Study Grind

WELCOME TO THE REAL WORLD

In the words of Jo Dee Messina:

“Beatin’ time is a losing fight, but I guess I’m doin’ alright.”

Silly me, it’s been forever since I’ve update y’all on my life in the real world.  In lieu of my regular rambling I am going to deliver my recent experiences in picture form.  Wahoooooo!  Anyways hope your Thanksgivings were as great as mine was!  Meanwhile, as I head into exams, you can reach me at the following address:

Miserable College Student

6^th Floor of Satan’s Lair Dr.

Chapel Hill, NC 2012

Well first of all, I think that it has been so long that you might not have even seen my Halloween costume yet!  I was a "toddler&tiara" from the popular TLC series and it was a fabulous use of my Irish Dance costume!

The Original:

And me:

We have a new puppy!!! Her name is Schatja (sp? but pronounced "shot ya").  She's real cute and also a little bit vicious.  My dad seems to think that it is just a puppy characteristic and that it's endearing...well he did before she bit his face.  We'll see about this crazy girl...

I can't imagine why she would bite this face...

Thanksgiving this year was wonderful!!  We had boatloads of delicious food and enjoyable company and I even squeezed a nap into the middle of the day, which was prime. 

My mom and I posed for prom:

My mom and Bo rocked the ukulele:

Gigi swung:

Fi made a friend:

Marshall, Violet, Bo, and I decided never to run the Turkey Trot again:

I'm gearing up for Christmas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love this time of year and can't wait to be home eating holiday goodies and hangin' out by our awesome tree.  But until then, I'll be hulled up studying in my own mini college Christmas.

My apartment's Christmas tree.  Aren't we festive?:

My attempt at a gingerbread house.  I swear it looked good before it collapsed...I guess it wasn't structurally sound.  I got a little ambitious with the swedish fish shingles:

In other news, our coffee table broke:

This past weekend was a blast!!  One of the fraternities had an "End of the World" party and we dressed up as Mayans?  Well, we put face paint on anyway...I also did Habitat for Humanity and the house we are working on is getting so close to being finished.  It looks great and it's been such an amazing experience to see it grow from the ground up!

Me and Paulina:

Me and my big Amy:

Habitat group!  I'm in the grey long sleeve and grey leggings in the middle:

As the long break approaches, I am realizing how much I am going to miss the people at school!  Like my new roommate for next year, Betsy (we'll be living in our sorority house! yay!) and my lil' sis Holland, and my friend Haley who is transferring to Brown.  It has been such an amazing semester and I almost can't believe it's gone by this quickly!  

Me and Betsy:

Me and Holland:

Me and Haley (smarty pants):

          We'll talk after the study grind...if I survive it!  Love ya.  Miss ya.  Mean it.

Kane

Hop on Pop

WELCOME TO THE REAL WORLD

“Let yourself be silently drawn by the strange pull of what you really love.  It will not lead you astray.”

-Rumi

            I’m officially the worst granddaughter ever. It has taken me five unforgivable days to get this blog posted and for that, I am very very sorry.  Nevertheless, November 9^th was an extraordinarily important day: MY PAPA’S BIRTHDAY!  Once again, I’m at a loss for trying to describe the person I love.  This is always so difficult for me because I feel like my words can’t always do my heart justice when I attempt to express how I feel about someone.  Anyways, I will do my best to praise one of the most important men in my life…

            I have great friends and they come from great families and they have great stories to tell about their great lives with the great families they come from, but honestly, they pale in comparison to my great family.  Sometimes I hear my friends tell stories about how sweet and nice their grandfathers are and I want to be like NO.  YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND.  You grandpa ain’t got nothing on either of mine!  (Rest assured I do not in fact say this, as I would like to keep my friends.)  But honestly I have the best grandfathers a girl could ask for.  Pop is particularly special just cause.  When I was little I used to tell everyone that I was going to marry Pop when I grew up.  Creepy as that may have been, I was a very wise youngster and I meant it…not literally of course, but Pop is everything a man should be: he puts his family before himself over and over again, he is kind, he is a wonderful cook, he sings, he still dotes on my Dolly, and he makes very strong drinks.  If I can one day find a husband that is half the man that my Papa is, I will be a very drunk lucky girl.

