Friends

I miss Ashley.  I miss Velvet.  I've missed Eden.  And I miss Ryan again.

Whyyyyy???  We should all just buy a house and live together.

Ashley is getting ready to have an awesome and amazing time in Ireland. 

Velvet is livin' the life in New York.

Eden is making bank in Plymouth.

And Ryan is stuck home with no internet and TV.

Poop.

I hope everyone is getting ready to have a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.  Also, I'm excited to begin a new year.  Start fresh, and all that jazz.

In parting, I'll leave you with "Baby It's Cold Outside."

Also, I JUST LOST THE GAME!!!!

<3

Home

The past 24 hours have sucked. 

I left Burlington to come home for the summer.  I am separated from my twin, my best college friends are still in Burlington or heading for Cape, and I'M SO ALONE!!!! :(

Granted, it's really nice to be home to see my family.  But I am really going to miss all the people my age walking the streets at all hours of the day and night.  (Except for probably 6am-8am.) 

Currently I am sitting on my bed in my room after having showered, and I am waiting for someone to get online.  This is how much of a life I have.  Sleeping in my own bed is going to be magical, but Ryan isn't here to cuddle with.  FMLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!

<3

I will miss you all dearly.  I hope you have a fabulous summer, stay safe, and be good to each other.

I'll keep you posted whenever something exciting happens here in L-ville!

Love always,
Megan

P.S. Completely Unrelated- last night while on our last trip to Champ Farms until August, I slipped and fell in the mud in my pjs.  It felt worse than it looked....and it looked horrible.  Fortunately-the fall was really graceful and I didn't injur anything.  Just my ego. :)

It's All Coasting From Here on Out

So, I realized that I never did post about my EHS Honors Dinner.  Other than almost getting run over after the event (Nadia'd-for those of you who watch LOST,) it was really uneventful.  We sat down at our dinner tables with some water and/or lemonade:

Mmmmmmmmmmmm...

After everyone had gone through the buffet line, we had our nice meal.  After the meal, the award-presenting commenced.  I was more toward the end of the program, but it was still very nice.  Ann (Fred's wife) walked me up by holding my hand, and presented me to the audience:

Ann and Fred are both my professors for the Social Work Program, so it was really fabulous to have everyone there!  Also, the lady in the blue shirt in that last picture is Tawnya, she is another SWK faculty member who will essentially be taking Fred's place when he retires in another year.  Nobody can truly replace Fred, but Tawnya is going to do her best!

________________________________

On to other activities, TODAY IS MY LAST DAY OF CLASS!!!!  YESTERDAY WAS MY LAST DAY OF COR!!!!!!!! WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!!!!!  Yes, I am very pumped.  This has been a long time coming.  Yesterday was ALSO the last day of my internship for the semester, so things are FINALLY wrapping up.

I just want to say that I couldn't have done this without the unwavering support of Ryan, Ashley, Velvet, and my family.  You guys truly are the best there is, and I want to thank you all for putting up with my stressful, crazy antics whenever things went to crap for me this semester.  If I had like, $500 to give each of you, I'd toes do that.  :) 

(But I don't, so forget it.)  Haha <3

In terms of stress relief....yeah, well, here, let me show you.

Mmmm hmmm.  That's what we do with our life. 

So, all in all, I think I can breathe again.  I'm scared to go home this summer and to see what is going to happen when I have nobody to hang out with.  I don't want to spend my entire summer at work and/or locked away in my room.  I want to get outside, go be active, and do something with my life.  I want to explore some nautre trails, but unfortunately you need someone with you when you go do that.  Sooo...I don't know. 

I do plan on trying to organize a big party at Willoughby by picking a day in mid-July or so, and seeing if we can just get a MASS of people to show up on the same day just to hang out, and enjoy the gorgeous weather.  I'm really looking forward to that, so hopefully that will happen!

I'm also nervous about when I go home that I will have nothing to write about the entire summer other than posts like, "My life sucks.  I work.  I eat.  I sleep.  The end."  I want to write some witty, funny things that keep you all entertained!  Other than Ryan creating a summer reading list and a lesson plan for me to follow this summer, I'm really afraid of just wasting away with nothing to do.  I love hanging out with my family, but after so many days of work to family to work to family, you kind of need something else.  (No offense to all of you at home! I love you, but I need people my own age, too.)  :) <3 

My CCV course will help keep me occupied with some stuff though, so that's good.  I wish I could find more nature spots to go and just sit and get away from the computer without being eaten alive by mosquitos, or being afraid of getting myself lost by going too deeply into the woods.  I'm thinking of maybe spending some time at N. beach out at Willoughby, but we'll see.  I think I'm going to be stuck with paying for gas money to get to classes and back this summer as well, so I need to be aware of what my travel habits are like.

Another topic I'm thinking about lately is boys.  I feel as though I'm ready to move on.  Now that Luke and I have had some space from one another, I don't see myself as a "part" of him anymore.  He is his own person and I am too, and I realize that I don't feel bound to him any longer.  It's really fabulous, really.  I don't mean that in the sense that I am bashing him in any way, but I'm realizing that I think I've been ready to move on probably for about a year now, so I'm glad it has finally happened.  I feel like a much stronger person.  I don't feel guilty about going out with my friends at night when I "should" be home on the computer talking to him.  I actually want to go out and be active with people now.  If you had talked to me about a year ago, I would probably have turned down plans to go out simply because I would miss a night talking to my boyfriend.  Yeah, kind of shitty right?  Well, I have moved on and I want to start looking again.

