well folks, it's about time.

dear fellow bloggers, :P
I've been missing in action for like--ever, I know. It has been quite pathetic.
I think it's about time for a major update, is it not? :).

Spring Break.

I felt like it was enjoyable, but I didn't really accomplish much. I wanted to read alot, and catch myself up with alot of things, and [pause for nerd moment] there were things I wanted to research about. I have this itch for more knowledge lately, and I need time and ambition to scratch it. But I spent most of the duration driving around and hanging out with my friends. I was satisfied with that :).


[the college of visual & performing arts]


[the college of arts & sciences ]


Syracuse University
The quest for the perfect college is an adventure I am just beginning. I have vague ideas about what I want, but I'm nowhere near set on any specific school. SU was my first college visit/open house, and it was pretty interesting :). I went with my mom and my friend Amanda, who you should all be familiar with because she's mentioned in like every other one of my posts, haha. But we munched on doughnuts and juice while listening and watching the presentations about the university. There were alot of people my age there because it was an open house to high school juniors.
Things I was highly pleased with :)
- The proximity to the large downtown area. Where I live now offers little to nothing in the form of entertainment. One of the things that the speakers repeated was that students there are rarely bored. I would love that. Concerts, exhibits, just even being able to walk to a coffeeshop. As of now I have to drive 25+ minutes to get to anywhere remotely fun. And I've been to all those places a hundred times over. I want new grounds to venture.

- The study abroard progams. I want to see Europe so badly. There's this Discover Florence program you can participate in your first year, so you go straight to Italy. Plus they have other programs for places like London, Madrid, Paris I believe, Hong Kong, ect. And if you want to go somewhere different than they offer, then they will work something out with a program they're associated with. Love itttt! I do not doubt at all that I'll study abroad for awhile.

- The University consists of several schools, and you can mix your classes between any of them! Like, I thought I would have to only apply and go to the College of Arts & Sciences if that was my top pick. But no, I could take some classes there, and other classes at the College of Performing Arts, or any one of my choosing.

- I also was impressed with the architecture of the buildings. I love the vintage/gothic look of them. The College of Arts and Sciences, and the Visual and Performing Arts College were the best looking in my opinion. I like being surrounded by interesting, beautiful things.

- I feel like it would be best if I went to school at a place where I could drive home if I needed to, but not close enough for weekly visits. I want to go a few hours, preferable less than four, away. I'd be far enough to have independence, but close enough to come back if the need arose. Especially if some of my friends hang around for awhile, I want to be able to visit them and everything. Syracuse is 3- 3 1/2 hours away.

The very few cons.

- I'm not too into sports. Syracuse is very sports oriented and spirited, which isn't really my thing :P. I don't think it'd be a problem though, really. Everyone has their own things they enjoy, and I'm sure I could avoid most of the sports hype, or maybe I'd actually get interested in some of the games. Who knows.

- The dorm rooms were unimpressive. I'm assuming that most of them are the same though, universally. I mean, it's a room. I'd be living there for like two years, then I could switch to an apartment like I want to live in. I wish first two years on campus didn't require dorm living, but oh well. It's not a big deal really. I'm worried about how roommates will pan out too. I kind of like my solitude :.

the rest of my trip;
The college wasn't my only destination.. oh no, my friends. It was absolutely necessary for me to hit up the Carousel Mall. I lovelovelove that place :). I bought some things at Forever 21, Express, and I can't remember where else. Maybe that was it :P. It was great just walking around all day, like atleast six or seven hours, going in and out of all the stores, haha. Amanda and I were so exhausted that night. The hotel room was boring though, all we did was watch tv. I should've told Amanda to bring her laptop :P, curses. The drive was long from there to home, but I didn't really mind it much. I did alot of the driving. I think I could handle a road trip ;). I cannot wait until I go on those!

I spent the rest of my vacation hanging out with friends, especially since Julie and Jenna had been in Disneyworld all week long :P. It was nice having them back, Julie even brought me some goodies. The week back wasn't as bad as I was expecting, but it was still slightly annoying. I'm getting anxious for summer.

Thursday
This just may have been my favorite day this week :).
Jenna, Julie, Amanda, and I went to a horror film fest. We all thought it would be interesting, and it in fact was. The movies were played inside this theater on a huge movie screen. The funniest film shown was Night of the Living Jews, hahah. If you find it offensive, I apologize. I'm not discrimitive towards any group, but I found this to be quite comical. It was meant to be a spoof about these "jew zombies" lurking around this little country cottage. The white christian family inside was incredibly dumb :P.


