The Dragon's Den

Happy St. Patrick's Day

2010-03-17T17:49:00.000-04:00

Enjoy some Muppet entertainment...

Volunteers give rides so that doctors, nurses and other key staff members can get to work at Lehigh Valley hospitals - mcall.com

2010-02-11T08:06:00.002-05:00

Volunteers give rides so that doctors, nurses and other key staff members can get to work at Lehigh Valley hospitals - mcall.com

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That's my Dad... nothing like an unplowed road for a Subaru adventure!

Wedding plans...

2010-02-10T23:20:00.000-05:00

I don't know how to actually link the blogs, so this will have to suffice for now. I've started a wedding blog since I've decided not to use my facebook status as a running commentary on the planning process. Click on the image above if you'd like to visit my new site.

The Simple Woman's Daybook - ed.1

2010-01-25T16:46:00.004-05:00

FOR TODAY... January 25th

Outside my window...the sun has finally broken through the rain clouds

I am thinking...what happened to my day... oh, right, I slept through most of it... recovering from Encounter Retreat which was AWESOME (but a teeny tiny bit exhausting)

I am thankful for... the rain that canceled work today

I am wearing...a salwar kameez (so comfy!)

I am remembering...that I need to go to chorus soon

I am going... to be home most of the week

I am currently reading...The Catholic Wedding Book (Hans and Graham)

I am hoping... to get my apartment cleaned up one of these days

On my mind... all the things I should have done instead of sleeping today

Noticing that...my ring is so sparkly when the sun catches it

Pondering these words... "What is the red bull for your spiritual life?"

From the kitchen... nada... going to dinner with my cousin tonight :-)

Around the house... there is a lot of mess

One of my favorite things~ lots of pillows on my cushy bed
From my picture journal...

God is a wonderful painter!

For more daybooks, visit THIS PAGE!

RINGing in the New Year...

2010-01-04T22:38:00.003-05:00

December 26, 2009...

I don't know why my camera takes mirror image pictures, but that is actually my left hand.

He proposed... and I gave him a hug.

Then he reminded me to answer the question... and I said yes!!

:-)

Longwood Gardens

2009-12-18T11:53:00.003-05:00

Every other year, the Drexel Chorus gets an opportunity to sing at Longwood Gardens for their Christmas Wonderland. I took a few pictures while I was there this year. The fountain show is my favorite part. I could sit and watch the fountain show all night! (...if I could manage to stay warm long enough ;-) )

Some Christmas spirit for you...

Warm holiday sipping...

2009-12-14T23:48:00.002-05:00

Wassail, wassail all over the town...

What better than to warm your spirits on a chilly December evening than a hot cup of Wassail with its wonderful smell wafting through the air?

I made a lovely pot of wassail this weekend. Feel free to scale the recipe (mine was suitable for a party of 16).

1 gallon apple cider
1 quart orange juice
1 quart pineapple juice
1 quart cranberry juice
1 orange (cut in half, squeezed over the pot, studded with cloves, tossed into the pot)
1 lemon (cut in half, squeezed over the pot, studded with cloves, tossed into the pot)
3 cinnamon sticks
all spice berries (I didn't measure these... maybe a tablespoon or two?)
a sprinkle of ground cinnamon
a sprinkle of ground cloves
a sprinkle of ground all spice
a sprinkle of ground nutmeg

bring to a boil and simmer for an hour
transfer to a crockpot or serve directly from the pot

optional alcohol:
cream sherry and brandy (you can add whatever amount you wish... )

mmm... the left overs taste great too!!!

Way Back When-esday

2009-11-25T04:32:00.000-05:00

No Dairy Cranberry Apple Cake...

2009-11-22T02:25:00.004-05:00

Here at the den I have ventured into a new realm of cooking... the ultimate goal is to produce a god-daughter friendly baked good that I can take when I visit (... I've been promising a visit for much too long). My adorable god-daughter "BF" just turned 5 years old! BF has a few allergies which, I'm pretty sure, include milk and eggs. Cranberry apple cake for a 5 year old?! you say? Well, no, I'm really not expecting a 5 year old to be ecstatic about cranberry apple cake, but I had to start somewhere and seeing as Thanksgiving is quickly approaching, I thought I'd start with something seasonal. Plus, I'm not really sure what all I need to avoid other than dairy in making a BF friendly item.

It looks quite lovely... the raw batter certainly tasted good! Since I'm going to JB's extended family thanksgiving dinner tomorrow, I'm going to refrain from eating it just yet so that it will still look pretty when we take it. I stole a little piece that baked over the edge of the pan and it seemed to be pretty tasty... here's hoping! (Shh, don't tell them that they're the guinea pigs ;-) ) More to come on the taste review...

In case it is as tasty as it seemed, here's the recipe: (I forgot to add the vanilla... oops... next time)

1 3/4 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt (I used kosher salt)
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. all spice
1 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp egg replacer, 3 tbsp warm water mixed
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup applesauce
3/4 cup rice milk with 1/2 tsp. cider vinegar
2 tbsp honey
2 tsp vanilla

Mix all ingredients to form batter...
Fold in fruit

2 1/2 cups chopped green apple (reserve some for topping)
1 cup cranberries (halved) (reserve some for topping)

Pour into 9" greased & floured pan (mine almost overflowed the pan but I may have used too much fruit).
Top with reserved apples and cranberries, sprinkle with raw sugar.
Bake at 350°F for 50-70 minutes or until set in the middle (check with toothpick).

In memorium...

2009-11-15T16:59:00.002-05:00

look, my arm...

2009-11-15T09:34:00.001-05:00

This guy was standing to my left... the right hand corner of his video features my left arm (blue sweatshirt, wrist watch)

Implosion of the Drexel Shaft...

2009-11-15T08:13:00.005-05:00

THE DREXEL SHAFT is GONE!

I was there to see it in person. Alas, my cameras both failed me... the one taking the video stopped recording when the explosion occurred for unknown reasons and the one that I was using to take still pictures decided to turn off... GRRRRR! of all the times! Anyway, I really couldn't have used the video anyway on this blog because the petite blond girl next to me started yelling obscenities as soon as it happened.

Anyway, you can enjoy the first youtube posting of the implosion and a few of my before and after shots

In this next video you can see the shockwave... the point at which my video taping camera stopped its recording...

Comment spam

2009-11-12T08:58:00.002-05:00

Well, ladies and gentlemen, due to the volume of comment spam that has been occurring here at the Den, I've added a step to the comment process which asks you to type in some sort of word in an attempt to reduce these unwanted comments. Please don't let it stop you from leaving comments on my sporadic postings... I <3 comments... I just prefer real comments!

Thanks to everyone who leaves real comments for me! :-)

New posts are coming soon... I promise (as soon as I get a few spare minutes)

100 things... finally

2009-11-11T22:56:00.000-05:00

1 - part of the reason I've been avoiding my blog was to avoid this post
2 - I never know what to say about myself in these list things ... everything I think of seems uninteresting and I don't know why you'd want to read 100 of them
3 - I enjoy playing with little kids... as long as they're not destructive
4 - my favorite age to babysit for is 0-1.5
5 - besides wanting to be the Philly Phanatic, I also wanted to be a master Lego builder... yes, it is an actual job where you build with Legos and get paid for it!
6 - I am the 6th grandchild on my dad's side of the family, but I'm the first with brown eyes
7 - my hair does whatever it wants, whenever it wants - JB's neice once told me that I just need to tell it who is boss... it still doesn't listen
8 - I've donated my hair twice for Locks of Love
9 - my all time favorite band is The Changing Times... I always told my neighbors I wanted The Changing Times to play for my wedding reception but they told me that I could have my dad play at my wedding - Cousin Amy set the precedent... they played for her reception... maybe one day...
10 - I like to listen to loud polka music while I clean
11 - I like to listen to music I can sing to while I'm driving... lucky for everyone I do most of my driving by myself
12 - liturgical music & show tunes are my favorite types of music to play on the piano
13 - one day, I'd like to sing Bach's Mass in B Minor... that will never happen with the Drexel Chorus
14 - I've sung with the Drexel Chorus for 8 years... year 9 started on Sept. 21st.
15 - I've been singing in various church choirs since 1st grade
16 - I do NOT like roaches... ewwwwwww
17 - sleeping is a guilty pleasure... I'd love to sleep/stay in my bed for hours on end, but usually I end up getting up because I feel guilty that there are so many other things I should be doing
18 - I get grumpy when I'm hungry... like the plant in Little Shop of Horrors... feed me, feed me now!
19 - When I'm hungry I have a difficult time deciding what to eat... I usually try to think about what I'm going to eat before I get hungry
20 - I CANNOT tollerate open drawers, especially if something is sticking out of the drawer. All drawers must be closed all of the time!
21 - I organize my closet by type of clothing and each type of clothing has its own type of hanger... pants on black hangers, sweaters on pink hangers, blouses on light blue hangers, etc.
22 - When I was younger I had a lot of trouble finding shoes that fit so when I'd find a pair that was comfortable I'd get them... I need to break this habit because now I have A LOT of shoes!
23 - I like to sleep on cloud 9... cushy beds and piles of pillows... can't wait till I have time to put on my new mattress topper!!!
24 - I like going in the ocean but I do not like to step on things that are on the bottom... so, I always take my "rafty-raft"
25 - this means that I have completed 25% of my list of "things"
26 - years old = me
27 - I like to cook, but I also like to bake... I've been told that this is unusual as people generally tend toward one or the other
28 - Mom gave me a test to determine if I'm dominantly right brained or left brained... guess what?! I use both my brains... but I tend toward the scientific and logic
29 - I've lived in the same apartment for 6 years
30 - I'm currently living with my third roommate in the apartment
31 - I have no idea what my roommate is actually studying (astrophysics)
32 - my previous roommate and I were both in civil engineering
33 - my first roommate is married and lives in Texas?
34 - I am seriously addicted to bubble tea... I don't know what I'll do when the Bubble House isn't right down the street
35 - I'm not really a fan of chocolate... unless it is dark chocolate!!!
36 - I'm allergic to roses... they're pretty but not worth the lack of ability to breath
37 - my favorite flower is amaryllis
38 - my favorite easter flower is the calla lily
39 - I don't have a favorite color
40 - I don't have a middle name
41 - JB and I have the same three digits following our initials on our school email addresses (the only difference is s vs. m)
42 - I met JB freshman year of college
43 - He doesn't remember this
44 - we met in the Newman Club
45 - I couldn't imagine dating a non-catholic
46 - I have "honorary grandparents"... the best next door neighbors any kid could ask for!
47 - I have one sister
48 - I have 13 first cousins... this pales in comparrison to JB's (approximately 40ish?)
49 - I still have trouble with the names of some of JB's aunts and uncles... cousins, pshh, who knows!! (I can name a few of them... mostly the older ones)
50 - I'm now 50% of the way through this list... I wonder if anyone is still reading...
51 - In third grade I decided that the recessional for my wedding would be Widor's Toccata... I haven't changed my mind!

