Rammin' the Roads

A conversation with my little cousin, Noah, at the Fryeburg Fair at the beginning of the month went a little like this: "Elizabeth, how come...you never come visit me at MY house?  How come I always come visit you at YOUR house?"  Oops.  Truth from the mouth of a 4 year old....LOL  I knew I was long overdue for a visit down to my cousins and I had a weekend off coming up so I decided to combine a bunch of appointments and visits into one week-long road trip around Maine and Massachusetts. 

The 966 miles looked a little like this: :)

First off, the visit at the Civiello's was lovely :)  I had a great time with the Noah, James and little Ben (who really isn't so little for only being 2 months old!!) We got to play hide and seek, duck-duck-goose, dinosaurs, puzzles, and read lots of books......not to mention lots of piggy back rides!  Jen, you're amazing....I have no clue how you can do it....I know I definitely didn't have enough arms to take care of 3 little boys by myself!!  O, and it was nice to get to visit with Jen and Gabe, too ;)  And to find someone else to watch the Big Bang Theory with and laugh with :):)  BAZINGA!

Next stop was Boston for an appointment to figure out WHY I was feeling so yucky over the past few months.  Turns out I had a decent case of Mono sometime between last April and now.  My immune system is still recovering and I still have a lot of antibodies left in my system.  YAY for figuring out was wrong!  RIDICULOUS I had to go clear to Boston and have ~15 vials of blood drawn over the past few weeks just to figure it out.....sigh.  PATHETIC that I was so sick at whatever point and didn't even realize it because I'm so used to my body being "off".  O well!

On my way back home to my family I stopped in Skowhegan to visit my friend Matt at his business The Bankery.  GAH!  Pastries to die for!  While I would love to be able to see Matt and enjoy his stuff more often...I'm afraid I'd weigh 500 lbs!  I only ever hear fantastic things about his shop from my students who hail from the Skowhegan area and I will testify myself, if you are headed through there OR don't mind a minor detour on your way south down I-95.....STOP!!!   Your taste buds will love you :)

I got to catch up with so many more friends on this trip too....and got to play Heroscape with my brother a couple times :)  However, as much fun as it was, I was really excited to climb into my own bed on Tuesday night!

Columbus Day Weekend, the Last HURRAH!

Mmmmm I love long weekends, they leave time to recuperate from the day to day, enough minutes to be able to catch up with good friends and to enjoy time with family :)

Fryeburg Fair has always been on of my most favorite parts of Fall and I've been looking forward to going since fair time last year.  I almost skipped out on it this year from being so wiped out with the Katahdin trip (and the idea of two nights in a tent sleeping on the ground REALLY wasn't all that appealing), but at the last minute decided to go.  I mean, who could pass up a day at the fair with the Glidden family (extended version)? 

Saturday was SO hot and SO crowded at the fair....and trying to maneuver the crowds with 2 strollers (4 kiddos 4 and under), and 8 adults is a little tricky.  However!  We had lots of fun, ate lots of fair food and overall had a great time.  :)   My cousin Jen's husband Gabe convinced Jacob they could "team juggle" with the wreath wires Jacob had just purchased in the middle of this HUGE crowd of people everywhere.....well, Jacob miss threw and one of the wires ended up draped over Gabe's head and ear!   At least it wasn't someone else's head!

Sadly there is a distinct lack of pictures of this weekend because I realized around Waterville that I had forgotten my camera and we were far too far from home to turn around to get it.  That means the only pic I had of the weekend is this one I took with my phone:

Tom's Donuts line.....roughly 100 people ahead of me and a ~20 minute wait. COMPLETELY worth it (especially considering I waited closer to 40 minutes last year!)

 

 

 YES, it was soooooooooooooooooo good :)  We had to buy 6 so we had enough for everyone, even little Trey (he's 1) had his first ever donut :)

Tenting wasn't too bad, but because of the insane crowds at the fair we opted to head north on Sunday...unfortunately I was with the two hard core shoppers in my family so it took us a LONG time to get home.  LOL

Monday I got to catch up with my summer bible study ladies!!!!!!  It was SOOOO awesome, I've missed them a LOT!   We started the book of Esther, pretty cool stuff about standing up for what you believe in, even when the world thinks you're crazy.  Like how Queen Vashti refused to be paraded in front of all her husbands drunk friends for them to admire her beauty......hmmm sounds pretty familiar to our society today!!??

Mom and I also picked her grapes on Monday, they tasted soooooo good!   She made jam, was going to try some juice, too.   Megi, Ina, Tayla, and Kassie helped mom, Jacob and I with the pinching of them to get them ready to cook! 

This is the whole crop

Don't these look awesome!?!

