miles and not only run it, but be successful. i didn't hit my pr and i'm ok with that because i knew that wasn't going to happen. and i love that i'm now running with girls i rowed with in college. and that we continue to push ourselves after college. 

why i love charleston

this is why i am in love with charleston. 

 so tuesday night i headed to waterfront park in mt. p for their party in the park. it is their annual summer country concert in the park on tuesday nights in the charleston area. and the sunset was just absolutely amazing. i have fallen completely in love with the low-country.


so this week's party in the park was dustin lynch (cowboys & angels) and phil vassar. dustin lynch is up & coming and he is just adorable! and i love phil vassar (just another day in paradise, my next thirty years, six pack summer) so it was a great night to sit and enjoy some great country music and have a gorgeous view of the river.

dustin lynch

phil vassar

      

i was about 50 feet back from the stage - and the bridge overhead is the ravenel over the cooper river

   Since Wednesday I've been in Denver working a conference. I had a super long travel day on Wednesday with a 3 hour layover in O'Hare. Which I haven't been used to as my layovers recently have been like an hour tops (or running to catch a plane) so that kinda killed me. And then landing in Denver was crazy because there were thunderstorms alllll over the Denver area on Wednesday night. Like 7 small tornadoes were confirmed, golf ball sized hail, 5 inches of rain, and it honestly thundered & lightening from 5pm to 2am. Seriously. It was pretty crazy, one of the longest and most intense storms I've ever seen and I only had about 2 inches of rain where I was and the crazy lightening. 

And now I'm conferencing and also at our hotel is a high school cheerleading camp annnd a little miss colorado pageant. yup. so it is totally bring it on vs. toddlers and tiaras. and i kinda love it. so working until sunday and then i'm off to the mountains on monday morning and soooooooooooooooooo excited to camp and just soak up the rocky mountains and spend some time in nature. 

happy friday!!

5 years

five years ago today i was celebrating my college graduation and walking across the stage collecting my diploma from washington college. saying goodbye to some amazing friends and reminiscing about an absolutely amazing four years and while knowing i can always go back to visit chestertown it would never be the same. and my life in the last five years while not exactly as i planned has been nothing short of amazing. i've grown so much since crossing the stage and had some crazy adventures.

so in the last five years since i graduated from college i have:

- spent an amazing summer living in asheville, north carolina teaching at an academic summer camp
- lived in ireland for two years
- graduated with honors with a masters in history
- travelled all around europe while living in ireland
- moved back to the states and spent a hilarious spring in mystic, connecticut
- started working conferences for high school students in washington, dc in summer 2009
- moved back to new jersey and had an incredible first year teaching social studies and coaching
- spent a summer back in connecticut sailing 
- been unemployed 
- ran my first half marathon
- been a nomad between nj, dc and all over working conferences for middle & high school students
- took off for a 3 week european adventure
- spent a summer living in nova, running conferences for 330 high school students
- moved to charleston, south carolina pretty much for an adventure
- tore my ACL and spent a few months in new jersey
- enjoying living in charleston and just trying to figure out my next step
- travelled to 15 states and 11 countries
- lived in 5 states
- made so many friends and have been so lucky to experience so many great places and adventures

it is kinda crazy how much i've been able to do and see, while my plan wasn't this unstructured i've had fun and i've gotten to travel and experience life which i know when i get the chance again i'll be an amazing teacher because of it

while my next step is still unsure i know i'll be ok. life is one big adventure and i'm just doing my best to live it and take advantage of every opportunity i've been given!

george and i 

barkley and the garrett c awards

worcester girls four years later

with the lovers

family

rowing again

so things are starting to look up in charleston for me. the weeks are just flying by. it is crazy how fast time really goes. but a few things have started to look up since last week so just hoping the things looking up continues.

i had an interview and was offered on the spot a job at old navy. it wasn't my top choice but it is something. it is part time and i start my training on tuesday so i at least have some (extremely small) income coming in soon.
i also was accepted for a one of the local school districts substitute teacher list. so as much as i hate subbing it is something and i'll hopefully get some calls soon. i also need to get registered with charleston county too.
and just hoping i find something more permanent job wise.

i actually had a pretty busy week. and next week is looking pretty busy too (at least in the evenings). so i thought it might be fun to date a bit down here - meet some new people and just have fun and at least go out to some good places on dates. and i had my first date on monday. it went well, we met for drinks and ended up talking for 2.5 hours so we'll see what happens there, i'm going out with him again next week. and no other potential dates yet via online, but we'll see. if not online dating gives me great laughs with some of the profiles these guys have! and also this week i met someone my aunt knew had just moved to charleston for drinks as well and had a great time chatting about jersey and moving to charleston with him.