52 - I had just finished second grade when I was first "hired" to sing for a wedding
53 - my church choir director was awesome... she's the reason I'm so involved in liturgical music ministry today!
54 - I once went to every Easter service at my church because I was involved in some form (singing, ringing handbells, altar serving, lectoring) starting on Holy Thursday straight through every Mass on Sunday
55 - I enjoy traditions... esp. Christmas and Easter food traditions!
56 - I went to 13 years of Catholic school - apparently this is evident in my cursive handwriting
57 - my first year of college would have been easier than my senior year of high school if I hadn't had 2 kidney stones!
58 - I enjoyed "tornado drills" in kindergarten because sister would give us fresh baked chocolate chip cookies if we were good while we were near the kitchen
59 - my first grade teacher tried to ruin my life... she said I'd never go anywhere with math or science
60 - I have two bachelor degrees in engineering
61 - I'm working on my masters in Civil engineering
62 - I attended the same highschool that my parents went to and even had some of the same teachers!
63 - the high school I attended was co-ed when I went there but not when my parents went there... to this day, the second floors of the two wings do not connect to eachother
64 - I have never had a pet... my stuffed animals make up for this with their respective personallities...
65 - my sis would kill me if I gave away her "nickname" that was used at home when we were little... this doesn't stop her from calling me by my nickname
66 - my favorite vegetable is asparagus
67 - when we were asked to bring in a vegetable for stew in preschool I volunteered for lima beens and an onion... my classmates thought this was gross
68 - I like liver and onions... my grandmother ordered it one year when we were at V-7 for my birthday dinner... I've liked it ever since
69 - my mom and I have very different cooking styles... I have no idea where I learned to cook
70 - I cook when I'm stressed... like I shouldn't be doing other things with my time
71 - I have 9 pillows on my bed not including my body pillow or my smiley face pillows or my eeyore pillow (and my bed is only a twin)
72 - I don't like other people using my pillows... I have specific pillows on the bed that are "guest" pillows... I never sleep on these (they are in the back)
73 - I like to sleep under a pile of blankets so I like it to be cold when I'm sleeping
74 - I have been known to yell things in my sleep and wake up my family
75 - the furniture in the bedroom of my apartment was specifically designed and built for the apartment (interchangeable to the other bedroom as well) by my dad and me
76 - I have a beautiful coffee table designed and built by JB's dad
77 - I would like to travel; some of the places I'd like to go include: Slovakia, Germany, England, Rome, Italy, Hawaii, Alaska, Seattle, Dubai, New Zealand, Austrailia...
78 - I'd like to go back to New Mexico, the Navajo nation was pretty awesome!
79 - I like making cards rather than buying them, I think it adds a personal touch that you just can't find in a store bought card... every now and then I find a "must send" store bought card... those exceptions are few and far between
80 - I can no longer keep up with making baby blankets for baby showers... not enough time to crochet!!
81 - I've made two full size afghans... one for one of my best friends in high school and one for my sister
82 - I have a collection of matching sets of hats, scarves, and gloves... I like warm cozy things!
83 - I collect baseball caps... I put them up on pins around the top of my room (who needs crown molding?! ;-) )
84 - I got a fortune cookie at the Hard Wok Buffet that says that I'll be ok as long as I don't sign up for anything new... hmmmmm, perhaps I should try this for a while
85 - I <3 <3 <3 the green beans at the Hard Wok... I don't know what they put on those babies, but I could eat whole plates full of them!! (and crab rangoons)
86 - I like toasted marshmallows, but I'm not a fan of smores... toasted marshmallows on chocolate graham crackers is where it's at (this goes back to my lack of enthusiasm about milk chocolate)
87 - my left knee hurts when it is cold and rainy
88 - I didn't really own much in the way of pink clothing until I started working on construction sites... now I feel the need to have pink things!
89 - I enjoy painting my fingernails creatively... I managed a Phillies "P" and a baseball for playoff season
90 - I like Vera Bradley bags but I refuse to pay full price for them... therefore, I never have the current patterns... only retiring ones (or ones that they run particular sales on)
91 - AC Moore and Home Depot are equally dangerous stores... I could easily waste half a day in either one
92 - I enjoy making jewelry... I like to go to craft fairs for ideas :-)
93 - sometimes I think I should open a cafe or a hobby shop...
94 - I have a large collection of teas... I made a prototype shelf out of foam-core board several years ago... the tea is still on the prototype shelf... wood version coming eventually?!
95 - T gave me the cutest tea pot... my teapot looks like a little piggy (it whistles through it's snout)
96 - I don't have cable tv, but I do get more homeshopping/infomertial stations than you could ever imagine... oy!
97 - I have been told that my blog is religious... I was surprised by this comment
98 - In addition to engineering school, I'm currently attending bartending school (I've been trying to do this for several years but haven't been able to fit it in... here's hopin)
99 - I have a twin sister who isn't really related... my best friend from home was born a day after me and we went to school together for 12 years
100 - I made it to the end!!!!!!!! hope you enjoyed my list.

Inspiration...

2009-10-17T03:16:00.002-04:00

Service Team 2009-2010 is going to be awesome!

oops, this was still in drafts...

2009-09-19T08:39:00.003-04:00

Have You Forgotten (Daryl Worley)

I hear people sayin', "We Don't need this war."

I say there's some things worth fightin' for.

What about our freedom, and this piece of ground?

We didn't get to keep 'em by backin' down.

They say we don't realize the mess we're gettin' in

Before you start preachin' let me ask you this my friend.

Have you forgotten, how it felt that day?

To see your homeland under fire
And her people blown away

Have you forgotten, when those towers fell

We had neighbors still inside goin through a livin hell

And you say we shouldn't worry bout Bin Laden

Have you forgotten?

You took all the footage off my T.V.

Said it's too disturbin for you and me

It'll just breed anger is what the experts say

If it was up to me I'd show it everyday

Some say this country just out lookin' for a fight

Well after 9/11 man I'd have to say right.

Have you forgotten, how it felt that day?

To see your homeland under fire

And her people blown away

Have you forgotten when those towers fell

We had neighbors still inside goin' through a livin' hell

And we vow to get the ones behind Bin Laden

Have you forgotten?

I've been there with the soldiers

Who've gone away to war

you can bet they remember just what they're fightin' for

Have you forgotten

All the people killed

Yes some went down like heroes in that Pennsylvania field

Have you forgotten

About our Pentagon

All the loved ones that we lost

And those left to carry on

Don't you tell me not to worry 'bout Bin Laden

Have you forgotten?

Have you forgotten?!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I haven't forgotten. It was a clear blue beautiful day. I was at the public library when I heard about it. All of my high school friends had left for college but my move-in day was still 6 days away. I remember watching the television coverage. It was all so unreal. The events of 9/11 changed our lives forever. How quickly people seem to have forgotten the American spirit of unity that was displayed in the days and weeks following the attacks. Today's college freshmen were only about 11 years old... they barely even remember the events if they were allowed to watch any of the footage.

9/11/01 - Never forget

seriously?

2009-09-14T23:25:00.002-04:00

Ok, first things first, I'll get around to a 100 things post... it just isn't going to appear as my 100th post as that is now and you are not going to read 100 things... maybe 100 words ;-) before I check out for the night.

Tonight was the epitome of random spontaneity!! I called a friend to see if she'd had dinner yet... which she was eating when I called. Instead, she came over for left over birthday cake from my cousin's birthday celebration over the weekend. Incidentally, the intrigue over the cake was that it was a mudslide cake... chocolate Kahlua cake with Bailey's Irish Cream icing. It turned out to be quite a tasty morsel! Anyway, I realized it was Monday which could possibly mean Big Bang Theory on TV. I turned on the tv and low-and-behold Dream Girls was on... not that I haven't seen this movie about 7 or 8 times (or more) and also seen the School of the Future's stage performance... but I get sucked in every time! To make matters more ridiculous, it is a long show without commercials... then add commercials and Oh my! Enter new roommate, returning from a grad student reception where they served wine, but very little food. C. enjoyed roommate's "glowing happiness." While many funny/crazy things transpired, I'm kinda tired so I'll leave you with C's descriptor for me for this evening... "you're a weirdo-face".

Yes, thank you, I certainly am! ;-)

G'night!

Dear Blog,

2009-09-08T01:15:00.002-04:00

Dear Blog,

I'm sorry for the recent neglect. I didn't mean to abandon you for weeks at a time but I've been very busy. I have a new roommate who has now returned from a traveling expedition. I've been to Knoebels with my dad for our yearly excursion... so much fun - just a bit soggy. I've survived hundreds of spiders at work and expect that I will see many more in the upcoming weeks and months. I've gone swimming a few times at mom-n-dad's. I've sung for a number of polka masses and a polka lutheran service. I've tried out some tasty new recipes. I've found a type of karaoke that I actually enjoyed... thanks church choir! I've colored many notecards for a friend's music students. I've eaten at some tasty restaurants. I've worked many more hours that I expected. I sang in a chorus concert. I did a back flip on a windy day through a burning hoop... ok, perhaps I imagined that one ;-)

As you can see, Blog, I've had a few things on my schedule. I'll try to visit more often in the near future!

Love,
BECA Hawkette

Seven Quick Takes on Friday (vol.2 - work)

2009-08-21T09:25:00.000-04:00

1 - There are killer spiders all around me (how they get to the middle of a river puzzles me!)... I've decided I really hate spiders!

2 - I can usually work a whole shift w/o using the porta-potty... except when the option is taken away - then I have to go :-O

3 - 90 degrees isn't so bad when there is a swift breeze... it's horrendous when the breeze goes away!

4 - don't ask Walmart staff where to find a barometer - they have no idea what that is.

5 - rivers can flow in two directions

6 - shade is very precious

7 - Friday is the new Thursday (at least when your jobsite works 6 days a week).

2009-07-31T00:05:00.000-04:00

This is my first go at quick takes... since Musikfest starts tonight, I think I'll focus on 7 quick takes of the festival:

1. Musikfest started in 1984 with 6 stages.

2. For many years, the highest point (elevation wise) of the festival was Familienplatz which was located at the top of the Broad Street Walk. (The road has since been reopened and this platz has retired.)