            One year Pop was given the very formidable task of picking me up from camp.  This can be a traumatic experience for anyone as I spend the majority of the day weeping over friends that I won’t see for a year…yikes.  Anyways, Pop showed up with my favorite snacks and a mission: he had brought along a map and together we were going to try to find a license plate from all 50 states on the way from Nashville to Cleveland.  By the time we neared Cleveland, I think we had like 46 of the 50 license plates, and what did Pop do?  Took me to two Cracker Barrels, the alleged hotspots for tourists.  Honestly, I don’t even remember if we found the other four plates but I to this day remember the feeling of amazement and appreciation I felt for this man who was working so hard to make me feel special-he wanted me to have fun and not be sad about leaving all my friends behind.  I wish I had known what a good friend I had sitting next to me in that driver’s seat…

            I could sing his praises all day, but the last story I will tell is best described as “the ranking”.  I know this comes as a real shocker to you all, but I like to win.  Everything is (sometimes unreasonably) a competition and a few years ago (when my terrible aunts decided to infringe on mine and Whit’s reign as grandchildren by having three kids!?!?!) I developed a ranking system, 1-5, 1 being the favorite.  I, sassy as I am, of course claimed the #1 spot for myself.   This position has lasted for a number of reasons:  my brother has wonderfully been blessed with a sense of humor and the ability to look over my dysfunction, my other cousins are too young to care, and Pop wants to humor me I guess. As the years have passed, Pop and I have exchanged numerous emails/letters/gifts/phone calls with each other and each time he addresses me as #1 and I depart him as #1.  What I realized the other day when he responded (as so few people do) to one of my blogs is that he is my #1.  Papa, you have no idea how much you mean to me.  I think about you when I see Cracker Barrels, out of state license plates, pistachios (your favorite nut), western movies, or love in the world. 

            A very happy belated birthday to you, Papa! I will be waiting to see you at Thanksgiving, life savers and tomatoes in tow J

Love ya.  Miss ya.  Mean it.

Lei scarpini de bailare,

Kane

Happy Birthday Mama!

WELCOME TO THE REAL WORLD

“There are few people whom I really love, and still fewer of whom I think well.”

-Elizabeth Bennett

            Happy birthday, mama.  I both love you and think well of you.  Here’s why:

#1: You are the kindest person I know.  It’s odd and I don’t get it but my mother is the nicest person on the face of this earth.  (Although she does speed up when she sees squirrels in the road…she’ll deny this.)  Ashley Hollingsworth could say nice things about a brick wall.  She talks to every stranger that she meets, to my dad’s, brother’s, and my horror, including waiters at restaurants, taxi drivers, and people sitting next to us at movies…wildly inappropriate.  Over the years, I’ve grown to see my mom as the peace bringer.  I don’t want to speak for everyone but I’m going to but my I think my mom brings peace and sheds general goodness in all of her friend circles and in our family.  She also makes the rest of us look pretty bad.  Thanks mom.

#2: You are a fabulous cook.  My mama can make everything in the whole world and she make it taste delicious.  I can’t recount the number of delicious soups she’s made me when I was feeling sick, the delicious cakes that make up birthday memories, the tiny finger sandwiches she used to make for our mother daughter Christmas party, or the yummy hot chocolate she has whipped up for countless snow days in Charlotte. 

#3: You love stronger than anyone I know.  While neither of my parent’s love ever ceases to amaze me, my mom’s type of love is truly remarkable and unique.  Her presence envelops you and makes you feel like there is nothing you could do to disappoint her.  While there are in fact many things that you could do, she would love you nonetheless.  She has this uncanny ability of making each person she meets feel like her favorite.  (But we all know it’s really me J)

#4: She has terrible taste in movies.  This makes for entertaining stories you see and it gives her quirkiness and let’s be real…who doesn’t love quirky?  My mother could watch Pride and Prejudice ‘til the cows come home.  She loves Groundhog Day and While You Were Sleeping, which, if we are being honest, are not stellar choices.  But I’d watch any one of them with her any day. I will never watch Twilight though, Mom.  That is a disgrace to mankind.

I really don’t know what else to say.  There are so many things that I love about you, Mom, but really you’re just special.  Love ya.  Miss ya.  Mean it.

Kane

Go Heels! Go America!

WELCOME TO THE REAL WORLD

I Hear America Singing by Walt Whitman

I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear,

Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it should be blithe and strong,

The carpenter singing his as he measures his plank or beam,

The mason singing his as he makes ready for work, or leaves off work,

The boatman singing what belongs to him in his boat, the deckhand singing on the steamboat deck,

The shoemaker singing as he sits on his bench, the hatter singing as he stands,

The wood-cutter’s song, the ploughboy’s on his way in the morning, or at noon intermission or at sundown,

The delicious singing of the mother, or of the young wife at work, or of the girl sewing or washing,

Each singing what belongs to him or her and to none else,

The day what belongs to the day—at night the party of young fellows, robust, friendly,

Singing with open mouths their strong melodious songs.

I hope you all voted!!! It’s my first presidential election that I can vote in! WAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Go Heels! Go America!

All things American:

Love ya.  Miss ya.  Mean it.

Kane