I realized that I often have trouble just getting to meet people.  So I was thinking of making a profile through Seven Days and posting to see if anybody may be interested.  Seven Days is a very public/weekly publication for the Burlington area, so if I find that I haven't had luck flirting this summer, perhaps I will post something for next semester.  I really do like being single, but I also miss the intimate part of being in a relationship.  And by that I don't mean just missing sex, but I just miss being held.  I miss feeling safe and warm and loved in someone's arms.  I mean, I can certainly live without that if I have to, but I would prefer not to.  Basically, Megan is on the prowl again.  If you or someone you know is interested in dating her, please tell her or forward her their contact information!  I feel as though I may have some free time to pencil them in this summer. ;)  Hahahaha. <3

Until next time!

<3 Megan <3

One Project Down

Last night at 11:30 I finished my Secular and the Sacred paper at UVM's Bailey-Howe with Ryan.  (Mmmm...Ryan.)  Velvet joined us for the last hour and a half or so.  This monstrous 8 page paper on the symbolism of women in Tarot is now complete.  I don't know if I acutally did the assignment and gave my professor what he was asking for, BUT, I have a strong paper...if that helps?  Also, I dropped down to four sources (INCLUDING the interview I held with my group of Naomi the Tarot reader.)  So, not sure how that will affect my grade.  Anyway, at least it's done.

Now....only four more papers/projects to go.  If I survive this week, I will once again consider myself Superwoman.  Actually, I think I earn the title 'Superwoman' permanently after surviving this semester.  HOLY CRAP.  Good thing it's almost over.  I think I should check with my mother and convince her to buy me an hour at the spa at the end of every semester just to try to calm myself down after all this hype.  Sheesh!

I feel bad for Ashley, though.  She was in the same boat as I was, except her paper was 15 pages.  Granted, because both of us are in the same class (grade-level-wise,) and because both of these papers are for COR, (we don't necessarily like COR classes all the time-can you tell?) the paper she did I have to do for Capitalism and Democracy for next week, and the paper I did she will have to do for her Secular and the Sacred class.  Both of our papers are due today at 2, so I am hoping hers is almost done. Hang in there, sweetie!

Well, unfortunately I can't spend long on here, but I did want everyone to know that I am still alive.  I'm flailing around a little bit, but I'm still here.

Much love you you all!
-Megan

Bloggable Moments

This weekend has been CRAZY....and it isn't over yet!  Starting Friday night, I had a PA Appreciation Dinner from 6-8.  Meg (from Career Services!) came with me to support Chelsea and I for all of our hard work in evaluating resumes and such.  Awww. <3 (We love Meg.)  Anywho, I was only planning on going and staying until about 7 because I wanted to be with my 308 girls (and Ryan!) and kick off the weekend on a good note. 

Well, slight change of plans.  The dinner was one of those that was a paced 3-course meal plus dessert, with different speakers from our group standing up to appreciate us, an all-inclusive slideshow, and superlatives. Yes, we're just THAT cool....we got superlatives.  I was choosen for "Sweetest PA" which is really cute.  :)

After being able to escape at 8, I got back to the dorm.  Previously during the day, there had been some discussion about Velvet wanting to go to the hospital per her mom's orders, so Meg had offered us a ride if need be.  I never got a response as to whether or not the ride was actually needed, so after having received a post on FaceBook that she may want to forego the trip, I thanked Meg but told her the ride probably wouldn't be necessary.  Once back at the dorm, 308 hung out for a few hours, and by 10pm guess what happened?  Yup, Velvet decided she wanted to go to the hospital.  SO, we walked up to Fletcher Allen Hospital at 10:30 pm, and had a grand old time.  Velvet was able to go back as soon as we got in the door essentially, and so Ashley, Ryan and I moved on into the waiting room until Velvet got out.  In the meantime, a "felon" was walked into the hospital and admitted to the Triage.  (We don't actually know what he did wrong, but this was the name Ryan dubbed him with.)  Felon was in cuffs accompanied by a Po-po man, and once admitted to the Triage, we were able to see what happened (unfortunately.)  Fortuantely for me though, I went to the bathroom as this next part unfolded.  Mr. Felon man got an IV stuck in him (which was able to be viewed by everybody in the waiting room because the Triage has windows....wtf.)  So Ryan and Ashley watched this drama unfold.

***NOTE-If you are eating, please finish before going on to read this next paragraph.***

In between watching Ashley and Ryan hold an EPIC game of UNO in Ryan's lap, another poor soul found its way to Fletcher Allen.  This guy was coughing up lung-fulls of phlegm/blood.  Unforunatley, because it was "after hours", only one of the Triage rooms was open...the one Mr. Felon man was occupying.  So basically while this guy was dying in the waiting room, Mr. Felon man was taking his time.  And to top it all off, when he got out of the Triage room to let the other guy in, Mr. Felon man was smiling and thinking this was all a grand old time.  Yeah....awesome.

FINALLY Velvet gets about about 1.5 hrs after we originally got there, and after basically only telling her what she already knew (except for clarifiying that it isn't a sprain, simply really inflamed for whatever reason,) we were able to go back for the evening.

Yesterday we spent time on homework/papers/final project-papers.  Not fun.  My 8 pager due Tuesday isn't even started yet because I'm still sifting through all my sources for information.  *Sigh*  After spending until about 3:30-4 on this, I was finished with a UVM book so I went with Ryan to go return it and to go grab supper.  Afterwards, we decided to go on a walk.  We discovered where the Intervale is located, and found some pretty epic hills that we didn't know existed.  All in all, it was a good time!