and today i finally went out with a local rowing club. it was great to get back on the water! i really hadn't coxed since college, except once or twice in ireland or when i coached in connecticut. and to make it more fun it was a bow 4 without a coxbox or coach. so it is going to take some getting used to at the masters level and it being sooo different from a top college varsity program. but i'm out on the water again in a sport i absolutely love.

so other than that a quiet weekend ahead, it will only be in the mid 70s so won't go to the beach but i want to find something fun to do.

happy friday!

26!

first birthday!

happy birthday to me!

i am now 26 and pretty excited for it.
25 has been an interesting year - one full of uncertainty, change and travel.
and not where i expected myself to be.
i never expected at 25 to be collecting unemployment, living at home, working temporary jobs and at times feeling so unsure of myself. i've always been a planner and knew exactly what i wanted to be doing with my life. but this year has taught me to be flexible and to adapt and to enjoy what you are doing and to have fun with life and well to have a plan z.

25th birthday!

while 25 was at times a rough year i did have some great parts to it. i had a great birthday weekend up in connecticut, spent a few glorious days with amy in acadia national park, ran a half marathon, had a fabulous fall working conferences in dc, went to charleston, sc with amy, had a lot of fun weekends with friends up & down the east coast, went to europe for 3 weeks in january by myself (zurich, prague, budapest, vienna, cologne, amsterdam) and back to my favorite city and second home cork, went to 5 new states working conferences around the US (washington, indiana, alabama, mississippi, texas), wished george washington a happy birthday with my best friends, saw my carolina tarheels play in the sweet 16, got to see my friends a lot, moved to dc for the spring/summer, went to a friend's wedding, many mini road trips, a chestertown reunion , saw sugarland, U2 and keith urban, successfully ran two conferences for 350 high school students each session in washington dc. had a fabulous weekend saying goodbye to mystic and decided to move to charleston,sc.

so with all the uncertainty and the kinda living at home and job searching and sometimes feeling like a failure i really did have a great 25. it was a major learning experience and i gained some awesome skills out of it and well i had a positive outlook on life and i made the best out of my transitional year. i gave myself a goal of finding a teaching job by september 2011 and then i would find a different path. and well that end line is in site without a job - so i'm finding a new path and am taking the huge leap to move to charleston and well hoping for a great 26! i'm looking forward to a new city, meeting new people and hopefully getting myself back on track. i've loved this year but i want to be more stable and less nomadic.

so the goals of 2011 - let's see how i'm doing...

- find a full time job where i am happy (preferably teaching) -  hopefully charleston will have that in store. i've liked what i've been doing this summer but there is no stability
- move out and get my own place - kinda - i've been in arlington since mid april and i'm moving to charleston with amy at the end of august
-continue traveling both in the US and internationally (i would LOVE to get out west again) - i'm doing well on this one! with my 3 weeks in europe and 5 new states so far! must keep traveling! i have a friend in colorado this fall i want to visit
- read 100 books - i'm probably pretty close - with the kindle i haven't really kept a running list like i did in 2010 but i'm reading up a storm. (must go through and create a list so i can keep track)
- continue working out 3-4 times a week and run another half marathon - nope - with the crazy hours and traveling for work just hasn't happened. i want to do a half this fall in the south carolina area as i want to run a full in spring 2012
- save an additional $12,000 this year - biggest no - i wish i had $12,000 in my account right now. going to europe and having to use some money from savings this had my account not happy right now
- scrapbook more - not so much with traveling and conferences. once i'm in charleston i want to do more
- continue doing my photo365 - yesss! i'm doing awesome with this! and i plan to do  26 as well! i love photo 365-ing!
- cross 5 things off my 30 by 30 list - working on it. i've been to 5 new states, 6 new countries and a book signing. things are happening
- blog more (125 posts) - i've only written 49 posts so far so making the goal of 125 will involve a lot more blogging, like 3 posts a week.
- a relationship - had some fun this spring but my nomadness makes a relationship difficult. maybe in charleston?
- continue looking for the best in every situation - i've done a lot of this! and well just gotta keep staying positive and it all works out!
- enjoy life and have fun! i had a lot of fun (see above) and really am enjoying myself even though this isn't where i expected to be in life...


so happy birthday to me! i can't wait to see what 26 has in store for me but i will enjoy it and have fun when i can!