3. The "big name" groups used to be presented at Kunzplatz which was located where Moravian College's new Hurd Campus Residence is being built. These concerts were known to draw crowds that would force the closure of Lehigh Street. The big names have since been moved to "River Place" on Sand Island.

4. Festplatz was the center of polka music at the festival until a few years ago... now it features a mix of music that incorporates only some polka. Each year a German band (from Germany) would be hosted and perform at various times throughout the festival.

5. The Star of Bethlehem which sits high atop South Mountain can be seen from most parts of the festival grounds. The star stands 81 feet tall and is illuminated 250 50-watt light bulbs.

6. I remember when the Musikfest Office overlooked Liederplatz from its back door. It later moved to a location on Broad Street and is now located at the Banana Factory on the South Side.

7. This year's Musikfest runs from July 31st - August 9th... you should definitely come!!!

Summertime... and Musikfest!

2009-07-28T19:46:00.003-04:00

Well, well, 3 days and counting till the kick-off of America's largest free music festival on Friday July 31st... MUSIKFEST!!!!! 10 days of concerts on many many stages... there's something for everybody!

If you're in the area on Thursday Aug. 6, check out my friend Dante Bucci at Liederplatz sometime between noon and 3pm. Here's a taste of Dante's music...

Let me know if you're planning to "Fest"... I'll be there as much as possible :)

If you're around on Aug. 9, come check out the Polka Mass at Musikfest featuring The Changing Times (Dad and the guys) and the Tatra Slovak Folk group. Mass is at 10am at Festplatz (under the bridge between Conestoga and Spring Streets.

Christmas in July!

2009-07-25T00:01:00.000-04:00

So in honor of Christmas in July, I will share with you my most favorite rendition of a Christmas song that I never even really liked before I heard this version! This group is awesome! Seriously though, you need to listen to the whole thing... it's only 3.5 minutes... here it is, Straight No Chaser...

Straight No Chaser - 12 Days of Christmas

... and remember folks, there are only 153 days till Christmas!

See you soon!!

2009-06-30T22:53:00.003-04:00

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Please excuse my lack of pictures... I repeated them to get through the verse of the song. Apparently I need to use my camera more since these pics were totally from the choir page!

Anyway, the real point of this post...
Please say some prayers for my friend, "S" (didn't know if she'd want her name here). She will be traveling to Turkey for a loooooong time... well, really for the next six months. But that feels like a really loooooong time! Please pray that she has a safe trip!

back to the topic of cameras...
She has a fancy new camera... can't wait to see lots of cool pictures when she returns!

We'll miss you!!

8 to the Bar

2009-06-24T11:43:00.006-04:00

this one seems appropriate for today...

RIP MJ

I <3 my roomie...

2009-06-08T20:24:00.003-04:00

The cutest teapot ever!!!!!

My roomie gave me this adorable teapot for my birthday. She will be leaving this summer *tears*. The teapot which we use frequently to satisfy our slight tea addiction (if you've seen the wall of tea options, you understand... perhaps a picture for another day!) is hers... now I have my very own... and it's smiling :-)

Big Day...

2009-05-23T11:14:00.005-04:00

Before...

and after...
http://www.locksoflove.org/index.html

Flashbacks...

2009-05-18T16:53:00.003-04:00

Here's a little video I put together about a month or so after I moved to my apartment. It's a bit choppy/bouncy as I was walking around with my laptop using my usb webcam at the time... how far technology has come since I did this!

Home Sweet Home!

Guest Post!!!

2009-05-17T07:52:00.000-04:00

Since Hanta has no time to post, Max and I (this is Fritz) have decided to take over the blog and write a post! Here's a little slide show we put together way back in September. Master has more pictures that should go here too but we used what we have.

Take us back to the beach, we're ready to party!

Hanta will be back soon... just a few more weeks of classes.

the toll of death rings on...

2009-03-17T22:12:00.000-04:00

John 12:27-36

Jesus Speaks about His Death
"Now my heart is troubled - and what shall I say? Shall I say, 'Father, do not let this hour come upon me'? But this is why I came - so that I might go through this hour of suffering. Father, bring glory to your name!"

Then a voice spoke from heaven, "I have brought glory to it, and I will do so again."

The crowd standing there heard the voice, and some of them said it was thunder, while others said, "An angel spoke to him!"

But Jesus said to them, "It was not for my sake that this voice spoke, but for yours. Now is the time for this world to be judged; now the ruler of this world will be overthrown. When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to me." (In saying this he indicated the kind of death he was going to suffer.)

The crowd answered, "Out Law tells us that the Messiah will live forever. How, then, can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?

Jesus answered, "The light will be among you a little longer. Continue on your way while you have the light, so that the darkness will not come upon you; for the one who walks in the dark does not know where he is going. Believe in the light, then, while you have it, so that you will be the people of the light."

Do I/we act as people of the light? Can others tell through the actions of our daily lives that we believe in the light? Or, do I/we walk in darkness? Can we believe without seeing? Is our faith strong enough? Would we have had the courage to believe if we lived when Jesus did? Would we have been confused and afraid? Would we have turned our back on the Messiah?

(Today's reflections apparently turned into a laundry list of questions! However, they seem like good questions to ponder during this season of Lent... Happy thinking!)

2009-03-17T18:22:00.001-04:00

Happy St. Patrick's Day
to all you Irish folks.
(Isn't everybody at least a little Irish on St. Patrick's day?)

2009-03-16T23:06:00.001-04:00

Romans 16:25-27

Concluding Prayer of Praise
Let us give glory to God! He is able to make you stand firm in your faith, according to the Good News I preach about Jesus Christ and according to the revelation of the secret truth which was hidden for long ages in the past. Now, however, that truth has been brought out into the open through the writings of the prophets; and by the command of the eternal God it is made known to all nations, so that all may believe and obey.

To the only God, who alone is all-wise, be glory through Jesus Christ forever! Amen!

Hmm, I think that says everything... no more thoughts here.

V is for Victory

2009-03-14T19:16:00.000-04:00

tonight's reading comes from Psalms 20:1-9

A Prayer for Victory
May the Lord answer you when you are in trouble!
May the God of Jacob protect you!
May he send you help from his Temple and give you aid from Mount Zion.
May he accept all your offerings and be pleased with all your sacrifices.
May he give you what you desire and make all your plans succeed.
Then we will shout for joy over your victory and celebrate your triumph by praising our God.
May the Lord answer all your requests.

Now I know that the Lord fives victory to his chosen king;
he answers him from his holy heaven and by his power gives him great victories.
Some trust in their war chariots and others in their horses,
but we trust in the power of the Lord our God.
Such people will stumble and fall,
but we will rise and stand firm.

Give victory to the king, O Lord;
answer us when we call.

So, the one thing in particular that comes to mind as I read this is that God does answer all of our prayers. Those times when we think He isn't listening or hasn't heard us are the times when the answer to our prayers isn't quite what we think it should be. The answer to our prayers is not always a 'Yes'. Sometimes God has another plan for us. Although we may not see it or understand it at the time, His answer to our prayers is what is best for us in His plan for us which is far greater than any plan we may have for ourselves.

on the streets of Philadelphia...

2009-03-13T23:38:00.000-04:00

Tonight's reading is from Revalations 3:7-13

The Message to Philadelphia
"To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write:
"This is the message from the one who is holy and true. He has the key that belonged to David, and when he opens a door, no one can close it, and when he closes it, no one can open it. I know what you do; I know that you have a little power; you have followed my teaching and have been faithful to me. I have opened a door in front of you, which no one can close. Listen! As for that group that belongs to Satan, those liars who claim that they are Jews but are not, I will make them come and bow down at your feet. They will all know that I love you. Because you have kept my command to endure, I will also keep you safe from the time of trouble which is coming upon the world to test all the people on earth. I am coming soon. Keep safe what you have, so that no one will rob you of your victory prize. I will make those who are victorious pillars in the temple of my God, and they will never leave it. I will write on them the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which will come down out of heaven from my God. I will also write on them my new name.
"If you have ears, then, listen to what the Spirit says to the churches!"

Well, this one hits home quite literally (well, maybe a different continent). Anyway, perhaps more of us in Philadelphia should listen to what the churches have to say. Perhaps if more of us did, we'd have less violence on the streets and in our communities. Perhaps we would not have to bury six police officers in sixteen months! Perhaps we'd have more brotherly love in this "City of Brotherly Love."

and the roulette continues...

2009-03-12T22:20:00.000-04:00

Tonight's page opens to: 1 Corinthians 7:1-16

Questions about Marriage
Now, to deal with the matters you wrote about. A man does well not to marry. But because there is so much immorality, every man should have his own wife, and every woman should have her own husband. A man should fulfill his duty as a husband, and a woman should fulfill her duty as a wife, and each should satisfy the other's needs. A wife is not the master of her own body, but her husband is; in the same way a husband is not the master of his own body, but his wife is. Do not deny yourselves to each other, unless you first agree to do so for a while in order to spend your time in prayer; but then resume normal marital relations. In this way you will be kept from giving in to Satan's temptation because of your lack of self-control.
I tell you this not as an order, but simply as a permission. Actually I would prefer that all of you were as I am; but each one has a special gift from God, one person this gift, another one that gift.
Now, to the unmarried and to the widows I say that it would be better for you to continue to live alone as I do. But if you cannot restrain your desires, go ahead and marry - it is better to marry than to burn with passion.
For married people I have a command which is not my own but the Lord's: a wife must not leave her husband; but if she does, she must remain single or else be reconciled to her husband; and a husband must not divorce his wife.
To the others I say (I, myself, not the Lord): if a Christian man has a wife who is an unbeliever and she agrees to go on living with him, he must not divorce her. And if a Christian woman is married to a man who is an unbeliever and he agrees to go on living with her, she must not divorce him. For the unbelieving husband is made acceptable to God by being united to his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made acceptable to God by being united to her Christian husband. If this were not so, their children would be like pagan children; but as it is, they are acceptable to God. However, if the one who is not a believer wishes to leave the Christian partner, let it be so. In such cases the Christian partner, whether husband or wife, is free to act. God has called you to live in peace. How can you be sure, Christian wife, that you will not save your husband? Or how can you be sure, Christian husband, that you will not save your wife?

Wow, sounds like the Corinthians were having a tough time with the concept of marriage, perhaps particularly mixed-faith marriages. This reading is still very pertinent in our times. It seems that marriage is not taken as seriously now as it was in the past. Divorce seems to be the easy solution. How is it that we have come to a point where a lifetime commitment can be taken so lightly? (I like how St. Paul specifies what comes from him and what comes from God.)