Today I'm planning on finishing up sifting through all my sources, and then getting a few good pages done by 5 pm at the latest tonight.  I REALLY want to get this paper on the roll, but it's hard because its for a professor who prides himself on being a hardass (his words, not mine.)  SO, this paper may or may not be the end of me.  I guess either way it works out.  For the rest of this semester, I have a study guide to complete for Fred, a project to complete for Fred, a 12 page paper for my Constituation Project, 2 oral presentations, a Written Process Recording to complete for Seminar, work on a Final Evaltuation for Seminar/my internship, 3 Music Makers concerts, Housing Selection Night, and a final Champlain Loses It Finale Party.  So, if the Ethnographic paper kills me, guess I won't have to worry about the rest of that! :)  Hahaha That's morbid... 

Ok blogosphere, just wanted to let you know I was still alive.  I'll post a picture and sign off for another week or two depending on how well I can survive the next 3 weeks.  Much love to you all!!!

-Megan

First Monday Off

Hello, everyone!  So, today was my first Monday off.  It began (and still continues) with me feeling like something isn't quite right.  I feel like I'm forgetting to do something...and if I don't figure it out....it's not going to end well.  However, I got through it.  Tomorrow I'll probably realize what I missed, and then I will be in deep doo-doo.

But for now, I'll share with you what I did today.  This morning I woke up at 11, and took a shower.  Mmm, exciting, right?  (Yeah, I didn't think so either.)  I waited for Velvet to wake up so that we could go to the gym.  (That never actually happened, but stick with me for a moment while I continue to write about my day.)  Around 12:30, we were both finally up and decent enough to go get lunch.  Mmmmmmm...Mac n' cheese (that actually needed a lot of work), and a grilled cheese sandwich. 

After consuming sustinance, Velvet and I go to her dorm to grab her gym clothes.  At 1:40 we go to meet Ryan out of his Spanish class.  Mmmm....Ryan.  We hang out in his room for a while at UVM and then guess who shows up?  Thats right!  Josef! AHHH!!! Actually, no, I love Joe.  We chat and make small talk for about 10-15 mins, and then its time for Ryan to go to his Theatre lab.  Mmmm painting!  This worked out fine because it meant that we were finally able to go to the gym (after stopping by the library to do some printing, that is.) 

Lab fail.  Gym fail.  On the way back to Champlain, I get a text from Ryan.  Basically, his class all showed up, and the teacher showed up and cancelled the lab.  "Well, fine!"  This sparked an idea in my head. 

"Hey, Velvet.  Instead of going to the gym, want to do a walk around Burlington with Ryan?  His lab is cancelled."  Mmmm...Velvet.  The answer was toes, and so after doing a few errands, we both stopped by 308 and dropped off gym clothes and decided to wait for Ryan.  Eventually, this trip progressed.

Instead of spending 2 hours at the gym as originally planned, we spent 2-3 hours walking around Burlington.  Specifically we spent time at the waterfront, and took a bunch of random pictures all together.  Awwwww!!!!

Yes, today was amazing.  Oh! And for your amusement...here are some b-day pictures that were FINALLY rescued from my camera.  Enjoy!

Love,

Megan

I'm Baaaaaack!!!!

Well, the 2010 Spring Break is over.  Now we're all in it for the long haul.  A month and a half left of school.  Isn't that so depressing?

Seriously, wtf?  Can't we just like, stay in 308 forever and never have to worry about leaving and the possibility of not coming back?  NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!  I won't have it.

Tonight is going to be fun.  We're going to try to have a discussion amongst our 308 members about where we're going to be living next year, and/or to see if we can still stay here in the same room next year.  I really want to.  Velvet has some hinderances, but we want to see if we can work through them.  Also, Ashley has some cautions about all of us rooming together, but hopefully we'll get this all discussed tonight.  We'll see.

I'm so tired, and I shouldn't be.  I mean, tomorrow is Monday.  I don't have classes.  Normally I would have an internship but because I got ahead in my hours I am now allowed to take Mondays off.  AGGGHHHHH!!! That'll be fun! 

So, I guess I'm just working on hanging in there.  I want this semester to be over sooo badly I can taste it.  But, I don't want to leave all these wonderful people.  Can I just live in Champlain's dorms with everybody and NOT take classes or have work to do?  Can we work that out somehow?  Shoot, didn't think so. :(



Ok, well I'm going to go and try to figure out to do with the rest of my school career.  Much love!

-Megan

Future Plans/Dear 308, My Life Would Suck Without You. Love, Megan.

Good morning everyone!

Right now I am gorging myself on some Glee music.  Awesome?  Yes, I think so.  Guess what?!  Spring break begins in 31 hours!  That's right!  WHOOOT!

So, I am thinking about my future and where I want to go.  (This subject came up because I'm brainstorming ideas for Supervision Conversations for the rest of the semester.)  I love Social Work so much because you learn the basic skills, but then you can essentially help any kind of client you like.  You can go into alcohol and drug addictions, clinical social work (which is the stereotypical working one-on-one with a client,) aiding entire communities, working as a government sort of social worker, working in a school, etc.  I love jobs where you can still have learned the basics, but every day is different.  I think this might be why I became so fond of cashier work.  You know how to run the register, it's the same every time.  But you get new clients who buy different combinations of things.  It's fun!  But I digress.  In essence, social work is perfect for me.

I'm trying to figure out what area of social work I want to find myself in for a good 10-20 years.  I would like to try to figure this out before my senior year of college so that when I am in my senior, full-year internship, I'll be in a placement getting experience in the particular area of social work that I want to be working in after grad school.  (Which is a whole 'nother OMG situation.)