chestertown reunion

so this weekend was one of the best weekends in a long time. it was a long long overdue weekend at wac with some of the worcester crew but more specifically to see aubrey and her husband. aubrey in college was one of my best friends and with hilary the three of us were the berries. i had a lot of rediculous adventures with those two freshman and sophomore year and we were still super great friends junior and senior years but not living together and we have hundreds of saved emails and countless mixed cds and thousands of memories. but after college i moved to ireland, hil back to dc and aubs went home to colorado for a bit, decided to teach english in thailand where she met a british guy and fell in love and finally moved over to england in spring 2010 and married him. so  we hadn't seen aubs since college graduation 4 years ago. and she was finally coming to the east coast so we could all meet her husband and have a mini reunion! 

outside our freshman year dorm - worcester! 

our dorm was on the left! view from the new dining hall

so friday after work i met aubs and martin, hil and emmy and we went to jazz in the park which was fun and then we headed out to dinner. it was amazing to just catch up on our lives - we've all been email slackers the last year and well it was fun to catch up on work, love, relationships, people and just life. and it was great to finally meet martin! and then saturday morning we were off to chestertown! it was fun going with hil, emmy, martin & aubs. a lot of laughing about college memories and the silly things we did. once we arrived we met up with eye and her husband, alex and her bf and then bill and chris. and we went to our favorite pizza place in town. and yum! i love proc's and the ziti pizza is heavenly! and of course we took martin around campus and stopped by all our old dorms and laughed about the specific memories from each one! and just had a great time going through all the new buildings and laughing about how different everything is with the new dorms, dining hall and theatre. we all said hi to george and laughed about may day, birthday balls, the hundreds of sporting events we went to. so it was fun to frolic about campus and think of all the theme parties, late nights, meals in the dining hall, classes together and just college life. 

us with the lovely george washington! 

toast to the happy couple!

after that we checked into the slightly sketchy hotel in town (not my choice) and prepared for aubrey's surprise. since they didn't have a wedding when they got married we thought it would be fun to have a cake, a champagne toast and celebrate their marriage! so that was fun and we definitely surprised them! and then we learned earlier this week that martin has never played beer pong so we had put that on the things to do list. so we started drinking and playing beer pong and getting the party started. which was just fun. martin caught on early how to play and well as we all knew with my talent, i'm not good until much, much later in the evening. but we had fun hanging out until it was time to head to rock hall!

with my crab!

we went to the best place for crabs in the eastern shore. waterman's in rock hall! now i'm not gonna lie, i went to college in maryland, i've gone to a bunch of crab houses and i had never had crab before. i've always been weary of seafood and i just don't like most of it. but i've been eating crab dip for a while now and i've had crab cakes and well last summer i attempted to eat a lobster. so this was it. so i enjoyed playing with the crabs and i did eat one! it was ok - not something i was in love with, but i would do it again. but sooo much work for so little food! but everyone had a blast at waterman's! 

all the wac-sters at watermans!

berries reunited 4 years later!

us with timmy!

and after waterman's we went back to the college favorite bar. the bird. it is closer to where i lived senior year than my classes or the dining hall. (and my campus is small) so we had a great time. and now the bird it awesome because well it is a dive bar and it has the cheapest drinks known to man. a pitcher of beer is $4.50. yes - i pay more for one beer in dc than i do for a pitcher at the bird. and we did shakers of shots for $15. now the shots may be slightly smaller than a regular shot but we could get 12 out of a shaker. so as you can imagine the beer and shots were flowing all night long. it was just one of those nights were we were all having fun, playing good music on the jukebox, playing pool, drinking, erotic photo hunt, and laughing. and best of all our favorite 

bartender/owner was at the bar that night drinking. we were kinda sad because we remembered it was saturday night and timmy never works on saturday night - but he was there and of course we got a group shot with timmy! so we reluctantly left at closing and headed across the street to our hotel where we continued to play beer pong and drank all the beer/champagne we purchased for the festivities. and as we all know i was on fire with beer pong later that evening when we got back! so we finally stumbled to bed at 3 am... which meant that i was continuously drinking for 12 hours - something i haven't done since i did it once or twice in college. 

everyone at the bar

and sunday morning surprisingly we weren't really hungover - don't know how. but we all did go to ellen's for some fabulous breakfast and to laugh about the antics of the night before. pretty much what we used to do in college. and then we drove back across the bay to dc and we all said goodbye.  

all our signed dollars at the bird

it was an amazing weekend with great friends and catching up on our lives in the last 4 years. in our crew we've been to many different places and including the people who weren't able to attend we've hit living since graduation on 5 continents, 3 marriages, many different jobs, a few MA degrees, many weekends together, many boyfriends and lots of crazy living. i'm glad we made the time this weekend to see each other and i don't want to wait the next 4 years to see everyone. so i'm hoping we can make this a yearly event because i love seeing my friends and i don't want to take them for granted. 