The last paragraph of this reading brings me to an idea I have about "my marriage." (I'm pretty sure all girls think about what their marriage might be like one day... perhaps with the rare exception of those who know at an early age that they are being called to a religious vocation.) At any rate, I have always thought that the guy I marry must be Catholic... or be interested in RCIA. Why, you ask? welllll, I don't think that I could fully share my life with someone else who doesn't share in my values and beliefs. Don't get me wrong, there are many wonderful people in this world who share values and beliefs and they certainly aren't all Catholic. However, I feel that this is important in my life. When two people give their lives to eachother and become one, how does one choose which faith pathway to walk if they are not walking along the same pathway? Now, I'm certainly not saying that I would expect a potential marriage partner to be at the same point in their spiritual journey as each person's journey is very different. How can you share your lives if you don't share God?

Are you part of a mixed-faith marriage? Does it work for you? How do you make it work? (I know there is at least one person who reads this blog who might be able to share some insight... please do enlighten me!) Thanks!

While I have many more thoughts on this matter, perhaps I shall save them for another day and get some shut eye.

Tonight's Reading...

2009-03-11T22:00:00.001-04:00

1Corinthians 14:26-40

Order in the Church
This is what I mean, my friends. When you meet for worship, one person has a hymn, another a teaching, another a revelation from God, another a message in strange tongues, and still another the explanation of what is said. Everything must be of help to the church. If someone is going to speak in strange tongues, two or three at the most should speak, one after the other, and someone else must explain what is being said. But if no one is there who can explain, then the one who speaks in strange tongues must be quiet and speak only to himself and to God. Two or three who are given God's message should speak, while the others are to judge what they say. But if someone sitting in the meeting receives a message from God, the one who is speaking should stop. All of you may proclaim God's message, one by one, so that everyone will learn and be encouraged. The gift of proclaiming God's message should be under the speaker's control, because God does not want us to be in disorder but in harmony and peace.
As in all the churches of God's people, the women should keep quiet in the meetings. They are not allowed to speak; as the Jewish Law says, the must not be in charge. If they want to find out about something, they should ask their husbands at home. It is a disgraceful thing for a woman to speak in a church meeting.
Or could it be that the word of God came from you? Or are you the only ones to whom it came? If anyone supposes he is God's messenger or has a spiritual gift, he must realize that what I am writing to you is the Lord's command. But if he does not pay attention to this, pay no attention to him.
So then, my friends, set you heart on proclaiming God's message, but do not forbid the speaking in strange tongues. Everything must be done in a proper and orderly way.

Well, that was quite the Bobby Flay throw-down for the ladies in tonight's reading! Perhaps I'll mull this one over a bit more before attempting to write any coherent thoughts about it.

New Testament Roulette

2009-03-10T23:08:00.003-04:00

Here's a little thing I picked up this weekend so I thought I'd share it with you...

tonight's reading is...
drumroll...

Mark 10:22-34

Jesus Speaks a Third Time about His Death
Jesus and his disciples were now on the road going up to Jerusalem. Jesus was going ahead of the disciples, who were filled with alarm; the people who followed behind were afraid. Once again Jesus took the twelve disciples aside and spoke of the things that were going to happen to him. "Listen," he told them, "we are going up to Jerusalem where the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the teachers of the Law. They will condemn him to death and then hand him over to the Gentiles, who will make fun of him, spit on him, whip him, and kill him; but three days later he will rise to life."

How lent-ishly appropriate! How confused the disciples must have been hearing their teacher talk about his death again for a third time. I find it hard to imagine myself in their shoes. What would I have been thinking? What would I have done? Would I have been like Judas? or perhaps Peter? maybe like the women of Jerusalem who met him along his journey to Golgotha?

My ABCs

2009-02-17T21:02:00.000-05:00

A

- Available: I try to be available to everything - therefore, I am a very busy person!

- Age: 25

- Annoyance: open drawers

- Animal: the furry pink muppet who plays the drums?

B

- Birthday: June 8

-Body Part on opposite sex: eyes, heart

- Best feeling in the world: a big Hug, crawling into my bed

- Been in Love: aren't we supposed to love everyone - now, no one said I have to like everyone ;-)

- Been on stage?: Absolutely! (You should come to my concert on March 15 - beware the ides of march!)

- Believe in Magic: wasn't that by The Lovin' Spoonful?

- Believe in Miracles: they're all around us

- Believe in Santa: absolutely! How could you deny the spirit of Christmas?!

C

- Candy: mmmmmm

- Color: oh no! I can't answer this question - I don't know the answer - I get all nervous when I get asked this question - can I answer with a 96 box of Crayola Crayons?

- Chocolate/Vanilla: chocolate or vanilla what? it totally matters!

- Chinese/Mexican: what about Thai/Indian? any/all of the above sound good

- Cake or pie: yes, please!

- Continent/Country to visit: Europe/all of them

- Cheese: as long as no mice are involved

D

- Day or Night: hmmmm... I like sunny days and starry nights

- Dance in the rain: absolutely!

E

- Eggs: pysanky

- Eyes: in the back of my head... better watch out!

- Ever failed a class?: Not yet, that would mean I didn't work hard enough.

F

- Full name: Johanna Mikitka - that's it, that's all there is to it!

- First thoughts waking up: I'm supposed to have thoughts when I wake up?!

- Food: I'm ready whenever you are!

G

- Greatest Fear: uh, roaches? idk

- Goals: be the best person I can be. Live a full life so that people can't say I have potential - my physics teacher once said that potential is a bad thing because a person who has potential isn't everything they can be.

- Get along with your parents? sure... Dad is always right (except when Mom is).

- Good luck charm: uh, not that I can think of

H

- Hair Color: Brown

- Height: 5'something

- Happy: If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands

- Holiday: a jolly holiday - like in Mary Poppins?

- How do you want to die: why ponder things so clearly out of our control?

I

- Ice Cream: hmmm, perhaps some springer chip, or some moose tracks, or maybe a banana split?

- Instrument: piano, voice, English handbells... maybe one day I'll learn to play the accordion!

J

- Jewelry: always my Order of the Engineer ring; other times class ring or one of a few other rings, necklaces, bracelets, earings, ankle bracelets - depends on the situation

- Job: "staff professional" - in many other states I could say engineer - but in PA you have to have your P.E. to say that.

K

- Kids: I like kids!

- Kickboxing or karate: um, I'd probably hurt myself doing either

- Keep a journal?: sometimes - mostly I just tell my mom

L

- Longest Car Ride: continuous: Philadelphia, PA to Clemson, SC; over three days: Philadelphia, PA to Oklahoma - both rides involved a 30ft. trailer, a 15 passenger van, and a concrete canoe!

- Love: <3

- Letter: I like to get them in the mail!

- Laughed so hard you cried?: totally!

M

- Milk flavor: chocolate

- Movies: depends on my mood

-Motion Sickness?: not that I know of - unless it involves the Paratrooper at Knobels

- McD’s or BK: BK

N

- Number of Siblings: 1 real sister; 1 "nocturnal twin"

- Number of Piercings: one in each ear

- Number: 3.14159...

O

- One wish: life without conflict

P

- Perfect Pizza: homemade or Papa John's with pineapple & jalepeno (if I'm ordering out)

- Pepsi/Coke: Pepsi

Q

- Quail: How am I supposed to respond to this?

R

- Reason to cry: it's my party and I'll cry if I want to :-D (I think somebody put my brain-radio on shuffle tonight)

- Reality T.V.: ugh - too much reality

- Radio Station: any one that is not playing commercials - internet radio favs include WALN, WMID, OmegaRock

- Roll your tongue in a circle?: yes - particularly to annoy my friends who can't ;-)

- Ring size?: I think all my fingers are different

S

- Song: I couldn't pick just one!

- Shoe size: Women's 10, Men's 8.5

- Salad Dressing: depends on my mood - usually some type of vinegar based dressing

- Sushi?: oh man, this alphabet is making me hungry!

- Skipped school: I skipped one class in college so I could finish the homework that was due at the end of class... showed up at the end to turn it in - other than that, I can't cuz I feel super guilty!

- Slept outside: in a tent

- Sing well?: I try

- In the shower?: If my roomie isn't around

- Swear?: I work with drillers and construction workers - my brain has a full working vocabulary of words - I try not to use "drillers mouth" at the office or around children - some of the guys try to provoke my use of words... some I just won't use!

- Strawberries/Blueberries: mmmmm fresh fruit!

T

-Time for bed: I've heard that normal people keep schedules - I confess, I am not a normal person ;-)

-Thunderstorms: awesome - especially at the beach!

U

- Unpredictable: can this be predicted?

V

- Vacation spot: anywhere as long as it doesn't invovled homework!

W

- Which one of your friends acts the most like you: hmmm - I'll have to ponder that more

- Who makes you laugh the most: Fritz ;-)

- Worst feeling: getting out of my glorious bed

- Wanted to be a model?: not if it involves wearing makeup - yuck!

- Worst weather?: Hurricanes and tornadoes

X

- X-Rays: been there

Y

- Year it is now: 2009!

- Yellow: brick road? ... submarine?

Z

- Zoo animals: I want to go to the zoo... I've lived blocks from it for 8 years now!

LAST PERSON WHO…

1. Slept in your bed besides you: Elle - that Elephant sleeps all day!

2. You went to the mall with: do strip malls count? - in that case, my Dad - who can pass up a trip to Sears Essentials and the Dollar store?!

3. You went to dinner with: a lot of canoe people

4. You talked to on the phone: JB

5. Made you laugh: myself - I laugh at myself frequently

6. Hugged you: JB

7. Said they loved you: mom sent me an IM kiss

8. You spoke with: Theresa (my roomie)

9. You cried over: the guy at church who called me close-minded

10. Made you mad: the guy at church

I'm going to tag Aimee and T if they want to do it... and anyone else who might feel like participating.

This alphabet has been brought to you by the Letter J and the number 8.

Na zdravie!

2009-02-14T14:13:00.001-05:00

Happy St. Cyril & Methodius day!

25 things...

2009-02-09T23:17:00.002-05:00

This is really a post from facebook, but since some of the people who read my blog (or have left comments on occasion) aren't on facebook (yes, there are some people who are not yet on facebook in this world!), I've decided to post it in both places... here goes:

Rules: Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about yourself. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you.

To do this, go to “notes” under tabs on your profile page, paste these instructions in the body of the note, type your 25 random things, tag 25 people (in the right hand corner of the application) then click publish.