Grad School-*sigh*, here we go.  Right now, the Champlain College SWK program is not accredited by CSWE (the body that actually accredits the SWK programs throughtout the nation.)  This means that unless I get grandfathered in with the accredidation, I won't have something called Advanced Standing, which means that I will only need to be in grad school for a year to a year-and-a-half instead of the full two years.  I would like to get into UVM's MSW program and get my Master's from there, but depending on how things work out in the future, I don't know.  See, Ryan and I want to live together at some point.  His junior year (my senior year), he would like to go to England to study abroad for a semester (which he should TOTALLY do if he gets in!)  But I'm a little nervous about what my transition from undergrad college student to grad student at UVM is going to look like.  Apparently, if you're in a grad school program there's a chance that you can live on campus through the college.  THIS means, that if I can get into UVM's program straight out of Champlain, I can live with Ryan his senior year of college while I'll be going through my first year of my MSW program.  This would be SO perfect.

I do kind of want to stay in the Burlington area, but housing here is so expensive.  The landlords do not generally take great care of the apartments.  They know that college students are looking to get off campus so they can drink and party at their leisure, which means that the landlords know that the students are desperate.  So if the apartment isn't really up to par, oh well. They're still going to have to keep the apartment until the school year is over, why spend money to fix it up when you know you aren't going to lose your tenants?  This is all relevant becase ideally I would like to end up working at Casey Family Services (located in Winooski.)  Although now I think about it, this is kind of stupid.  I have the agency picked out where I eventually would like to work, but I still don't know what branch of social work I want to get into.  What?!  Ugh, nothing makes any sense. :(  I do know that I want to end up in a place that has great benefits (i.e. Casey's,) but what if it's a branch of work I don't enjoy?  WHY DIDN'T I THINK OF THIS BEFORE??!?!?!!?! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH  Although, I think I would definitely enjoy working with kids.  Maybe it'll work out?

In other words, I don't know whats going to happen.  I'm not financially stable enough to be able to live on my own, or to be able to afford my own apartment (even with roommates.)  Because of my full-time student status, I don't have the time to work enough hours to afford keeping myself in an apartment.  And again, Ryan and I would like to live together after college is all over with and such, but he also wants to go for his Master's as well.  Why do our schedules work out SO well?

On a futuristic note a little close to us in time, I'm not sure whats happening for where I'm living next year.  See, there's a problem.  Velvet wants/needs to live in International House (because this is the only dorm kept open on campus over breaks.)  Ashley doesn't like the temperature of it (it's always so warm.  It's on UVM heat because we lease it from UVM every year....so..yeah..) and I think it's just a really gross, old, too-lived in building.  (You can tell when certain buildings have just had people living there too long.)  So, we don't know.  If Velvet were able to get a job back in NY that she was able to go home to on breaks and such, we wouldn't be stuck in as big a conundrum.  The other option would be for Ashley and I to find a nice double somewhere where there is enough space to have one (or two) other people spend the night once in a while. I would feel bad about this though because to me, it feels like we're ditching Velvet. See, I'd be fine with staying in the same triple in 308 next year...but once again, Velvet would need to make sure she has a job to go back to over breaks, or make sure she can stay with someone here in Burlington.  Actually, staying at 308 would really be ideal.  The couch is nice for when Ryan comes over, and if Velvet is our third roommate, we could TOTALLY have this.  Everything is just...AHHHHH!!!!

I hate feeling like I don't know what I'm doing.  I want to be able to provide for myself, and to see what it feels like to have my own place (or share it with Ryan.) Hahaha. I don't know!  I know what I generally want to do with my life, but I need help figuring out the details.

_________________________________________________________________________________

Dear 308,

I love you all!  I want to thank you all sooooooo much will all the support you have provided to me this year, and this semester specifically.  I've made a lot of life changes this year, and it's been one hell of a ride trying to figure out what's happening.  I want you all to know I love you, and in fact, my life would suck without you.  I want us all to be in the same nursing home when we're 90 and senile.  Ashley will just start writing random tidbits on her walls, Ryan and I will be WTFing everywhere, and Velvet will be the old cranky lady who yells at everybody.  Hahahahahaha! 

I love you guys so much!  Thank you for everything!

Love to everybody!

-Megan

Anticipation and Anxt

What a week.  Can it be Friday night at like, 5 pm right now?

Velvet, Ashley, Joe and I are all preparing for Ryan's birthday coming up on SATURDAY!!!!!! 

Velvet and I have some secret plans to implement and carry out for Friday night, and Joe is going to be dragged into some of it, even though he isn't aware of this yet.  :)  Ashley will be included in the plans too, although she isn't aware of either of them yet.

Ryan and I have decided that we can't go more than 12 hours without seeing each other now.  We keep finding excuses to get together even for a random span of 45 mins between our classes.  It's bad-but somehow, I'm really ok with that. :P  I need me some Ryan!

As for everything else, my internship is clunking along.  Hopefully it'll get easier after the meeting with our consultants today.  AHHHHHHH.  I have so many impending projects and papers due this week.  I had forgotten about the majority of them, but they're all do-able, I think. 

My iTunes is now officially the best compiled selection of music on my campus.  I LOVE my iTunes.  AHHHH!!!!!  Hahahaha.

Anywho...hope everyone else is survivng their semester!  I'm going to go work on hw and some internship items.

Love as always!
-Megan

Snowball/Jeanne Mance/Successes/Failures

Well, hello everyone!

I've been a slacker lately.  I'm so caught up in my day to day life that things have started to slide on the blogosphere side of my life.