4 years!

the worcester girls 4 years later

college was an amazing four years and four years ago today i graduated from wac. so i am now at the point where i've been out of college as long as i was there. and these last four years have been just as crazy.

barkley wearing our suite's
graduation bling

i spent a summer teaching at an academic camp in north carolina, moved to ireland for two years and did a masters degree, moved to connecticut and worked at a maritime museum, went to dc for the summer and worked at a high school leadership conference, ended up with a teaching job back home in new jersey, spent a summer as an alternate director of a sailing camp in connecticut, went back down to dc to work high school leadership

as well as kept in touch with some amazing college friends, made some new friends along the way, traveled around europe and the us, dated a few people, moved back in with my parents, been unemployed and through it all kept loving life enjoying every second of the adventure.

4 years later and still going strong!

i learned a lot about myself in those 4 years in chestertown - fell in love with a new sport (rowing), joined an amazing sisterhood (zta), studied abroad in ireland, met some amazing people and still keep in touch with many of them, had a few boyfriends, realized my passion for history, learned how to be an amazing teacher, had fabulous relationships with my professors, learned how to write, my confidence in myself grew, i found an amazing place i know i can alway go back to and laugh about the memories from those 4 years, learned so much from the people around me and took advantage of every opportunity. and in the 4 years since graduating i have continued to do those things. and i plan on continuing to learn and grow. so thank you washington college for 4 amazing years both in college and post college.

next year i will be back in chestertown for the reunion weekend and hope all my friends have fun there this weekend!

busy, busy this week in dc for me. tuesday went all over the district for work talking about visiting all the memorials and sites we go to, which was fun! went to dinner with patricia on wednesday night for our weekly catch up and yesterday night i met up with travis (jeanne's fiancee) he was in town for work and i met up with him and we went out to dinner at this great irish pub in old towne. so that was a fun night! and this weekend is shaping up to be quite awesome! i was gchatting with my friend ellie on wednesday and she said she was going to a brett dennen concert on saturday night at the 930 club and said i should go. now i have no idea who he was - but i went and listened to some of his music and really enjoyed it so decided why not! and then i had been thinking about going to the sugarland concert on sunday night by myself and i saw a fellow former blogger/twitter amanda's tweet about wanting to go. so we struck up a conversation and a little bit later i'm buying a ticket to go! which is super awesome because her and i have been trying to meet up with each other since i was in dc this fall! so i get to meet amanda and go to a sugarland concert! yay! plus i'm seeing my little & glittle for lunch on sunday too! so lots going on and then next week will be crazy at work, then it is memorial day weekend and i'm seeing jeanne & amy! and then conference life starts! i can't believe how fast life is going, but i'm loving it!

any fun plans this weekend?

ohhhh - and check out my guest post about a funny teaching story over on one of favorite bloggers the fabulous lucy the valiant! i had a great time meeting her and her family when i was in dallas!

philly and happy birthday george!

i'm back from one of the most fabulous weekends i've had in a long time with friends. it was great to see amy & jeanne and play in philly! i've been to philly a bunch of times, usually along the schuylkill for a regatta, but a few times i was able to play. and so this time it was a super touristy day in philly but i LOVED it! the highlight was going to independence hall and seeing where they signed the declaration of independence and debated the constitution! i could just feel the love and magic of those amazing documents in that room.

where they signed the constitution and declaration of independence!!!

liberty bell

LOVE

view from top of city hall

irish famine memorial 

and then saturday amy, jeanne and i headed to chestertown to wish our favorite president happy birthday in style. but before we celebrated we went for a nice 3.5 mile run along the chester river. it reminded us of our college days and the crazy birthday ball competition practice we would have that morning with rowing. so it was fun to go for a nice, gorgeous run! and then went to get pizza for dinner and with our other friends walburn, kaity & her bf nate kicked off the night with a toast while getting ready! so we had some fun before heading to campus for birthday ball. i was really lucky as a huge percentage of my good college friends were at birthday ball. the girls and then my little & glittle and ash! so it was super nice to see so many friends in one weekend! so birthday ball was fun - the usual wac craziness! and of course the post ball midnight breakfast in the dining hall!

with my girls 

and my frippet

amy, me, little & kspice

happy birthday george!

this morning when we woke up we realized we were growing up when we weren't hungover after a birthday ball... and went to brunch before parting ways and heading back home. this weekend reminded me and my friends of why we need to see each other more and how special our friendship is!

so a busy week. i was gonna go skiing on monday, buuut it is supposed to rain all day, so we went to a back-up plan. and then wednesday i'm off to pittsburgh and the crazy of conferences for the next three weeks!

how was your weekend?