1. I can't stand open drawers... even if I can't see them at the moment. If I know it's open, I have to close it.
2. The drawer thing is even worse if there's something sticking out of the drawer.
3. The clothes in my closet are organized by type; each type has its own hanger variety (pants on black, sweaters on pink, etc.)
4. I prefer to give hand made cards over purchased cards.
5. I like to make gifts for people - necklaces, earrings, scarves, blankets, etc. but I rarely make anything for myself.
6. I like to sing - sometimes I think of my life as a really long musical... I'm still waiting for a whole street full of people to burst into a dance number.
7. I don't have a favorite color - I get really nervous when people ask cuz I feel silly telling them I don't know what my favorite color is. I'm a big fan of the 96 box of Crayolas :-D I like bright colors.
8. Although I really don't worry about what others think of me as long as I am happy with who I am, I do worry that people don't like me and are talking behind my back about me.
9. I really want to be the "Phillie Phanatic" when I "grow up"
10. I have a large collection of stuffed animals... a few of them have personalities
11. My dad and I custom designed/built the furniture in my bedroom at my apt.
12. JB's dad custom designed and built my coffee table.
13. I have a large, well-organized collection of LEGOs. One day I hope to have a room in my house just for them.
14. I like to cook when I'm stressed... or when I have a few free minutes.
15. I enjoy planning parties.
16. I'm a terrible liar - even when I try, I can't keep from laughing
17. There are very few foods I don't like/won't eat... really... try me!
18. I have a slight obsession with bubble tea... and Josh Groban (totally unrelated obsessions)
19. My bathroom is rubber-ducky themed - including: shower curtain rod, shower curtain, carpet, hand towel, matted picture on wall, trash can, and light switch plate cover.
20. I strongly dislike the feel of makeup - I own very little with the exception of chapstick, lip gloss, and an eyeliner.
21. I've acquired a reputation for making excellent jello shots - they actually taste like drinks, not just jello with vodka
22. I've always wanted a stained glass window in my house
23. I like to cook new things - esp. ethnic foods - it's a fun challenge
24. I would love to live in a big old farm house... I really like houses that have lots of character.
25. I miss some of my closest friends from the past whom I thought would be life-long friends... not that I don't have many great friends now... I have some of the best friends a girl could want... but it makes me sad that some people have essentially disappeared from my life.

Here and Now...

2009-01-27T00:13:00.004-05:00

So I've accepted Aimee's challenge over at The Mother Load - a here and now picture with no editing (courtesy of the MacBook's built in camera and PhotoBooth)

Here you have it... Homework Hanna

Yes, I like to keep my head warm... I'm quite sure that warm brains think better than chilly ones ;-). Well, I've had enough homework for the night. So, this will just about wrap up my day.

Please keep the Drexel community in your prayers as we mourn the loss of two of our brothers and await the recovery of four more. RIP John & Ian... you will be missed!

Here's Trouble!

2008-12-19T00:08:00.001-05:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Double cookie baking extravaganza!

2008-12-18T23:18:00.004-05:00

If you haven't seen my kitchen (or lack thereof) before, suffice it to say that baking two different kinds of cookies in one night after a full day of work really pushes the kitchen to its limits. Oh, to have a real kitchen with full size appliances... alas, I'm too cheap to pay for that kind of apartment.

Type I: Meringue Kisses (recipe courtesy of Aunt Louie)

Type II: Thumbprints (recipe courtesy of Aunt Mary Ann (NJ))

The aftermath: not too bad if I may say so myself (I'd already cleaned up and put away the mixer when I took this picture... believe it or not the mixer was on that little piece of visible countertop)

Well, I'm thinkin' I might call it a night (w/o making coconut macaroons (recipe courtesy of Aunt Louise)... yes, it appears I'm collecting recipes for my favorite cookies made by my aunts ;-)
Aunt Mary Ann (PA) still hold corner on the market for nut tosses (I don't think I'm there yet!)

I better go wash the rest of the dishes since I certainly don't have space for a dishwasher in that kitchen!

More kitchen time... sans fire extinguisher ;-)

2008-12-17T00:08:00.001-05:00

Well, here they are... and all in neat little rows! Who knew it would take so long to make 103 individually wrapped cordial cherries? This turned out to be the product of two nights work (rather than just one night as I had anticipated). In case you were wondering, red wrappers have milk chocolate, gold wrappers have dark chocolate, and holly wrappers have white chocolate... OCD much?

These little beauties are a product of night 3 in the kitchen. These are chocolate thumbprint cookies with raspberry filling and almonds. These took MUCH longer than the 40 minutes claimed by the recipe (found here). My initial assessment is that they are not chocolaty enough. However, I tend to enjoy cookies more after they sit for a few days... I'll have to get back to you on these.

Tomorrow's kitchen goal includes meringue kiss cookies... although I may switch it up for some Aunt Mary Ann thumbprints instead. Note to self: must go to grocery for thumbprint filling!

A box of chocolates... and a fire extinguisher

2008-12-15T00:01:00.000-05:00

My first attempt at candy making (if you haven't guessed already) nearly ended in disaster! Please explain to me what would cause a wooden stirring stick in chocolate to spark?! There was smoke coming out of my chocolate... OY! I didn't actually have to employ the fire extinguisher, but I might have if I hadn't been standing in front of the microwave peering at the melting chocolate.

While I'd love to show you a picture of my box of cordial cherries, the batteries in my camera are not charged and I don't know where I put the transfer cable when I cleaned my room (it certainly didn't go back to it's usual home). So for now, you'll have to imagine my foil wrapped cherries covered in dark chocolate, white chocolate, and milk chocolate.

I've made myself hungry... hmmmmm...

A Fielding Christmas

2008-12-13T15:52:00.001-05:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

St. Nicholas Day...

2008-12-06T00:56:00.003-05:00

Well, it's St. Nicholas day... for those non-Catholics who may have stumbled upon this blog, you can read about St. Nicholas here

What does/did St. Nick bring at your house? At my house, St. Nicholas brings each child an onion and an orange along with some other treats. The orange is for how good you were and the onion is for the bad things you had done. We always compared the sizes of our oranges and onions to see who had been better :) We were comforted by the fact that our onions went into the Christmas soup to give some extra flavor.

Please do share your traditions with me... I'm very curious :) Last year St. Nicholas day fell on a work day so each of my co-workers received a small stocking with an onion, an orange, a pack of tissues, and a few pieces of candy. I really enjoy holiday traditions!

In case you were wondering about that last post:
I have no idea why the picture caption that should have read "You're a Mud Pie" did not show up in the post... yes "Katholil" you got your pie right! :)

Seriously... I just can't get away from the mud!

2008-11-26T00:54:00.000-05:00

You Are Mud Pie

You're the perfect combo of flavor and depth.
You are overpowering and dominant - and that's what people like about you.
You bring energy and a new direction to most interactions.
People crave you in a serious way. You're that important to them.

Those who like you give into their impulses.
You don't represent reason. You represent pure temptation.
People get addicted to you rather easily.
You offer people a dark side that is very hard to resist.

What Kind of Pie Are You?

Backlog... or shall I say BackBlog

2008-11-11T23:27:00.003-05:00

The blog has apparently fallen off of the radar of tasks that "absolutely must get completed." Anyway, just to let you know that I haven't forgotten all 4 or 5 of you who actually visit this site (plus the few random passers-by from other countries... yes, I recently added a hit counter that tracks locations) I have compiled a list of posts I ~~wrote~~ intend to write in the near future.
Posts to come in no particular order:

- baked goods... something to do when you can't sleep/feel like baking

Banana-Coconut Cream Pie
Merengue Cookies aka what to do with the egg whites after you make a cream pie
Boston Cream Pie
Smores Brownies

- Max's reflections on the place he called home (I might have a guest blogger on this one)

- The Phillies Parade of Champions

- Follow the Yellow Brick Road

- Christmas Countdown

- You Bet Your Dupa (haha, I don't have subject matter in mind for this one yet... suggestions welcome... you never know what I might write about!)

WORLD SERIES 2008!!!!!!!

2008-10-29T23:32:00.002-04:00

PHILLIES WON THE WORLD SERIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

and the city goes WIIIIIIIIIIIIIILD!

Happy Birthday JB!

2008-10-20T22:16:00.002-04:00

Well, I had hoped to post a cute pic of us from the Maize Quest... but alas, I have yet to unearth the download cable for the camera. Basically I just haven't unpacked from my week of traveling.

HAPPY 26th BIRTHDAY JB!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

2008-10-07T23:16:00.003-04:00

Happy 23rd Birthday wishes for my sis, V!

Political Post... sorta... kinda... not really

2008-10-05T00:38:00.001-04:00

Your result for The Presidential Capacity Test...

Presidential Success!

100% Values, 84% Charisma and 88% Judgment!

"In America, anyone can become president. That's one of the risks you take." -Adlai E. Stevenson

Congratulations! You encapsulate everything that a successful candidate should encapsulate.

Crack open the whiskey and break out the celebratory cigar. You are destined for success in the Presidential Campaign. You exude confidence and charisma. You exhibit true leadership abilities and demonstrate the ability to make snap judgement calls if the need arises. You are well-respected for your strong values and your steadfast stance on honesty and loyalty.

The USA needs a President like you. You are one of a select few deserving of the influence and recognition commanded by the Presidential title. Congrats!

Other possibilities:

Take The Presidential Capacity Test at HelloQuizzy

More beach fun!

2008-09-29T22:18:00.012-04:00

"I told you not to take my picture!"

"Yeeeeeesssssss?!"

"How shall we pose for this picture?"

Still trying to pose...

"Ok, forget the pose."

Check out the harvest decor!

It looks very different around here without all the surfboards, flipflops, ad sunglasses!

Well, my video clips won't get through Google's processing tonight, so I guess you'll just have to wait. Perhaps tomorrow...

Bloggy Awards

2008-09-29T21:26:00.004-04:00

I've decided to create a bloggy award. The idea came from a cup of tea...

All children need a laptop. Not a computer, but a human laptop. Moms, Dads, Grannies and Grandpas, Aunts, Uncles – someone to hold them, read to them, teach them. Loved ones who will embrace them and pass on the experience, rituals and knowledge of a hundred previous generations. Loved ones who will pass to the next generation their expectations of them, their hopes, and their dreams.

-- General Colin L. Powell Founder, America’s Promise – the Alliance for Youth.

The first recipients of this award are...

drum roll please...

Aimee at The Mother Load
Megan at Fried Okra
T at T with Honey
Rach at Hannah and Lily

Now for the instructions...
1 - Please bestow this award on all those who have laptops.
2 - Don't forget to go to their blog and let them know.
3 - Please be sure to include the quote in your post!

My spectacular weekend getaway...

2008-09-28T23:05:00.008-04:00

Ah, the beach!

What better way to relax than to sit at the waters edge and listen to the waves?