SO, to catch up, let's start with snowball:

These are snapshots of the evening.  Hahaha.  Amid all the completely inebriated people in the center of the dance floor, the rest of us had a GREAT time with the chocolate fountain (FONDUE!!!!)  and some of the music.  Top Hat Entertainment could have probably done a little bit of a better job, but we were able to do the Hand Jive, so then it was all good. :)

Now, let's talk about Jeanne Mance!  AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! I received the BEST massage in the past 8 years from Ryan.  It felt so goooood.  We made a special trip to Rite Aid to get baby oil, and a water fountain.  Mmmmmm hmmm.....it was awesome.   We made a Zen Tent, and a new phrase: "It's ZEN TIME, WHAT?"  Yes, things are strange.

Later in the evening, we decided to get Wings for supper.  After calling and waiting for 45 mins, Wings calls Ryan's cell phone.  Joe BOOKS it down the stairs.  When Ryan and I arrive, there are like 4-5 guys lined up against the wall with police officers reading them their rights.  We don't know what happened, but it had to do with alcohol and being on campus.  To see the supposed dialogue, check out Ryan's blog: http://ryhowland.blogspot.com/

Ryan and I just completed a V-Day mailing package to go out to everybody.  It was pretty epic!  Hahahaha.  We've got letters going to L-ville, Barre, and Florida.  Toes!!!!  Let's just blanket our country with 308 Luv!

As far as successes and failures, I'm surviving school.  I don't particularly enjoy a few of my classes this semester, but I'm plugging through them.  I just wish the next three months would hurry up and be done because I'm basically ready to go home and spend time with my family and Ryan.  Granted, I wish I could also go visit Velvet and Ashley at their respective homes in NY and Mass, but it is what it is.

As far as plans for next year, Ryan and I are still planning to hop a plane to Florida over Thanksgiving break.  Mmmmm hmmm....pictures to come!  Hahahahha.  Cannot wait.  Taking a plane (or two!) by ourselves is going to be pretty amazing, and I feel like I'll feel MUCH more like an adult when that is able to happen.  Can't wait!

I believe that's about it as of right now.  I'm (immensely) enjoying being a single woman, and I plan to enjoy it until I feel I'm ready to try dating again.  I love being able to go out with my friends and not feel guilty about not being ONLINE for 7hrs every night talking about the same things day after day.  I really do feel free, and I'm going to enjoy that freedom to it's fullest extent.

Much Love!  IT'S ZEN TIME, WHAT?!

Love, Megan

RYAN COMES BACK TODAY!!!!!!!!!

Hi, everyone!

Yesterday was Saturday night.  Guess what I did?  NO! NOT that, you pervs!  Actually, I stayed in with some of my best friends in the world--Velvet and Ashley, and did all of my homework.  Anyone care to know my reasoning for doing something so DISPICABLE on a SATURDAY night? (Hint: The title of this post may provide a clue.)

That's right! RYAN COMES BACK TODAY!  My other half!  My bestie!  My mirror!  :)  Actually, I only have like 2 more pages of a study guide to complete for homework which I'm going to finish right after this post, but I have a few hours since Ryan is supposed to be leaving L-ville between 11-12 this afternoon.  3 hours or less and I will be reunited with some of my CLOSEST of family (other than my Mom and Grandparents of course.) 

Just wanted to share my excitement!

As for the rest of my life, I have been extremely exhausted this past week due to all the drama after my 9-5 workdays.  BUT, I'm getting there.  I'm actually really enjoying this 1 month break.  I am still giving myself the entire month to make sure that this is how I'm truly feeling, but deep down I think I am making the right decision.  When you get to a point in a relationship where you are trying to make up excuses to not talk to your partner in the evenings, you know something is wrong.  (Specifically in regards to spring break--I actually watched 5 seasons of LOST.  This wasn't just "making up excuses", but it helped give me some space!)  Anyway, regardless, I believe I am making the right decision.  Everyone I have talked to in Burly World has supported my decision and are telling me that I seem happier, bounicer, and less burdened even just since Wednesday.  That's a sign that this is good for me, and that it is time to move on.  I feel good.  I feel bad that I'm hurting Luke, but that's about the extent of it.  I love him...I'm just not in love with him.  That's where the line is between friend and intimate relationship.  I'm SO glad I've figured things out for myself.  So here's to a BIG SHOUTOUT to (mostly Ashley and Velvet) who have had to put up with my day-to-day questioning of myself.  And another BIG SHOUTOUT to everybody else that has been involved in the process: to Ryan for providing tons of support whenever I needed him this week, to my mom and grandparents for seeing where things were going a few years earlier in the process than I did, more props to my mom for being AWESOME and having figured all this out for herself once before in her life, and to Meg--my super amazing ex-boss who is one of my main go-to adults on campus!!!!!!

Whew!  Now that all of that is out, I am going to go finish my last 2 pages of homework!  I love everybody, and I can't wait to SEE RYAN THIS AFTERNOON!!!!!

(Will let you know how it all goes soon.)

x.o.x.o.x.o.
~Megan

A Whole New World...

Hello, everyone!  I hope you are all having a fantastic time back from break!  Well, some things have taken place today that have become a little bit life-changing for me.

For starters, for the first time since 5th grade, I am "single."  I'm on a month break with my boyfriend of 4 years.  My feelings changed, and I'm going to give myself some space to see if they change.  I honestly don't know what will happen, but we'll have to wait and see.  Everyone wish me luck!

In the meantime, I'm still going thru my day-to-day life with internships, workstudy, classes, extra outside-work work, and keeping myself happy and healthy.  I have to start working on myself again, and Ashley, Velvet, and I have decided to join Champlain Loses It.  It's a weight loss challenge...and we're going to be TOES awesome at this game.  Hahahaha.  Can't wait to get started.   :)

Well, that was my catching up on what's happened so far this semester (and we aren't even thru the first week yet!)