2010 in review

so 2010 wasn't the best year for me - it started out pretty awesome and then about halfway through the year everything started to change. it hasn't been horrible and i've really tried to look on the bright side, as i've been able to do some pretty awesome things. but it has been a rough year. but i've been really lucky as 2007, 2008 and 2009 (especially 2009) were awesome, so i hope 2011 will be a better year.

january:
had a fun new year's eve with erin hanging out, and i was super busy in january. with teaching, driving to bethlehem to see matt on the weekend, coaching the ski team. yea... january was boring. i was working everyday from 7am-8pm with school and ski. and there were seriously no photos in jan :(


february:
february was crazy! with teaching, ski team, zta recruitment, going to kansas, and other little trips.

kansas basketball game with patricia

at truman's house in missouri

lots of snow!

so it was the usual with school & ski. i also had recruitment for the college zta chapter i advise with a few late late nights, and the highlight of february was kansas! i was also hanging out with erin every week going to the movies or dinner (so nice to have a local friend). played in princeton for the day with jclark and i went out for a long weekend to see my friend patricia and had a blast in kansas! went to a kansas basketball game, played with history and ate a lot of amazing food. i also hit 2 new states - kansas and missouri! stayed a little longer due to a blizzard in jersey. lots and lots of skiing! the charity ball with matt, more snow, being hooked to the tv for the winter olympics especially the skiing & hockey.




march:

amy and i on our adventure

puppy and lillian kitten

march started out great. i went up to mystic for a fun weekend! i also got a new camera! yay! dyed my hair, seeing twin in pa, got new glasses, sadly had to put the sweet miss brandy to sleep :(
saw riverdance with erin which was fabulous and my present to myself for being back in the states a year! huge budget cuts in nj in education, but still loving my job and my students, still seeing matt on the weekends and having fun with him, super busy with work, being ztatastic and happy that it is no longer winter!


april:

monticello

gettysburg

april was a fun month! it started out with spring break! yay! a week off of school! and i was down to virginia to see my sister for easter with my family and then it was the civil war road trip. i went to richmond, appomattox, monticello, longwood college (where my sorority was founded), fredricksburg, saw where stonewall jackson's arm was burried, chancellorsville, wash dc, gettysburg and i got to see my pen-pal holly! so that was an amazing week. the rest of april was uneventful, loving my job but things were still uneasy with if i was going to have a job, but i was loving the spring weather and still seeing matt when i could and i bought my bike!

may:

fun weekend in philly

tswift

graduation

may was traveltastic! started out may with a much needed mystic weekend. i helped amy celebrate her birthday and a fun weekend of drinking and playing on the water. then the next weekend i was down in philly with jeanne, with a hilarious we're drinking like we're in college night and cheering on our college team rowing. still waiting to hear about my job, absolutely loving my students and teaching, seeing TSWIFT in concert which was ammmmazing! then the next week i was in baltimore to see my little & glittle for the weekend, which was an awesome time! and next was my fav trip of may - going up to boston to see jeanne graduate which was my 4 reunion! may went by super fast as i was traveling but it was so much fun!




june:

dixie chicks, keith urban & the eagles

eeeee! only a few more days of school before summer break! i signed up for a half-marathon, read a ton of books, loved seeing erin & my sorority alumni sisters & cut my hair with bangs! unfortunately found out that i wasn't getting rehired with about a week left in the school year, saw the dixie chicks, keith urban & the eagles in concert which was fabulous! survived my first year teaching and was extremely sad to not be teaching there again, went to graduation and then a few hours later was in mystic and camp started the next day! camp was crazy! the staff was fun, but man i wasn't used to the little kids!