Tuesday I got to go spend a FABULOUS afternoon playing scrabble with my favorite Weatherbee family!!   Mary, MamaBea, and Little Gramma were GREAT company and we ate my FAVORITE food (popcorn), hot spiced cider and enjoyed some friendly competition.....MamaBea showed Mary and I up though and took the win!

On my way back up Noh'th Wednesday afternoon the weather was BEAUTIFUL but the trees were prettier.....I treated myself to a ride up the Rt. 11 Scenic Byway and stopped a couple times for some photos....one near a particularly smelly cow field....LOL  *Open door*HOLD BREATH*RuN*snap photos*GAsP*RUN*jumpbackincar!*  :)   God's creation just blows me away....plus I'm so blessed to live in such a GORGEOUS section of the world.

I still have lots of recovery to do....all these piles of stuff to take care of here in regards to my weekend gallivant, but it was worth it, every bit.

Walking the Quasimodo Walk, Talking the, uh, something something Talk

Well, That was QUITE a weekend.  I'm so tired and sore, yet it was completely worth it. 

**Disclaimer** I am still wicked tired, I've been having a hard time typing all day, so please be forgiving on any typos :)

Friday came and we were all on the road by 3:30PM headed for Twin Pines at the New England Outdoor Center.  WOOHOO for leaving on time, I was SOOO pumped for this!!   The van ran like a champ and we didn't break down (possibly my MOST exciting part of the trip).  The students who attended were able to hang out, get to know each other better, enjoy a weekend at a beautiful lakeside cabin, hike Mt. Katahdin in some of the wort possible weather and really just have a blast!

I guess a quick recap would be:
* Slept about 7 hours total all weekend
* Drove over 6 hours
* Went to bed at 4AM after doing laundry for 6 hours.....but had to investigate why our room was about 100 degrees......someone had turned the radiant heat up to 85.....plus our room had had a dryer running for the past 7 hours.....yeah.
* A bunch of the students jumped into Millinocket Lake at 10 PM on Sept. 30
* I got to see a couple of my friends from high school :)
* Hiked into Chimney Pond with 2 other girls while the rest went all the way to the top.....we hiked in clouds all day
* Auntie made us cookies for the ride back :):):):):):)   <--------BIG HIGHLIGHT!!!
* Tons of laughing and smiles and fun all around


This was one of the only views of the mountain we had all day....it was kind of eerie to hike in the mist all day

This was our whole group at the Roaring Brook ranger station :) 

This was at the Chimney Pond ranger station and made us laugh :)   "RANGER OUTPOST NOT Gift Shop/Snack Bar"

All in all it was a good trip and even though 7 people who hiked to the top had to hike the last 3-4 miles in the dark and with flashlights (and in the pouring rain) they all said it was awesome and they want to do it again :)

I just want to sleep.

HAHA, LOL, and ROFL

O dear.  God has quite a sense of humor, and thankfully my friends do, too!

I packed up my stuff on Friday and headed north to my apartment for the weekend.  I had a wedding to attend on Saturday afternoon and a couple of movie dates with friends to catch.  Yes, one of them was the new Harry Potter :)  (But, I will certainly admit, while the movies are pretty good in their own right, the books are FAR better.)

I had a very long, hot ride up with no air conditioning and was VERY much looking forward to a nice, cool shower to clean up.  I had my arms full of stuff to lug into my apartment and when I opened my back door to drop it off I was dumbfounded.  My apartment was a DISASTER.  Ceiling tiles out, disposable drop cloths covering everything and all my cupboards, the floors had protective stuff on them, too.  AHHH!! I was entirely confused.

I had been told at the beginning of the summer there would be no work done in my apartment this summer (a welcome change from last summer when I had to move 5 times around campus as they were remodeling.....) so to find my apartment in this kind of shape when I'd been planning on staying for 3 days was a bit frustrating.  No one had even called to say they were going to be working on it!

Thankfully, I have a fabulous friend who, even though we had just been planning a movie night, let me sleep in her extra bed all weekend.....even though we ended up with a seven-girl girls night last night and it was a little cramped in the 2 bedroom apartment!

We had a blast, watched the last HP, ate ice cream (Jess and I reminisced about how we ate half of a 3 gallon tub of black raspberry ice cream all by ourselves in the cafeteria last spring....over 2 days :)  (She's not supposed to eat sugar and I'm lactose intolerant LOL)

Overall, it was a great break and mini vacation......now it is back to cleaning and weeding the garden.  Woohoo summer!

e.

PASSION 2011

Hey all!!! I just got back this afternoon from Passion 2011 in Atlanta, GA!!!!!   It was a LONG drive back (about 31 hours total) and I'm still unpacking and getting repacked to go back to school but I'll have details and news of it all and PHOTOS to share :)

Story of My Life....No Seriously!