Leave some comments on how you're doing!
Love,
Megan

308: RECONVENE!!!!!

Hey, everybody!!!!  Today is the day!!! The 308 gang (minus Jess) are all coming back!!!!  Ashley and I now live in a double-room, living room, and kitchenette included!  Hahahaha.  Velvet will be back tomorrow evening, and Ryan will be back in a week. 

I miss(ed) everyone, and I'm glad to be back in Burlington even if we're still missing a few people.  I miss my twin, but we shalt be together again soon.  :)

If Ashley and I can survive Monday, then if Velvet, Ashley, and I can survive this week, things'll be all good cuz Sunday Ryan will be here--and that means a trip to DOBRA TEA!!!!

I am going to return to the festivities here at Camp Champ-308. 
Leave a message at the...BEEEEEEEEEEEEP!!!!

I Know What You're Thinking

WHERE has she been?  WTF, I want another post!

Well, ladies and gents.  I have been busy.  I have almost successfully navigated my way through the Fall 2009 semester.  One more exam in about 45 mins and then it'll hopefully be just about done and over with...

GIFT EXCHANGE is tonight!  I'm still working on the most EXCELLENT Christmas present for Ryan.  It won't be done in time for tonight, but apparently we've both created gifts for one another that is going to make both of us sob uncontrollably.  Can't wait!   Oh!  Spyro is almost done!!!!  Hahahaha.  We haven't totally "beat" the game yet, because we have to go back through all the other levels and collect ALL the gems in order to get into the final level.   But we're definitely working on it.

Speaking of gifts, I can't wait for Velvet to open hers.  It's mostly a gag gift, but it is also something she will hopefully find useful, and that will make her laugh, giggle, or at least smile once every morning. :)

Finals are overall going extremely well so far.  Is it bad to phrase this line like this: "I wonder how many A's I have?"  Hahaha.  I feel like I did really well this semester in despite of all the crap that happened.

Ugh.  But, I've almost made it.

Ryan, Joe, Ashley, Velvet, (maybe Jess?), and I are going to have our last fantastic night in 308 maple tonight.  Send us your best!

xoxo
Love,
Megan
P.S.  My ex-supervisor is AWESOME.  This is a shoutout to Meg, who offered to let Ryan and I borrow her vehicle for transporting college kid stuff from Jeanne Mance to 308.  Meg Ryan (our combined stage name) thanks you!!!!!

Sore Throat and Filling-less

So I am currently home on my Thanksgiving Break.  My brain is thanking me up and down--it isn't screaming at me in agony anymore.  Whoo hoo!!!  Friday night when I got back home, I went to go see New Moon.  LOVE THAT MOVIE!!!!!!!!!!!!  2 Hours of pure Awesomeness.

Yesterday I went to go get my hair cut.  LOVE ITTT!!!  It's so much lighter and I can't wait to wash it myself to see what I can do with it on my own.  Yesterday I also went to the dentist thinking that I was supposed to be getting a filling.  Nope, not even.  Just a "First Time Patient Exam."  Sounds miraculous, right?  Yeah, NOT.  While doing the exam, they found about 3 MORE CAVATIES that need to be filled=4 in total. WTF?!  My previous dentist hadn't seen these, why are these people finding them all over the place.  And it's not like I don't brush my teeth....so what's up with this?

Anywho, $131 later for the exam and 2 mini- X-Rays they took ($30 a pop,) I went to work at Kinneys from 4-9.  I couldn't even do that right.  Ever since I've been home, I've had this sort of nasal drip into the back of my throat.  My nose isn't running or even that stuffed up, but my throat has been dry and scratchy since I got here.  Well I thought nothing of it until I was at work and it was getting to the point to which I couldn't swallow, talk, or smile.  Yeah, FML.

So now that I have just woken up from my 12 hour slumber, I feel extensively better, although my throat is still a bit sore.

Now that I'm home--all I want to do with my free time is sleep, relax, and do the things I want to do.  However, I am supposed to have an internship confirmed by next Friday.  I am terrified.  Meg and I worked on my Resume and a Cover letter for about 2.5 hours last Friday night which helped immensely, but I feel like I'm drowning in panic.  I don't know what to do!  I'm in Lyndonville, so it isn't like I can just skip right on over for an interview today.  :(  And now that my throat is sore, I don't think I could even do a phone interview.  Again, FML.

I also have homework that I have been working on interspersedly.  (The motivation comes and goes.)  All I really want to be doing is curling up in my bed with my Twilight series and re-reading all the Epic Adventures of Edward and Bella and Jason for the rest of my vacation.

ARGGGHHHHHHHH.  It's ok though.  Hopefully this time next year I will be on the beach, drinking Fuze and getting sun with Ryan. :)  TOES going to be awesome. :)

Wednesday night (now--only if I'm feeling better,) I was/(am?) planning to go down to B-town to pick Velvet up and have her spend the night at my house.  Why?  Because Thursday is Thanksgiving, silly!  She had to stay up here this week to work while everyone else got to go home on break.  And I felt awful that she wasn't going to be able to have a Turkey din din, SO I'm taking a little road trip after I get out of work at 9pm Wednesday evening and picking up my girl!  I have an entourage of people coming with me to do so, so this should be interesting. :)

I will end by saying how much I miss my roommates, Ryan & Velvet, and being at college in general.  Being home is nice to recoup, but I still miss being able to walk down to Champ Farms at 2am just to buy gummy bears. :)

Much Love.
~Megan

Dobra Tea, 40 Pages, and Rasputins

I have discovered something about myself.  Apparently, I do what I gotta do.  Like it or not.  I wrote an 8 page paper, a 17 page project, a 3 page paper amongst other various assignments all within this past week.  (The 17 pager was completed in 24 hours or less!)