I have to admit, it was a little strange to be there without Mom & Dad. V and I decided to hit up Stone Harbor, NJ. We found it to be very different at this time of year. The town was very empty... and QUIET!

The bears were totally ready to party...

all night long...

(this picture is the same as the last one except I didn't use the flash... it was pretty dark outside)

I still have some video clips to share... complete with relaxing ocean sounds. I think I'll end here for tonight though.

Coming soon:
- baked goods... something to do when you can't sleep/feel like baking
- Max's reflections on the place he called home.

School...

2008-09-24T21:00:00.000-04:00

School has started again... I have a burning desire to go to Staples... clearly I need new pens to go with my new planner

(which disappointingly comes in black... not pink like they show on the website :( )

Obviously, I "need" this set...

so that I have enough colors with which to write. But I need a school supply conscience... the little devil sitting on my shoulder whispers sweet nothings in my ear every time I set foot in Staples. If you saw my pen drawer, you would get a better idea of this problem. So, for now, I suppose I shall avoid such places!

Shameless boasting!

2008-09-24T20:55:00.003-04:00

I'm shamelessly going to show off my first every bloggy bling courtesy of Aimee!

I too happily look forward to comments left on my perhaps somewhat less than exciting blog! I'm very excited to pass this award on to T at T with Honey, Kath-o-lil at Little Sleepy Head, and JB's blogless mom! (Aimee, you too deserve this award, so I'll send it right back at-cha!)

While I have several posts in the works, homework currently trumps blogging... so, I better get crackin!

Indian guys...

2008-09-17T22:51:00.003-04:00

if you're startled by the topic, stop reading now... lest you think me to be racist...

tonight I have only a simple question (with a potentially not simple answer)...
why is it that everywhere I go, Indian guys stop to speak to me?! Seriously!... even at a bar in Bethlehem of all places... not that I was super-surprised tonight here at Drexel (where I'm pretty sure majority of the students (esp on the grad level) are either ABCDs or straight off the plane)

I swear I'm going to start wearing my "You bet your dupa I'm Slovak" shirt everywhere!

A flurry of commotion...

2008-09-16T00:01:00.001-04:00

Well, it's been a long time since I posted an update! Work has been keeping me busy... VERY busy! One of my projects is on a very tight fast paced time table. At any rate, it keeps me out of trouble.

Since my last post, my cousin Ted also celebrated his 25th birthday, and my cousin Maria celebrated her 23rd Birthday... Happy Birthday wishes!

In other news, JB moved out of the city. He is temporarily living out of boxes at his parents' house until he moves into his own place (which he hasn't purchased yet). Today is going to be a house hunting day with his older sis... hooray for female input! :-D Geegee is going to have a great time with her grand-babies while JB and Aimee go house hunting with the realtor. JB has discovered that his commute to the office takes nearly 2 hours... good thing he doesn't have to go in every day! So, now everyone/everything is about an hour away... my apt. to my office (~1 hr), my apt. to JB's parents' (~1 hr), my apt. to my parents' (~ 1 hr), my office to JB's parents' (~ 1 hr), my office to my parents' (a little more than an hour), my parents' to JB's parents' (~1 hr). Seriously, everyone is an hour away... except for my cousin... he moved closer. He's only 10 minutes away... merely a hop, skip, and a jump relative to everyone else!

Went to an oldies dance this weekend... that was a blast! It was nice to take a break from life for a few hours! ZZZzzz... OK, I'm out for the night...

Birthday wishes...

2008-09-04T00:01:00.000-04:00

Happy 25th Birthday to the bestest roommie ever!!

I know she wants to ignore it (something about being old), but surely a quarter century is something to celebrate!

Happy Birthday Theresa!

Geek status...

2008-09-03T00:37:00.001-04:00

Found this little quiz over at T with Honey... of course I couldn't help but take it...

64% Geek

Well, there you have it folks.

Concert Time!

2008-08-25T23:24:00.003-04:00

To be there or not to be there, that is the question...

When: Wednesday August 27th @ 8pm

Where: Main Auditorium - NE corner of 32nd & Chestnut

What: Summer Chorus Concert

Why: This may be the best summer chorus I've been in yet... and as far as chorus goes, I've been around a while! ;-) (second only to Brian!)

Conclusion: you should definitely be there!

Lest I miss my opportunity...

2008-08-25T23:00:00.000-04:00

4 months till Christmas!

(and yes, I remembered to wear my Christmas shirt and earings to work today)

Keep Christmas with you all through the year!

MUSIKFEST

2008-08-06T08:27:00.000-04:00

It's that time of year again when Bethlehem turns into a frenzy of concert going activity. While I meant to post about this earlier, I've been too busy festing... and volunteering!

Happy 25th anniversary Musikfest!

A bit of amusement...

2008-07-30T02:23:00.001-04:00

Ah, Beaker...

Ode To Joy: The Muppet Show | Funny Jokes at JibJab

The Last Thing you Want to See While Gracing the Throne...

2008-07-29T19:27:00.005-04:00

Although I have been unsure if this is a blog-appropriate story, it is certainly an amusing story to look back on... now anyway ;-)

While my roommate and I strive to keep a relatively orderly, well, clean if not orderly apartment, our building mates in addition to Drexel's apparent obsession with construction projects chase the occasional uninvited guest into our place. I returned from my lovely week at the beach for a few brief moments to drop off some stuff that didn't need to go to my parents house and pick up one or two things (i.e. the dirty laundry basket... it's so much cheaper, not to mention easier (a post for another time) to do the laundry at mom-n-dad's). At any rate, since we had stopped off there, I took the opportunity to use the facilities. While gracing the throne, I heard something... enough of something to make me turn my head -

just in time to see a roach ~~making a b-line for my unprotected bottom~~ wandering across the floor. Yelling and screaming commenced. As if the bugger could sense my fear, it came straight for the throne. After falling off as it attempted to scale the clean porcelain bowl it decided to check out the rest of the bathroom. Meanwhile, I continued yelling about roach spray in the kitchen. Luckily, my cousin, T.E. had come to the apt. with me so I was not left alone to fend off the invader. Unfortunately, here I was closed in the bathroom with the invader and an exposed dupa... and T.E. was on the other side of the door with the can of death. He threw in a bucket for me to attempt to catch the intruder, but the darned thing moved too quickly out of my reach.

J.B. to the rescue...
Lucky for me, J.B. came in just as the roach made a move for the door. By this time, I had managed to snag my bath towel from the rack to use as a curtain so as not to expose my poor dupa to my roach killing heroes. J.B. threw open the door and drowned Mr. Roach in a pool of spray! Phew! With the door closed again, I was able to resume finishing my business in peace... or so I thought...

the roach had wiggled it's way over to the wall and was in the process of using the wall to regain its running stance when it caught my eye. *yelling resumes* So, I don my towel curtain again and J.B. attacks with the spray. Mr. Roach ran out of the bathroom, across the hallway, straight into my bedroom... with J.B. in hot pursuit. He was finally able to catch the bugger, or perhaps give him a heart attack. What happened after that was somewhat of a blur, but I decided to place dead invader in a zip-top bag as proof for the exterminator that I do not exaggerate about the size of my roaches. Hopefully we won't see any more of his kind... EVER!

oh, by the way, I think we may now have a mouse... oh, the joys of living in the city, near construction, in a building built in the 1800s... ahhhh

the moment you've been waiting for...

2008-07-25T19:59:00.002-04:00

all two of you... since very late last night... yeah, I guess I was very good at building the suspense on this one...

drum roll....

....

...

...

iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit's....

Christmas tshirt day...

5 months (or 153 days) till Christmas!

Merry Christmas in July folks!

hmm... duplicates...

2008-07-24T23:13:00.003-04:00

Somehow on of the pictures appeared twice in the last post and one disappeared... so, here you have ityes, the bears apparently had an exciting game of beach volleyball while we were out!

Tonight I went to the last of the Philadelphia Orchestra's summer concert series at the Mann Center. The saved my favorite for last... Carmina Burana!!!! It was amazing! And the weather was beautiful to boot! Tonight's balmy breeze was a far sight from last night's greenish-purplish-grayish sky with lighting, thunder, torrential downpours, and hail... I'm glad I didn't go to last night's concert! ;-) Anyway, the Orchestra was wonderful as always... and Rosen Milanov did quite a fantastic job conducting!

Now, off to find my special shirt for tomorrow... cuz we all know what tomorrow is... don't we?
I guess you'll just have to come back tomorrow to find out :D

my castle on a cloud... well, sorta

2008-07-22T21:55:00.019-04:00

Ahh, the beach...
this year was different without GG for the first time in my memory. We just can't provide the kind of care that she needs nowadays. We had lots of "fun bun runs in the sun" and "motions for lotion before doing the locomotion to the ocean"... can you tell we did lots of rhyming?! Happy hour had an official menu this year. (Perhaps I'll post it here one of these days for your viewing pleasure.) The animals got into lots of trouble...
Another favorite part of the beach is building the annual sandcastle... when I say favorite, I speak ONLY for myself! (while others may somewhat enjoy the sandcastle, I don't think it would happen if I was not there) I decided to take a series of construction/demolition pictures this year... enjoy... (btw, we unionized this year during construction)

Architect & laborer's union

Inspector's Union (in the background)

The mostly completed castle (it gained a few decorations)

The Hand Paked Wall Union (with sun hat), Onlookers, and Bathing Beauties

Hand packer's, laborer's, and Digger's Unions with our completed work

Demolition pics...

Shall I move to New England?

2008-07-11T00:17:00.002-04:00

After reading T's heart-wrenching blog post about friendship, I feel like moving to New England. While I have only met T, Honey, and Princess once, I think we'd get along swell! Plus, I hear that it still snows in New England... I remember when it used to snow in PA.

Unfortunately, Drexel still owns my soul for another three years or so... and then Schnabel owns my life for an additional two years...

Speaking of Schnabel, I better be getting to bed since I must be in Trenton, NJ bright and early (perhaps too early!) tomorrow morning. But it's Friday... and I get to look forward to a week at the beach!!!!!! Maybe I can work on ditching the farmer's tan while I'm there :-D.

Note to self: don't forget the ice-pops for the guys on the jobsite... it may be my last day with this crew... hopefully they'll finish next week (we were supposed to be finished by the 4th of July. Obviously that worked well ;-) )

ABCs of Me...

2008-07-01T00:38:00.002-04:00

I'm going to tag myself for this one based on RC Mommy's response...

