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! 

flashback

I cleared off the memory card of my little point and shoot camera, so my parents can take it with them on vacation. I found a bunch of pictures from right before BG's birth and when she was a teeny baby!

Here's my baby girl!

me and my baby. She has dark hair and I have blond hair. Somehow that got reversed in the past 21 months....

Baby Girl, about 2 days after we came home from the hospital!

hello! I'm a funny looking infant!

someone tell my mama that I'm not ready for pigtails! (also, give her the FYI on focusing the camera....)

These aren't right after she was born, I believe they are right before she turned 1. This was her first trip to the beach. She didn't really like it, but by the end of the summer she was a beach fanatatic! Also, I got a horrible burn on my back that day. It still hurts when I think about it.

American Chop Suey!!

mmmmmmm........

When I was a kid, we didn't have American Chop Suey, we had something my mother called chop suey that was made with these chow mein noodles:
Whatever that dish was, I didn't like it, but I loved those noodles. I would put way more on my plate than I was supposed to! I could ask my mother what it was, but I guarantee she will not remember. She doesn't remember anything from my childhood. It's very strange...

Anyway, today I'm making American Chop Suey in the crockpot. I've never tried it before, but a friend passed along a recipe that cooks it in the crockpot. It's not really different from how would normally make it... you just throw it all in the crockpot and add the elbows at the end. I have high hopes for it though.


1 lb. lean ground beef
5 bacon strips, diced
1 large onion, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
14.5 oz can diced tomatoes--any flavor or plain
1 can water (empty tomato can)
6 garlic cloves, chopped
26 oz jar prepared pasta sauce
16 oz package elbow macaroni
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (optional)

Use a 6 quart crockpot. In a large skillet, brown the beef, bacon, and onion all together until the meat is no longer pink. Drain well and put in crockpot. Add everything else except for the pasta and the cheese. Stir to combine. Cover and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours or on high for about 4 hours. Stir in the raw pasta and cook on high for approximately 30 minutes or until the pasta is bite tender. Serve with a handful of cheese on each serving.

** I always use ground turkey instead of gound beef and I skipped the bacon, because who has ever heard of bacon in American Chop Suey?? Also, per usual, I added way more garlic. But we're garlic lovers!

I will let you know how it turns out!

Through the years

Sometimes I am absolutely amazed at how quickly time flies by. I was playing with my niece today and I picked her up and realized there is not an ounce of baby fat left on her - she's not a todder anymore. I guess I already realized this - she's pushing 3 and 3 year olds are not toddlers - but it was like a reality slap across the face. She's a little kid. And my baby has taken her place as the toddler and my nephew has taken my baby's place as the baby. At least my nephew is still a baby. He can't even sit up by himself yet, never mind say "no" incessantly, throw his food, have temper tantrums... I think he's my favorite right now!

And in non baby related "oh my god, why does time go by so quickly" news, Andrew and I have been together for 10 years. We are not yet 30, and we've been together for 10 years. Wow.

really?

10 years??

I wish I could show you a picture of us back in the day, but unfortunately we didn't have digital cameras in college, and I lost most of my pictures from college in a flood. I only have a few left - and the ones I do have are in a frame.

You can rest assured, we looked like idiots though. 1999-2003 were awful years to be in college. The fashion was terrible. And I've never been really fashionable, so you can imagine what we looked like.

Maybe I'm not so sad that there are only a few remaining pictures left!

Pow! Boom! Smack!

Nostalgia creeped up on me last night and smacked me right in the face. I was driving home from school (going about 80 since we were kept late. I tried to make up for lost time), and flipping through the stations when all of the sudden I received a nice right hook across my cheek. Damn nostalgia!

I hear Justin Timberlake in his pre "I'm the sexiest man in the world" days (you remember that - when he had all that curly hair, and he and Britney made the cuuuuuuutest couple?) and I was hooked. When do you hear N*sync on the radio these days? Never! And this wasn't ANY N*Sync song.... this was God Must Have Spent!

Your love is like a river
peaceful and deep
Your soul like a secret
That I never could keep.

Pure poetry from a bunch of post adolescent boys whose songs and lyrics were written for them. But - not only is God Must Have Spent a mastery of harmony, but there is also an easy to learn dance (by "dance" I mean "hand motions") that MUST be done when the song is on, even if you are barreling down the Southern Exressway dodging around cars who aren't going the appropriate speed (the aforementioned 80).

Its when I was jamming to that Grammy worthy ballad that nostalgia cought me off guard. All of the sudden it was the 2000/2001 school year at Saint Anselm College. While sophomore year had its ups and downs, I'm far enough out now to mainly remember the ups. Like how Jenn and I had a poster of Eminem (wearing his sexy baby blue runing suit) that would never stay on the wall, no matter how much tape we used. And standing outside St. Mary's in the middle of the night because boys weren't even allowed to come into the Foyer (laaaaaame). The cleaning lady who walked into Jenn and my room on the morning of a snow day and Jenn pretty much had to jump out of bed and chase her out (I think she died soon after...) and me and Katie going out to play on the Quad during a huge snowstorm and Andrew and Ian met us there. We looked like kids playing in the snow, but damn, it was fun.

Sadly, I went to college before people had digital cameras (hell, I went to college before most people had cell phones) and I've lost almost every picture of college that I had (and I had a lot). I still have a few, but they are in a frame in my hallway. I'm insanely jealous of the kids who can save all their college memories on their computers - I certainly I wish I could pull some up right now!