To celebrate my success, Ryan took me to Dobra Tea on one of our many sibling dates.  Sooo0o0o0ooooooOOOOOOO good.  UGH! (In a good way.)  The atmosphere is AMAZING, and I am really excited to take Luke there some evening if he's able to come back up again. :)

After this, I went back to my hidey-hole to finish the rest of my assignments.  When I was truly finished everything, everyone decided to go out to Rasputin's.  (Rasputin's is one of the few clubs we have in Burlington--so much fun!)  Because I didn't have any cash, (I'm in college, what do you want?!),  Velvet paid my way in.  Unfortunately, Ryan couldn't come with us because A) He's not 18 yet....but soon!, and B) He had another performance for his play.

After dancing until 2am, and getting to bed at 3am, I had to get up at 7am for my 8am class.  I was up and running from 7-5 that day.  THEN I was able to pack and go home.  YAYY!!!

Dunkin' Donuts did not schedule me to work at all this week which I am kind of upset with, however, Kinneys has me working about 15 hrs.  I am going to let my boss know that because I did not get scheduled with DD's, she can feel free to call me if someone doesn't show up for their shift.  I NEED THE $$$$$$$$!!

Speaking of $$$$$$$$!!!!!  Camp Champ finally has the textbook listings on their website.  I bought two of mine today.  The rest aren't going to cost that much.  I am sooo excited.  Because I'm taking 4 actual classes, and my 5th class/3rd job is a required intenrship of 12 hrs/wk, and because I'm taking part II of a course, the textbooks for those two classes are minimal--or ones I already have.  YAY!

My brain feels better now that it has been rested for a night.  I can only hope that it will continue to get better while I am home over Thanksgiving Break. 

I am going to get back to finishing up my Scary Movie-fest.  (I'm on the 3rd one right now, and then I am going to bed.)

Love you all--stay out of trouble.  In the timeless words of Velvet, "Don't do anything I wouldn't do!"  (FYI--That doesn't narrow it down-----at all...)

X.o.X.o.
Love,
Megan

2 Hours/9 Mins

Ok, so I hav 9 minutes before my group meeting to tell you all what the 2 hours is all about.

Thats how much sleep I got last night.  Ryan and I stayed up till 5 AM talking about the world in general, our plans for next year's Thanksgiving (FLA anyone???), and fresh and old friendships.

We miss certain people in particular, but that is now the past.  We've decided that we're just going to be the most awesome friend/family system that anybody has ever seen.  Velvet is going to be our next door neighbor, Jess and Ashley will also live in the neighborhood.  And Luke and I can have our own bedroom in a house shared with Ryan and his adopted children.  YES! Hahaha.  (Yeah, I imagine most of the people mentioned would have some objections to this.)  Hey, I can dream, right?

Next Thanksgiving is going to be SO awesome.  Hilights include: travelling by ourselves, place to stay for free, tanning on the beach, travelling by ourselves, $500 gone forever, and travelling by ourselves!!!

Yeah, I'm kind of pumped.  Too bad I only have 12-13 more hours before I can sleep again.

Hmph, well I have to get downstairs.  Group members are going to start showing up. :)

Love you all,
Megan

...And I'm Back!!!

I apologize deeply for my leave of absence.  Things have indeed been intense here at 308 Maple.  (If you read Ryan's blog at http://www.ryhowland.blogspot.com/ you'll get some of the full story.)  Drama, miscommunications, alcohol-induced sickness, yeah, we've had the works.

Anywho, so I'm not sure if I've talked about this yet on my blog or not, but Ryan and I should basicly be related.  He's my twin.  We say the same thing, think the same thing, and tend to do the same thing at the exact same time or within minutes of each other.  For instance, my sneakers have been acting up with me since Halloween-ish.  The soles keep slipping up and around the back of my ankle while I'm trying to walk.  NOT fun.  So I had to go get new sneakers, which I accomplished yesterday.

Yesterday, Ryan's dad came up to have him go get the H1N1 Swine Flu Vaccination.  (Ick.)  And Ryan's sneakers are actually ripping apart.  Can you guess the rest of the story???  Yeah, he now has a brand new pair of converse sneakers that look AWESOME on him.  Seriously, he's hot.  Hahaha.  My baby brother is growing up!!! Awww.

Anywho, I am furious now that I have found out EASTWICK is being cancelled because ABC doesn't think the ratings have been good enough.  WTF.  I LIKE THAT SHOW.  STOP THAT!   ABC, you CAN'T just take something off the air when it has as complicated and interesting a plotline as Eastwick.  WTF?!!!?!?!

On a lighter note, Glee will be back on this Wednesday, so that's good.

