memories

I follow my Alma Mater on Twitter.   Random aside - How does one get the job of being in charge of social media for an institution?  Because I could totes update the Facebook, twitter,  instagram, foursquare (I don't really know what foursquare is, but I'm sure I could figure it out...) as my full time job.

Anyway,  I follow Saint A's on Twitter.   Last night was the last day on campus for most of the current Anselmians as finals end today.   The tweet went out asking alumni what they had done on their last night on campus.   I thought back to that night 9 years ago (NINE.YEARS.AGO) and tried to remember.   Oddly enough for that motley crew of college friends,  we didn't sit around all night and play asshole trivial pursuit.  We all piled into cars,  drove over an hour away to Hampton Beach and watched the sun come up.   I have no idea WHY we did this (clearly none of us had finals on the last day),  but we did.  I don't know why we did most of the things we did in college,  but I think that's half of the point of going to college.   I don't know why we thought film canisters (remember film?) were receptacles for beverages,  why walking in the o-zone at night was a good idea,  why on earth we ever drank fuzzy navels,  why any of us thought a liberal arts degree would help us in any way,  or why I didn't travel more when I had the chance.   I wouldn't go back and do it again,  but if I could choose a few random days and nights here and there... 

Now I need a moment to process the fact that I could have gone to college two times over plus an extra year thrown in there in the time that has passed since graduation! 

nostalgia

Today is one those rare fall days when the foliage is peaking, but it's not too cold out yet, the grass is still green, and the sun is shining. You can walk outside with a light jacket and not want to cry.

It's fall days like these that make me miss college the most. Saint A's is beautiful in the fall. Walking to class didn't seem like such an awful thing (unless you lived in the apartments and you had class in the Jean Building. That's an awful walk, no matter how beautiful the weather is). It's been 7 and a half years since I was walking to class in college, but there are days when I still really miss it.

Or maybe I just miss fries and ranch. I'm not sure.

Happy October!

Joy of joys. We are inching closer to winter. But with any luck, we have put the 90 degree days behind us and can have a nice fall.

A minor change to the blog - I've allowed any and all comments. When I say "allow" I mean you no longer have to register to leave a comment. Anyone can leave one. However, they are still moderated and I will pick and choose what to post if I start getting creepy stalker comments again. If they start up again, I'm closing them to anonymous commenters. That doesn't mean I won't post your comment if you disagree with me on something; on the contrary, I will. And then I will tell you how wrong you are. But I know there are a lot more readers out there than just Bree, Matt, and Andrew. Because if that's the only people who read this, my posts would be more along the lines of "duuuuuude, remember when Matt wouldn't swear and said "dang it" all the time and it was hysterically funny for some unknown reason? (except Bree won't remember because she was in high school)" and "FRIES AND RANCH 4EVA".

Don't think I don't know who reads this blog people, I see the IP addresses. So since I already know that you are reading, feel free to leave comments! They aren't blocked anymore! Freedom of speech as long as it isn't creepy and stalkerish!!!

What we did today

click on the picture for the full effect

Let it snow!

As I write this, it's snowing outside my window. I don't think we'll get much more than an inch (though I haven't seen any forecasts, but I would have heard if we were getting more), but it's really pretty. Because it's still darkish due to the snow, I turned on the Christmas tree lights and the lights we strung up around the picture window, and our window candles. It's a really pretty sight, with the snow falling.

I'm almost starting to be in the Christmas spirit. As of Wednesday, I will be done with this semester which means I'll get about 2 weeks of peace before the holiday. If it could snow ever Sunday, that would be fantastic.

Keeping on my nostalgia theme, yesterday Katie and I found ourselves back in the SAC. The pub was closed but we went to the cafeteria. Sitting at a round table at Davison (yes, we picked a round table even though there was only going to be 2 of us, not 12 of us... old habits die hard) just brought back so many great memories. And the french fries were as good as I remembered.

Exciting things in the life o' Meghan

So what is new with us... We FINALLY are getting a new air conditioner. We're both pretty excited about it. No longer will we have to seek shelter from the heat at my parent's house. No longer will be sleep bathed in a puddle of our sweat, no longer will we dread the heat. We have an air conditioner. If you've lived without any kind of air condtioning, you'll understand my glee around getting one.

We're also getting a new stove. Our old one didn't have a broiler. I know what you are thinking, and I can assure you it isn't underneath the stove. We have neither a broiler nor a drawer down there. There is no broiler. There is no pre-heat. There is no self-cleaning oven. There is no time. There is no clock. They don't even make them without broilers anymore. That's how old it is. But our new one has all of the above, and we are both more excited about it than we are willing to admit. Yeah, I'm terribly excited about a new stove. Strangely, I am okay with that.

Even MORE exciting than my new stove and AC..... VALERIE IS GETTING MARRIED!!!!! I'm super excited for her and I'm very excited to be a bridesmaid again!!! Another Saint A's wedding!!!!! Saint A's weddings are the coolest weddings ever and I'm so happy we've got another one coming up. Saint A's kids know how to party :) So a super huge Best Wishes to Val and Congratulations to Scott. I'm already mentally planning the bachelorette party. :)

Warning: Variable Terrian!

ow. Every muscle in my body aches, which should not be the case afer skiing Gunstock. But as we skied down two trails marked variable terrain (one of which we had no business being on, one of which, in the words of our chairlift partner LaToya, we "completely dominated) we used muscles that I didn't even know I had. It was quite the workout, but damn, I'm in pain.