A. Attached or single? Not married.

B. Best friend? hmmm... I have several... I think they know who they are :)

C. Cake or pie? A piece of each please... come'on, I'm a Mikitka

D. Day of choice? Saturday... I can sleep in and stay up late!

E. Essential item? a stuffed animal... I still don't sleep w/o one

F. Favorite color? I really wish I could answer this question... most of the time, I just answer this question with a 96 box of Crayola crayons :D

G. Gummy bears or worms? Sour gummy worms.... mmmmmmmm

H. Home town? Bethlehem (PA, not Israel)

I. Favorite indulgence? Sleeping in a fluffy bed with lots of pillows.

J. January or July? hmmmm... I guess July... I like to go in the ocean and build sand castles

K. Kids? No left hand rings...

L. Life isn’t complete without? Music... singing, playing, listening, etc.

M. Marriage date? Haven't gotten there yet

N. Number of brothers and sisters? No brothers, One sister, One "nocturnal twin" (that's a story for another time)

O. Oranges or Apples? Fruit salad with both and more :D

P. Phobias? cockroaches! eeeeewwwww

Q. Quotes? I guess it's better to be who you are. Turns out people like you best that way, anyway. Big Bird

R. Reasons to smile? lol, the first thing that came to mind I probably shouldn't post (it certainly makes babies smile though :D )

S. Season of choice? I like them all... it's too bad that we seem to have missed spring here this year! And we didn't get a good snow storm either :(

T. Tag 5 people: most people seem to have been tagged... if you haven't, consider yourself officially tagged!

U. Unknown fact about me? If I told you, then it wouldn't be unknown!

V. Vegetable? Lima beans... and more recently, asparagus

W. Worst habit? Obsessing over my grades.

X. Xray or ultrasound? Neither... bad memories of kidney stones

Y. Your favorite food? FOOOOOOD!

Z. Zodiac sign? Gemini... twins!

Craaaazy Finger-Toe Shoes!

2008-06-12T19:11:00.002-04:00

I got myself a birthday present. I had no intention of buying these shoes, I really just wanted to see them... then I put them on my feet. They feel so awesome... although they look a bit crazy!!

Check 'em out...

News Flash...

2008-06-04T23:19:00.002-04:00

Concert Weekend!!

Drexel University Chorus Spring Concert
3pm - Main Building - Great Court
3141 Chestnut Street Philadelphia, PA

and it's FREE!!!

and it's on my birthday!

My guardian angel... RIP Marie

2008-05-28T23:18:00.003-04:00

It is again with a sad heart that I post a RIP message. This one comes very late, I did not know. Since I met Marie, I have always wondered if it is possible that God might grant us a chance to meet our guardian angel in this life. ... story time...

After my second year of college, I was preparing for my first Co-op (it's Drexel's extended version of an internship). I had secured a job with a firm in Moorestown, NJ, but I found myself in the midst of finals the week before I was to start working still without a place to live. My parents house was a solid 2 hour drive from the office. I couldn't seem to find an apartment whose landlord was willing to rent for only six months to a college student. I was supposed to have an appointment to see an apartment and my parents were on their way to Philadelphia when I found out that it had been leased that morning. We went over to NJ anyway and drove around a bit looking for signs of places that might be for rent. Before we headed back to Philly, my mom picked up a local newspaper.

The following Monday she picked a real estate add out of the paper and gave them a call. She picked what seemed to be a local company rather than a large chain realtor hoping to get help with what seemed to be a special housing request. It just so happened that the realtor with whom she was speaking had an extra room and was willing to meet us and possibly rent a bedroom/bathroom in her house to me for the summer. Once again we headed to NJ. We were greeted by Marie, a lovely person with a quaint townhouse in a nice development that was only minutes from the office. We decided that if she felt comfortable opening her house to me it was worth a try. I had no idea how wonderful a situation this would be! (Marie had no idea how much stuff... including a digital piano... I could fit into one room and not have too much clutter.) We spent lovely evenings together chatting, cooking for each other, cooking together, watching the french news(not that I understood a word of it), talking about each of our classes, and laughing about how often I had to call for directions home after getting lost on the NJ roads. Marie and I kept in touch through the next school year and I returned the following March for my second co-op. Marie and I continued to stay in touch. She would often attend my chorus concerts. We would chat about our busy schedules and talk about the possibility of maybe finding time to go out for dinner.

This week, I called to invite her to my next chorus concert and found that her phone had been disconnected. Thinking back on a conversation in which she had talked about moving, I called her cell phone. Again I found that the number had been disconnected. Perhaps she was finally on the trip to France she had been planning to take...? In hopes of getting updated contact info, I called Edgar (the real estate office). She passed away in February... I didn't know... they recognized my name and apologized that no one had my contact info. I can only imagine that it was sudden... as we had spoken not long before then and she had said she was well and I should let her know about my next concert. Although I wish I could have said goodbye, I'm now convinced more than ever that I did get a chance to meet my guardian angel. That my mom's phone call was not just a chance coincidence.

RIP Marie! I will miss you! Don't forget about my concert on Sunday
O:-) I know you'll be there in spirit.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

View/Sign Guestbook
Marie Elizabeth (Franzen) Rader
RADERMARIE ELIZABETH (nee Franzen) On Feb. 8, 2008, age 58, of Mt. Laurel, NJ. She was a volunteer with the Philadelphia Orchestra and member of the NJ Committee for over 20 years. Daughter of Paul W. Franzen of Phila Pa. and the late Lavene Franzen. Sister of Dr. Trisha Franzen, Dr. Paul Franzen Jr., Mark Franzen, Lizanne Hagedorn, Valerie Franzen and the Late William Franzen. Memorial Service Tues. 11 A.M. at the First Presbyterian Church, 101 Bridgeboro Rd., Moorestown, NJ. Memorial Mass Wed. 10 A.M. at Immaculate Heart of Mary R.C. Church, 819 Cathedral Rd., Roxborough, PA. In lieu of flowers the family request donation to be made to Samaritan Hospice, 5 Eves Dr., Marlton, NJ 08053 or to Mount St. Joseph's Academy, 120 West Wissahickon Avenue, Flourtown, PA 19031. Published in the Philadelphia Inquirer & Philadelphia Daily News from 2/10/2008 - 2/11/2008.

RIP Friend, mentor, Mom-away-from-home...

2008-05-16T05:11:00.003-04:00

McMenamin, Antonia B. "Toni" (Sulena-Wetzel)

View/Sign Guest Book

McMENAMIN
ANTONIA B. "TONI" (nee Sulena-Wetzel), May 13, 2008. Beloved wife of Patrick J. and mother of Cara McMenamin Wing, Esq., Patrick J. McMenamin, Jr., Esq. and Roger McMenamin, Esq; also survived by 7 grandchildren and a brother, Robert Wetzel. Relatives and friends are invited to attend Funeral Mass 11 AM Sat., May 17 at Immaculate Conception R.C. Church, 604 West Ave., Jenkintown, where friends may call after 10 AM. Interment private. In lieu of flowers, donations to The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Eastern PA, 2 International Plaza, Suite 245, Phila. PA 19113 are preferred. www.lls.org

Published in the Philadelphia Inquirer & Philadelphia Daily News on 5/15/2008.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For those in the Honors College at Drexel, Toni was probably the first person on campus to welcome you by name. She knew who we were, she knew what was going on in our lives, her door was open, she was always there for us. Toni was everyone's mom-away-from-home! If you wanted/needed anything, Toni made it happen... like the time a baby-grand piano showed up in my dorm because I mentioned that some of the other dorms had them but the honors building didn't. Toni fixed our class schedules, our housing problems, our co-op issues, sometimes even our personal issues! Toni will be greatly missed!

For Good (Wicked)
I've heard it said
That people come into our lives for a reason
Bringing something we must learn
And we are led
To those who help us most to grow
If we let them
And we help them in return
Well, I don't know if I believe that's true
But I know I'm who I am today
Because I knew you

Like a comet pulled from orbit
As it passes a sun
Like a stream that meets a boulder
Halfway through the wood
Who can say if I've been changed for the better?
But because I knew you
I have been changed for good

It well may be
That we will never meet again
In this lifetime
So let me say before we part
So much of me
Is made of what I learned from you
You'll be with me
Like a handprint on my heart
And now whatever way our stories end
I know you have re-written mine
By being my friend...

Like a ship blown from its mooring
By a wind off the sea
Like a seed dropped by a skybird
In a distant wood
Who can say if I've been changed for the better?
But because I knew you

Because I knew you
I have been changed for good

apartment update

2008-05-12T21:49:00.001-04:00

While I have taken more pictures of my temporary apartment, they are trapped on the camera while the batteries are charging. In the mean time, I'll leave you with this thought... the walls are a lovely cream color with white moulding... the green tint was a result of using the webcam for the first pics.

Temporarily relocated to D.C. ... here's a tour

2008-05-09T23:50:00.011-04:00

Here's a quick picture tour of my temporary apt. in D.C. It's awesome... there's a full size fridge, a garbage disposal, a dishwasher, a big bed, a comfy full size couch (and a matching comfy chair), two... TWO tvs, a kitchen/dining table settings complete with wine glasses... all this is only @150/day... the "cheap" hotel room I had before was $350/day and had merely a bed, a tv, and a bathroom.
Well, with no further ado, the pictures... (sorry about the quality, I used the webcam for these shots)

When in Rome, do as the Romans...

2008-05-01T23:45:00.000-04:00

So for many people, today was the feast of Ascension Thursday... but when I called the Basilica here in D.C. to ask for their Mass schedule I got transfered to several very confused people. I was asked questions like, "Why would there be a different Mass schedule on Thursday?" Apparently (According to Fr. George... who I called in bewilderment) most of the Dioceses have decided to celebrate the Ascension on the nearest Sunday. There are a few (Allentown, Philadelphia, Boston, etc.) who have decided that they will continue to celebrate Ascension Thursday on Thursday. Who celebrates a Thursday on a Sunday anyway? How does this make sense?! I will be back in Philadelphia for the weekend... somewhere in between I will have missed celebrating the Ascension.

Can someone please explain what these people are thinking?!

Bills bills everywhere!

2008-04-26T15:00:00.002-04:00

I find myself preparing to temporarily relocate to a hotel in Washington D.C. for work for the next few weeks. I decided it was about time that I set the finances in order... oh my! The living room floor of my parents house is currently covered with little piles from each utility company/bank/credit card/etc. I have managed to get the utility bills filed into their binders and logged in the apartment cost spreadsheet... my roommate will finally get the check that I've been promising!

Ok, enough ranting, back to work!

My First Meme Tag!

2008-04-23T01:13:00.008-04:00

Thanks to Aimee I have actually been tagged in a Meme! And I need a break from the hours of homework... so here goes...