july:

lots of sailing

lobster

lady a & tim mcgraw

summer was in swing at camp, which i was enjoying. but i was loving the weekends. 4th of july was great with the beach, boating & fireworks. lots of sailing, driving the launches, happy hours on friday nights, laughing as the boys drank on weeknights. twin came up and her amy and i went to see lady a and tim mcgraw and got drenched in a thunderstorm! the summer of arnold palmers, attempting to eat lobster, sailing, playing at the cottages in newport, my fab 25th birthday weekend of the bar, carson's, the beach and the rascal flatts with amy and captain! i also started up my photo365 again!

august:

sunrise over acadia

acadia national park

love it

still lots of sailing, realizing i should be running for the half marathon, the pranks at camp, and general summer fun. quickly realizing summer was almost over and slightly panicing about my life and no clue as to what would happen, i cried a lot this summer. camp ended and lots of cleaning. heading up to maine (yes! another new state) with amy for a few days camping at acadia national park. which i LOVED. lots of hiking, biking, watching sunrise, and just an absolutely gorgeous part of our country. sadly leaving connecticut and heading back to nj, where i became a statistic. started going on a few dates and did my 30 by 30 list and found out i'd be in dc only for a few weeks this fall.

little's bachelorette

yay 13.1 miles

world war II memorial

ft. mchenry

september:
had a mini breakdown when school started and i wasn't going back but it was a busy week, catching up with erin & barb, went hiking with becca, and then drove down to dc for a few weeks work. and on the way went to my little's bachelorette party in baltimore which was a blast! and then the history dork i am went to ft. mchenry and then i started what i thought was going to be two-ish weeks in dc. in dc i hung out with my fav mj and we were tourists and i got my library of congress library card! and then was so excited to be reunited with patricia and mj! training week was fun, and to end the week was the chestertown half marathon! i met up with jeanne and walburn and had a great weekend, running 13.1 miles in 2:11:56, which i was super excited about, and then some crew time and then hitting up the bird and drinking like we were in college! first session went well and i was asked to work more weeks! so i was going to be in dc a bit longer!







october: 

ft. sumter

magnolia plantation grounds

mom and i at army

little and i

conference life is crazy. i was loving the fun with ellie & mj and our lunch adventures especially with cupcakes! my groups were all pretty awesome, so i was lucky! little's wedding in baltimore was so much fun! she was gorgeous and it was a great party! and just crazy conference life. having a week off and going with amy to charleston, sc! took amtrack and had fun playing in a gorgeous southern city! seeing ft. sumter! and all the gorgeous architecture! the plantations and old houses! i was in love. tswift's new cd came out! ended the month with going to an army football game with my parents and heading back down to dc for one last week.











november:

ellie & i at end of cycle

erin and i hiking

thought there might be some good news, but there wasn't. but the last week of conferences were fun! and the end of cycle was completely hilarious! then i was back to nj.... november kinda sucked. i subbed a few days a week, read a lot, erin & i went hiking and were hanging out all the time. it was a really quiet month. i bought a bed. thanksgiving with my family was nice. joined the gym...



december:

amy & i in newport

walburn, me and jeanne 

christmas

lots of plans for december. the first weekend i met up with 2 college friends in the city for the day, then sorority christmas party, and saturday drove to philly to get jeanne and we headed to baltimore for walburn's christmas party! it was a great night and then met kaity for brunch sunday. continued to sub a few days a week, re-did my room, went to connecticut for the weekend and saw catie for dinner and then the usual mystic shenanigans. amy & i went to newport, the slumber party and a great weekend. christmas was quickly approaching, i booked the eurotrip! 3 weeks in january to zurich, prague, budapest, vienna, cologne, amsterdam and ireland!
yay!! took little bro into the city for
his present to see the king tut exhibit, which was fabulous. and then suz's christmas party in the city, which was hilarious and fun to see some people i haven't in years. and then lots of christmas and euro prep. a nice christmas with my family, where i got a kindle! and today a big snowstorm. the rest of this week will be getting ready for europe and a new years eve with jeanne and other college friends in philly.



2010 overall i did a lot, there was a major disappointment with not getting rehired. but i think i've done an ok job of looking on the bright side and having fun. i did some awesome things!

-3 new states (kansas, missouri & maine)
-successfully completed my first year teaching
-made a few new awesome friends
-restarted my photo365
-ran a half marathon
-saw riverdance, taylor swift/kellie pickler, eagles/dixie chicks/keith urban, lady a/tim mcgraw/rascal in concert
-lots of road trips to see friends

so i am extremely lucky that i was able to do so many things and have these awesome opportunities. i hope 2011 will be a better year, but i was lucky in 2010 for many things.