Since we were exausted and achey, we stayed in last night when we got home from skiing and alternated between the football game and the debates. I'm not a fan of political debates. I don't like how they just sit there and argue with each other. I don't mind when they go on about their platforms, but when all hell breaks loose because they are all trying talk over each other, they start to lose me. I don't care how well you can spin someone else's words. In my opinion Mitt Romney didn't do that well. He had a hard time coming up with points on the fly and he looked kind of edgy. Obama (I promise I know the difference between the Governor from MA and the Congressman from IL) didn't look that good either, he went on the defensive too may times. Honestly, I thought Ron Paul did the best job for the Republicans and Bill Richardson for the democrats. I wonder if that is because those two know they really don't have a chance of winning so instead of trying to bicker back and forth and look better than the front runners, they actually said what they thought and got their ideas out there. Bill Richardson was the only one to basically say "yeah, we need to pull out of Iraq. But I'm not going to promise it will happen in x amount of days, because it won't. If it does, it will cause more problems. I will send the troops home, but I won't put a definate timetable on it". I'm sure that's not what people want to hear, they want to hear what Clinton was sayng (she'll start withdrawal after 60 days) or John Edwards (they'll be home in a year). Bill Richardson was just like "yeah, they'll be home in the next 4 years". His plan might not get him elected, but at least he isn't making promises that he can't even keep.

I have to admit, I was more excited to see the random shots of Saint A's. I love when my school is on national television! Seeing as we don't have a nationally recognized football program, that doesn't happen to often. At one point they showed Professor Kuehne (is he even a professor anymore?) and I was all "OMG I KNOW HIM!!!" Despite the fact I think he taught for 1 of the 4 years I was there because of sabbaticals and the New Hampshire Institute of Politics being built. There were various monks in the audience, but I don't know any of them (despite people being like 'of course you know father xxxx' and staring at me like I have two heads, I don't know who any of those monks are. I wouldn't know who Father Mathias was if he walked up to me and had a sign that said "Hi, My Name is Father Mathias". I would recognize Father Jonathon and Brother Andrew, because Brother Andrew gave the best Humanities lectures, but now I completely digress). And when ABC shows the outside of Alumni, I was all "HEY IT'S ALUMNI!!!!" like it was some strange turn of events that a debate being shown at the Dana Center would pan to Alumni. So yay for Saint A's!

wow

As of today, Andrew and I have been together for 7 years. 7 years! Wow. The story of us getting together is so funny looking back. I'll never forget the conversations Jenn and I used to have around this time sophomore year:

Jenn: We have to be good tonight
Me: Absolutely. I'm going to be good
Jenn: Me too

a few hours later..

Jenn: Were you good last night?
Me: um..... no.
Jenn: Me neither

aahhh... young love. Though to clarify, to us "being good" meant not staying out until 4 am wandering around campus with our gentlemen callers. Get your mind out of the gutter, we were kids! Though we since have both married the men we were trying so hard to be "good" with when we were 19 year olds living in Saint Mary's. With a homage to Eminem on our closets and a handle of vodka hidden inside the closet (hey, I didn't say we were angels, I just said we weren't ladies of the night!).

Sophomore year was probably the worst one for my mental health. All of my friends lived on the same floor of our dorm. We had thought that would be so fun. We were so wrong. But we lived through it and amazingly are all friends again. It took a little while, but we learned a lesson. Don't live with all your friends. Sophomore year will probably always remain vivid in my memory because it was so great and so terrible at the same time. It has so many memories.

Like Katie and I sitting across from each other in the study lounge not wanting to say a word to each other, but I had such a story for her! IAN AND CHRISTINE BROKE UP!!!! Finally I couldn't keep it contained any longer and it burst out of me. We immediately forgot whatever unimportant thing we were bickering about and plotted an intricate plan to steal him. (thankfully we were successful). Looking back at it now, I just have to laugh. It's just one of many memories from that year.

Like when Andrew and I stayed up all night the night before reading day at the end of first semester just talking. And when the sun rose we decided to go eat at Davison and head to Keene. Yeah, that was the first time I met Andrew's parents and we ended up falling asleep together on the couch in their playroom. We were up for like 35 hours by the time we finally fell asleep! His parents must have thought I was a hussy. :)

And all the hours Andrew and I spent hours in the lobby of Saint Mary's. We talked about everything under the sun while chilling in the lobby of my dorm, because it was past parietals.

The further away from that year I get, the happier my memories become. Sure, putting a close knit group of girl friends on the same hallway was a terrible idea - but without all the stress, fighting, bickering and bitching, we would never have had the laughter, late nights, bonding and memories. Sophomore year is special - and October 26 of sophomore year is the day I finally agreed to have a 'casual friendship' with the man who became my husband. =)