I never cease to be amazed at the ridiculous events that are so normal in my life!!!  It never fails that just when I think, “Oh, this week/day/situation couldn’t possibly get any worse” or “Surely nothing crazier than this can occur” I am repeatedly proven wrong.  God definitely has a sense of humor and understands me so perfectly to know that my independent self needs constant reminding how much I need to depend on him!

This week has been a prime example of such.  I had 2 exams and a large assignment due this week.  I was on duty on Fri/Sat/Sun and again on Wed/Thurs.   I had to work in the Academic Success Center on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday evenings as well.  Thursday night was also the movie night Res Life does and I’m in charge of.  Add into this recipe trying to tie together loose ends for the Res Life sponsored Mt. Katahdin trip, a flying trip to Bangor on Wednesday morning (Yes, 3 hours each way), and some fantastic headaches and a migraine from a medication I’m on and you have a pretty good picture of my week.  Oh, and my mom called on Thursday morning to say she had been the middle car in a 3 car accident and my car was totaled.  She was fine, thankfully!!!!!

I have been very much looking forward to the Katahdin Trip but there have been hurdles along every part of the planning.  I had one lovely lady threaten to sue me last week over a VERY minor miscommunication.  We were unable to reserve a parking spot in Baxter because the van info didn’t get through in time so that was just an extra something to think about. Yesterday morning the cafeteria informed me that our food would be ready to pick up at 3pm but they wouldn’t have a cooler because of another commitment this weekend.  No big deal, I’ll just borrow somebody else’s.  Well, the one trip into town to get 2 items ended up taking THREE trips when all was said and done and I was running drastically behind.  I packed literally in 10 minutes and ran over to the cafeteria to pick up the groceries/food.  Oh, sorry, nobody really knows what is going on and they didn’t have enough food ready….o brother.  THEN we finally get loaded and in the van and between Presque Isle and Houlton the van is running absolutely dreadful.  I could barely feel my arms it was vibrating so hard.  In between Bridgewater and Mapleton it started pulling hard to the right whenever the brake was used and when I let off the brake it pulled sharply to the left.  Fantastic.  Not to mention it was not shifting right……  We stopped at the Big Stop and the moment I got out I could smell the brakes.  Lovely.  Thankfully our housing director hadn’t made it out of Presque Isle on his way to Wilton yet and he was able to turn around, go back to school, find a driver and bring us another van.  Those of us stuck in Houlton hung out at Tim Horton’s for 2 hours.  LOL!  Honestly, it could have been so awful, but everyone was just laughing about the ridiculousness of the situation….I mean what are the chances that THAT MANY THINGS go wrong all at once?  There was really nothing to do but eat a donut, sandwich and drink coffee….lol  Finally our van arrived and we were on our way in the torrential downpour headed to Millinocket.  What a night.  It gets better.  Haha!  We get there, settle in, I lose the van key and we need it for the morning.  It took an hour to find it…….it somehow ended up under the toaster?   I woke everyone up at 4 this morning and shortly after they left for the Mountain I went back to sleep…..only to awaken in a dead sweat from a nightmare—that they had gotten to the mountain but there were no parking spots left and they had to come back.  O MY WORD!!!!!

Despite the rocky week preceding today, I am loving the time to myself on this beautiful pond. I won’t lie and say I wasn’t stressed this week.  I was wicked stressed out, but hey, it all falls together eventually!  God doesn’t operate on our time or necessarily with our sense of humor…..but He’s always working in the background, bringing everything together.

Summer is almost over?!!?!?!

I don't know how it got to be the end of August and I haven't written since February... I kind of stink at this blog/updating thing. lol

Anyways I only have a minute so this is the bulleted edition of my update: :)

* I spent my Easter break in the beautiful state of Colorado with friends;it was a blast and I even got to go skiing in the Rockies :):):)

* The school year rounded out okay and I didn't die on my 22 page long (single spaced) Genetics final...though it was a close call!

* I am Working at Lincoln Paper and Tissue again this summer. I am head of the yard crew....there are two of us :) I don't really like the ring of "yard crew" so instead we've changed it to Horticultural Engineer...and I'm the Chief one. lol

* I am not returning to Grove City this fall. I spent a lot of time praying about what God would have me do for my life and what I was doing in Biology (which I do love). Through some obvious God stuff (cause I'm kind of thick) in Colorado and on the flight back I have decided to attend Northern Maine Community College in Presque Isle, Maine. God has been opening doors left and right and things are really falling into place. I am accepted into their Nursing program (2years) and will be living on campus in a single (which is a double that I have all to myself! :) )

Well, I have homework already for my nursing stuff so I need to get back on that :):) Dad and I went and jumped in the river this afternoon...the water is WICKED high and we both jump/dove off the dock. It felt wonderful as the weather was miserably muggy today. It was pretty though and I took this pic :):):)

Hugs, hopefully the next update will be sooner than 6 months from now! E.

Home again, home again!