My butt, thighs, abs and shoulders hurt.  Kickboxing 2 nights in a row (Thursday and Friday) is INTENSE.  I asked Luke if he maybe had punching pads at his house, because the origional plan was for me to go see him this weekend.  (More about the origional plan later.)  But he didn't...soooo I can't work on anything this weekend.  I really just want a partner to come with me to the gym to hold punching pads so i can keep working on that (my favorite part.)  Velvet would be the ideal person since she's about my height and stature, but she has to work. I TOES understand that.  So, yeah.  I'm kind of tempted to just ask a random guy in the gym to work with me.  I find I like punching things, it's an excellent stress reliever.  I'm not generally a violent person, but that kind of exercise makes me feel good.  Sometimes I like being my weight and height, it allows me to withstand more things than if I were 145.  :D

Back to the "origional plan" of this weekend.  I was supposed to go see Luke this weekend because we haven't been able to get together in a while.  However, my Great Aunt Janet passed away Friday night at midnight, and I really want to be at her funeral.  She was one of the few family members I got along with and liked outside of my immediate family, so I want to be there to say my goodbyes.  I'm worried about my grandfather.  I inherited a lot of things from him.  The tendency to bottle things up until the bottle explodes and shatters EVERYWHERE is one of them.  I really want to be home with him so I can talk with him and have him get some of his feelings out, but since I have class and work that won't work out too well.  :(  I have Janet as a friend on Facebook, and the last comment that had been posted on her wall was a "Happy Birthday" comment, because her b-day had come on Oct. 22nd of this year.  I added a fresh comment of (mind you this is paraphrasing), "RIP Aunt Janet, you will be dearly missed.  I'll help take care of your baby brother, no worries."  It's hard to imagine that she's really gone.  If you wanted to have some excellent food, you just went to Janet.  She had the BEST baking skills I've ever seen, and that woman knew how to whip up a meal for people.  I hope that she's happy, wherever she has moved on to.

And on my grandmother's side, her brother is in the hospital.  He's having a hard time breathing on his own and getting oxygen into his system, and he's a very sick man all around.  Darthmouth is doing what they can to care for him, but nobody knows how well this is all going to work out.  He doesn't have Swine Flu, but because he has black mold all over the trailer he lives in (that he's been breathing in for years), nobody is too sure how this is going to come out in the end. 

Life is full of unexpected surprises.  The best you can do is to just try to roll with the punches.  People you love could be gone in an instant.  Make sure the last time you talk to someone isn't a talk full of anger and hate.  Nobody wants to part with dischord, especially with someone you love.  Look out for one another, take care of one another, and make sure you have some sort of support system to help get you through things like this.  No one should have to go through a death alone.  Be a team, do it together.

With that, I will go.  I'm a little hungry and I want to do an hour at the gym before I eat real food.  Hahaha. 

x.o.x.o.
Love,
Megan

This Weekend...was Awesome.

Where do I start in telling you about this weekend????  My goodness!  Well, first off, I took Ashley home with me for Friday night.  We ended up driving around St. J, Lyndonville, stopping @ P-chops for food & a Redbox movie, going to Cumby's for more food, and staying up till 3-3:30 am reading all the magazines that had come in the mail for me as well as trying to watch The Shortcut. 

We had planned to go to the big St. J/LI Football Game (the 105th one mind you), and actually that didn't happen.  But LI won 14-0!!!!!  Kind of a little bit of domination there. :) 

Then, after scrambling back to Burlington, we got ready for HALLOWEEN.  What a blast!  After Ryan and I put on all our makeup, we made a pretty kick-ass Sweeney Todd and Ms. Lovett.

Why is Ryan's hair SO not awesome?  :)  Love it!  We had fun trying to get Joe's hair to do the same thing essentially.  Good times. :)

So, after our failed attempt at Trick-or-Treating (no one wants to give candy to college students....what's with that?)  we dropped everything back off at the dorm.  We are people just like anyone else, are we not?  We deserve a night to get candy that we don't have to pay for seeing as how we're more broke than you most of the time.  Psh. Whatev.

Anywho, after that, we decided to go walk around Church St. & City Park to take pictures.

And then other than the drunk people asking "Where the F#@! is my F*$R&#g Pirate Cup?" and Ashley totally dominating one conversation with random people, it was pretty uneventful.

We ended up walking to Winooski, and decided to walk down under the bridge.

Yes, it was a good time.  After all this, we walked back to Ryan & Joe's dorm (after me sprinting for about 3 minutes straight because Joe somehow walked really fast and got really far ahead of us without realizing it,) we took a pee-break, and came back to my dorm for the night. 

We ordered Wings, I stared and couldn't breathe after eating, then we went to bed. 

I LOVE my friends so much!  In conclusion, this weekend was AWESOME.  One of the best I've had I think!  It was my first spent with Ryan, my first spent "out on the town" with friends, not being followed around my family.  Pretty exciting stuff!

Lots of Love,

Megan

Whatchu Doin' On Blogger n' shit?!

Hey, all!

Just preparing to go see Paranormal Activity tonight with Jess, Ashley, and Ryan.  I wanted Velvet to come with us, but the only showing they're having tonight is at 9:40, and she only gets out of work at 9:30.  Sooo...kind of a fail... :(

Oh well.  We're going to get fucking scared out of our minds and then Velvet will be laughing at us all being so paranoid...cuz you should all know this about me: Scary Movies=PARANOID MEGAN for like....3 MONTHS!!!!  Hahaha  It's a great time. 

I'm really nervous to see this movie....it's going to be SOME shit (as we would say.) :)

Hope the popcorn isn't about $12 for a small.  That would not make me happy.  GRRR.

GOOD NEWS THOUGH!!!  I do have the $80 for my Planned Parenthood appointment so my family doesn't have to come up with the money to help me out.  WHOOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

I'm trying SO hard to become as financially independent from them as possible, but it's really hard.  Making the amount of money I do, its VERY difficult.  But I think I've been doing a DAMN good job for what I've accomplished so far.  Yeah I slip up every now and then, but who doesn't?  I've finally reached a point in my life where I think I've become very financially mature, and with much thanks to Velvet, she helps keep me in perspective.  THAT girl has gone through SO much shit to stay in college, she is one of my true heroes. :)  BE COOL! STAY IN SCHOOL!!!!

MUCH LOVE!
xoxo
~Megan