Let the Right One In.
Wow. I have to say, this one REALLY impressed me. It was a vampire film, but it was focused on these two 12 year olds, Oskar, a socially awkward boy who's constantly teased and bullied, and Eli, a little vampire girl that lives in next door in the apartment complex. Oskar meets her out in the courtyard on the jungle gym one night. At first she kept her distance and refused to be his friend ( because she didn't want to hurt him), but then they winded up growing close. She's his only friend and he teaches him how to stand up for himself, and just live his life. It takes her awhile to tell him what she is, but eventually she has to. Her father, or rather her caregiver, went out late at night to murder townspeople and collect the blood for her to drink. I don't know how to describe it, just the dynamics of the whole film were great. It had really good quality, and it was interesting to watch the story unfold. I loved it, despite the subtitles since it was in Swedish :P. The only vice about it is there are a couple scenes that are a little uh-- awkward, haha. It might have been better if the characters were older, like 15 or something, but that might offset the way the film was. So I think if you can be mature about some of it, then it's definitely worth watching.


the weekend.
Fortunately for me, Friday was a half day :)! I spent it by myself though. I made a trip to the library, the mall/nearby plaza, and the grocery store. I always feel so grown up when I go to PriceChopper alone, pushing a cart around. It's like I'm a mother or something :P. When I got home I took the iniative to finally try out a new recipe.


maple cream pie.
I find this stuff to be absolutely heavenly. I got the recipe from Tom's aunt, who is a pretty much an expert in the kitchen. Since the recipe called for maple sugar, and all I had was syrup, I kind of had to guess and use my best judgement with it, but here's how I made it. I encourage anyone who feels like it to steal this and make it themselves ;).

- 8oz cream whipped cream cheese (I eyeballed it, so don't worry about precision)
- 8oz cool whip, extra creamy
-6 tbsp [give or take a little depending on your taste] of real maple syrup
- pie crust. i used a graham cracker one

* Combine cream cheese in medium bowl with maple syrup. Mix just until texture is smooth, not all clumpy. Then start folding in the coolwhip. Once that's all uniform and nice, spoon it into pie crust. Let freeze over night, then keep it in the refridgerator the next day until you're ready to serve it. It's easy as pie, really :P.

Sooo, Saturday. Prom is approaching in a few short weeks, so Tom wanted to go out to get new shoes for it because the ones he has now, are quite frankly falling apart :P. John tagged along with us, because he didn't want to sit home by himself. We ran into some other kids from school, Mike and Neddo, so Tom invited them to shop with us. I was kind of miserable the whole time because I had a tummyache, and I wasn't planning on being in a large group, so I felt kind of blah. I was just anticipating it to be me and Tom, a simple short trip :P. It was okay though, I just prefer to plan on things, and have those plans follow through. Once we were done at the mall, we dropped John off at Walmart and went to Tractor Supply so Tom could get a belt for his lawnmower, and then it was homeward bound.

I really like it when I get to hang out in the barn/shop over at Tom's, and watch him work on different projects. I don't know, I just find that stuff fascinating. The weather was so nice too, we could actually be down there without freezing :P. I'm pretty inept at mechanical functions, but he teaches me new things, so it feels nice to learn. I watched him work on his "fast lawnmower" that he bought for $15 and primed it at BOCES so it reaches speeds of like 30 mph or something. I'm scared to ride it, hahaha. Then he brought out this old engine to let me play around with. I had to use the wrench to take off all of the bolts, then he showed me the piston, the crankshaft, the carbureter, combustion chamber, the exhaust, and how they all worked together in the engine. It's nice having him show me things because I don't feel stupid asking questions, and he knows how to explain things to me so I actually understand. Hopefully he'll keep teaching me about all this stuff, and I can be like Kari Byron from Mythbusters ;).



I actually had to work today :P. The place I work is a soccer park, so it's only open during the summer and on special tournament days. But there was an event scheduled this weekend, and I was put on for Sunday. I didn't mind at all though, there was nothing better for me to do. Plus it's like $50.00 or more I'll be getting for the one day. Sweet deal if you ask me :P. I got to spend the day in the retail store working with my supervisor, who is actually really cool. She's in her fourties, and she's got this punk rock edge to her, which makes her fun and interesting to be around. We always wind up talking about music, movies, and traveling. I got to actually listen to alternative music while I was working because she likes it too. I'm wicked jealous though, she spent 20 days for her honeymoon in Europe. Her and her husband went to England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland. It was cool having her tell me all about it though. I can't wait until I can go myself. So that was my weekend, pretty much. I think we are all up to date here, I'll try to check up on everyone's blogs and such :D.

♥ Olive