Well, I survived my finals and flew home on Monday night. Unfortunately, I got hung up at JFK for 4+ hours instead of my scheduled 1.5.......apparently we were waiting for our pilot, but once she arrived they found mechanical problems...yay. Robyn went with my mom to pick me up in Portland....wicked fun to be able to catch up with her while mom slept :). Anyways, I finally got home at 4am....so nice to sleep in my own bed!

Yesterday (Wednesday) I had my interview at Lincoln Pulp and Tissue; I applied through their student hire program. There were 6 other students, including 2 people I knew. I was the first one called in for my interview....AHHH!! lol I thought it went pretty well and a couple hours later they called and offered me the job! :) YAY! Wicked exciting! It doesn't start until June 12 though so I am currently looking for another job until then. Maybe subbing at the elementary school? I don't know.

I'm trying to get unpacked but it is hard because my room is kind of full and I ran out of hangers....haha oh well, I'll make it to walmart soon!

I went to Jacob's baseball game this afternoon....kinda chilly out. They lost. shoot. Hills had her softball game tonight as well but it was far away so mom and I didn't go. She hit 2 home runs and a triple. One home run was over the fence, the other on errors.

It is weird being home and not around all my friends from school but I will be back there soon enough and I need to remember to enjoy my family while I am here.

I may be headed out to camp for a bit while I'm waiting for my job to start....that will be nice! For now I'm just praying the sun comes back out and it warms up!

Hugs to you all! e.

Only 3.5 more weeks!

I'm back at school!

I had a wonderful visit back at home and got to catch up with a lot of my family and friends :)....it was nice, though I definitely missed my friends here at school...

I got back to school very late on Monday the 10th....6 of us split the cost of a shuttle to take us back to school...it was nice to get to chat with the other people and it was funny to see so many GCC people in the Pittsburgh airport...lol

Thankfully the week that I got back was relatively light as far as classes go, especially since the two weeks leading into break were horrendous! I have a chem exam this Friday, hopefully it goes well, I've been studying for it and it I have seemed to understand this section of chem better than the ones in the past.

Our IM basketball game is still undefeated and we have the championship game sometime in the next week. FUN!!!

On Friday night I am doing Relay for Life with the Chemistry Club....even though I don't really like chem! haha My goal was to raise $100, but so far I have surpassed that! :) And I still have one more day to collect donations! People are sooooo generous, it amazes me. I am walking in memory of my friend Olivia and my Grandmother, both of whom passed away this year. On a happier note, I celebrated my "7th Birthday" yesterday!!! My 7th anniversary of being cancer free! :)

Have a wonderful night and please continue to remember the people of VA Tech in your prayers, Els

HOME!

Home Sweet Home! :) I arrived home late on Friday night after a very interesting day of travel...I ran into lots of extremely interesting people in the airports, a couple from Switzerland who were going to Boston, an elderly woman who was just getting back from the Keys with a very heavy suitcase, another elderly woman who was coming from Naples and was wicked tanned...and her hair was bleach blonde, and a frail old woman who had a very funky leopard print fleece hat who was from MA and has a camp here in Maine on Shin Pond. I flew into Boston and took the bus up to Bangor, quite an adventure...lol :)

I've been from one end of the state to the other... :) I went south with my Papa to buy him a new car...a Toyota Prius, pretty sweet car, very funny! He almost ran over the car salesman because he didn't know the car was on! Yesterday I went to Caribou (north) for a "Resident of the Month" party for my Great Great Uncle Keith...who I had never met before in my life... :) He's 82 and lives in the Veterans Home up there, he's a pretty funny guy, they had cake and ice cream for him. I also met my Great Great Aunt Louise, Great Aunt Bertie, and my Cousin (3rd-4th) Linda (who is older than my mom)...fun.

No skiing, their wasn't enough snow....though it snowed very hard yesterday and last night. SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO pretty!

I got to hang out with Robyn and Tyler on Sunday night, wicked fun!!! I missed them so much! Our waiter had the "dropsies" and dropped everything...the menus (twice), receipts, the big display with the list of the desserts of the day....I thought I was going to die laughing . :) Ugh, wish I could just take them with me to school.....

Well I'm off to visit my Gram, have a lovely day! :)

VA for Break

Time flies! It seems that I have just gotten back to school, but our winter break is already here! Thankfully, I made it through my exams okay (I think, I haven't gotten my bio exam back yet!).

I'm going to Virginia for break again, this time I'm staying with Kirsten's family. Should be fun, we're trying to make it into DC one day.

I found out this morning that Olivia went to be with Jesus last night. Was sad and i cried...ugh. Life stinks sometimes.....cool that she gets to be in heaven but pretty stinky trying to live without her in our lives. I'm planning on going to her memorial service next weekend.

I'm hoping you all have a nice weekend! Hugs, Me