The Rules:
1. When tagged place the name and URL on your blog.
2. Post rules on your blog.
3. Write 7 non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself.
4. Name 7 blogs. (um, I'm not sure that I can name 7 as I don't consistently actually read that many... I'm progressing slowly... do you have a blog that I should start reading?)
5. Send an email/comment on their blog letting them know they have been tagged.

Seven non-important things/habits/quirks about me:

- The clothes in my closet are arranged by type (pants, blouses, sweaters, etc.) and each type has their own kind of hanger (black - pants, white - blouses, pink - sweaters, etc.)

- I have always wanted to be the Phillie Phanatic... even when I was a little girl - forget being a princess, bring on the silly mascot costumes!

- I can't stand open drawers... the rest of the room could be a mess, but all the drawers must be closed (with nothing sticking out!)

- My feet are so flat I can suction them to the floor (non-carpeted of course).

- I've had two kidney stones... both during my freshmen year of college.

- I can't stand plain potato chips (salt & vinegar chips are a totally different story!)

- I enjoy singing & playing the piano. Although I have no problem singing/playing in a church full of people, I am super self-conscious about singing/playing when my roommate is home.

Name 7 blogs:
- The Mother Load - except she already did it (seeing as she tagged me)
- T With Honey - but The Mother Load beat me to it
- Rest Your Head
- I know JB's sister Julia had a blog (but the address seems to have been left on the old computer)... perhaps she'll reply to this post with a link? :-D
- 5?
- 6?
- 7?

If you should be 5, 6, or 7, please let me know!

Another cold night under the bridge...

2008-04-16T23:51:00.003-04:00

I have concluded that I am definately not cut out to be a homeless person. I find myself spending yet another cold... well, maybe it's just cool... but the wind coming off the water makes it feel cold (I digress) night under my most favorite bridge on the NJ turnpike. The end seems so near for this series of tests, yet each day it seems to get further away. 8am tomorrow seems like an eternity sitting here close to midnight. Everyone else (the other two guys) are sleeping... one in his car, the other with his hoodie pulled over his face (he actually looks like a homeless dude!) For now, it's just me, the dial gauges, and the sump pumps.

I have light, power, powerade, pomegranate juice, snacks, and a few more layers of clothes to put on as it gets colder/windier yet I feel sad. Oh how I'd love to close my eyes for a few minutes... but I know better! A few minutes would quickly turn into two hours of missed readings before the other guys would have to wake up to take their readings. We only have two more sections to test on our 4th bridge(of 4 bridges) in the project. This is a project that I have been working with since I started my job soon after graduation. I am ready to see this project wrap up. I am getting weary of this schedule of not having a schedule.

Update:
It's always an adventure at the bridge... the soup I had for dinner meant a midnight port-a-john break. It was getting pretty damp so I decided I'd grab my carhart bibs while I was up near my car. When I went to walk back down under the bridge a guy walked up to me with a diesel can. His english was very broken but I guessed that he had run out of fuel as I could see his truck stopped a few feet from the end of our bridge. I quickly got the inspector under the bridge on the phone cuz I had no idea who this guy was or where he came from. It turned out that all he wanted was a little fuel but I live in West Philly folks... I wasn't taking any chances! The two guys who are out here with me for the test took care of the situation... now, back to watching paint dry...

Project HomeFront Corps.

2008-04-01T01:30:00.003-04:00

Well, I finished Project HomeFront Corps. with no time to spare! The shirts were finally finished at about 4am on the big day of the Baptism of Bun. Unfortunately I did not have enough presence of mind left to remember that I wanted to take pictures to post here on the blog. Soooo, I'm gonna leave it up to Aimee to help me out with this one and post some pics... or send me some to post :D. Each member of the HomeFront Corps. got a tshirt in my take on their favorite colors (rather, whatever shade of their favorite color family I was able to find in their size).

Field Trip to Mantua

2008-03-30T09:00:00.000-04:00

Getting up early was totally worth it!

Easter Outfit...

2008-03-25T23:58:00.004-04:00

So, I promised someone a picture of my Easter outfit with the complete with the pink shoes. I'm not sure who that someone was... perhaps Kathy? Well, I thought I'd get a nice picture with the Home Front Corps... I even took my camera. Alas, I forgot to take said picture. So, this will have to suffice. It's almost my full Easter outfit... I had white tights on with it earlier in the day.

Incidentally, the Home Front Corps looked adorable sporting their Easter finery! My favorite was Sally's dress... although Francie's skirt totally passes the twirly test!!!

I realized that I didn't have a pink ribbon for my hair at one of the rehearsals last week. Since I had to go for gas on Saturday morning, I decided to stop at Tar-ghey to see if I could find something. I found that headband after about 2 minutes in the store... it totally matches the material of my dress! I couldn't believe my eyes. I was pink from head to toe! :-)

Joyous and Blessed Easter!

2008-03-24T21:03:00.003-04:00

Saint Agatha - Saint James Church (Philadelphia, PA)

While I hope the Easter Bunny was good to all, I pray that you not forget the significance of the true meaning of Easter. This is a time of great celebration for the church. Easter is more than just one day. Easter is a season... a season that lasts seven weeks. The Easter season concludes with Pentecost and the coming of the Holy Spirit.

May you have a holy, blessed, and joyous Easter season!

Please pray for those members of the collegiate population of the greater Philadelphia area who are preparing to receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit and Confirm their faith on April 5th!

A bit of politics...

2008-03-10T23:40:00.002-04:00

So, with all of the talk about candidates I've finally decided to write a little post on the topic. This isn't going to be a long post so as not to provoke too many harsh words in my comments section. However, I will say that I may have chosen my candidate... Walter for President

A little speech from Walter himself!

Well, there you have it folks!

Shuffle Time Meme... amusing!

2008-03-05T22:14:00.003-05:00

Saw this one over at T's ... thought I'd give it a try

Q: How does the world see you?
A: Gimme Three Steps - Lynard Skynard
ummm... not really sure of what to make of this...

Q: Will I have a happy life?
A: Little Bitty - Alan Jackson
might as well share, might as well smile... life goes on for a little bitty while

Q: What do my friends really think of me?
A: I Surrender, Dear - Bing Crosby
my friends need me?

Q: Do people secretly lust after me?
A: Under Your Spell Again - Johnny Rivers
HAHAHAHAHA!!!!

Q: How can I make myself happy?
A: Livin' La Vida Loca - Eddie Murphy & Antonio Banderas
Rockin! Totally me! :-)

Q: What should I do with my life?
A: Old MacDonald Had A Farm - Flatt & Scruggs
Really?! I wouldn't mind a farm house, maybe some animals, don't know about a whole farm!!

Q: Will I ever have children?
A: O Holy Night - Linda Eder
Ummmmm... ?

Q: What is some good advice for me?
A: Chapel Of Love - Darlene Love
Is that so?

Q: How will I be remembered?
A: If You're Not In It For Love, I'm Outta Here
Not particularly sweet...

Q: What is my signature dancing song?
A: Little Queenie - Chuck Berry
I recently said I'd like to go to a sock hop... well, I suppose this is a start

Q: What do I think is my current theme song?
A: Fur Elise - Vince Guaraldi Trio
Keep Christmas with you all through the year!

Q: What does everyone think my current theme song is?
A: Dig In - Lenny Kravitz
Interesting

Q: What song will play at my funeral?
A: The Bells of St. Mary's
Does this mean I will end up at a parish called St. Mary's?

Q: What type of men / women do you like?
A: Man of His Word - Bob Carlisle
AWESOME!

Q: What is my day going to be like?
A: Whip It - Devo
LOL! Here comes the task master...

Dust off those thinking caps!

2008-03-02T22:50:00.002-05:00

Coming soon... a post about my midterm project. If you thought the last post was deep, wait till you see the evolution of a water droplet in 3D! For now, I must put my tired brain to rest.

In other news, I got to meet Aimee & Robert's Bun. Very cute, although Sally steals the cute show blowing kisses from her high chair with her flowing blonde curls all around her face.

Frustrations of a Cool Nerd God... partially resolved

2008-02-17T12:56:00.002-05:00

If Math scares you, stop here!

If you're still reading you either may understand some of this or you didn't take me seriously ;-). So, Homework #3 was to convert a 2D Laplace Finite Element Method code into a 3D Laplace FEM code. My challenge with this class is that I don't know the math or the program so where there's a problem... well, things all fall apart... occasionally including myself. This one (with a little help) went fairly well. I was unaware that you could have a three dimensional matrix (oh how I wish I had taken Linear Algebra)... but in the end, I didn't need one anyway. The picture shows my pretty results for the Unit Sphere provided by the Pavel (the prof). (UnitSphere-515p-2375t) It has 515 points and 2375 tetrahedral elements. Now, back to the midterm project.

I'm a little frustrated on this one. I spent many hours, including a meeting with the professor and another student, getting the first part (of three) to run properly. After the inclass midterm exam, Pavel wrote the whole code for the first part in class.... ARGH!!! A number of people were discussing how they had not yet started the project so this was great. grrrrrr. I'm currently having trouble with part 2... but we didn't really get any advice there since he did all of part one. Kicked in the butt for being a hard working student again... is it just me?!

Ok, enough ranting and raving... ~~back to work~~ nah, off to the beer distributor - cuz I have my priorities straight ;-)

Nerd Test... not that I needed a test to tell me that I'm a nerd

2008-02-12T23:43:00.001-05:00

Blog neglect...

2008-02-10T09:56:00.000-05:00

Blog neglect seems to have become the result of quite a full schedule these past few weeks. Although my class this term is interesting and I have an awesome professor, the work has been taking a LOT of time!!!! Perhaps as a result of my lack of Linear Algebra and Matlab knowledge.

So, to help give me a kick start on some posts, feel free to leave a topic in my comments... you all have such interesting blogs that generally my draft posts seem rather dull.

In other news, Congratulations to John's sister and brother-in-law on the newest addition to their family who has finally come home! The blog pictures are soo cute! Maybe we'll see him in person one of these days.

Ok, back to matlab... hmmm

A lovely wedding!

2008-01-13T23:20:00.000-05:00

Congratulations to the new Mr. & Mrs. Piscopo!

I got to spend a lovely evening out celebrating Lori's marriage to Jimmy! I always enjoy a good dress up occasion. So, for this one I got a new dress... I really wasn't shopping for myself when I found it... I was attempting to respond to a request from TwithHoney on her blog for a dress that wasn't red or black but I fell in love with the dress. And who can't pass up buying a $188 dress for $58... and that was including shipping! Thanks, T, I really love my new dress! Unfortunately, I forgot to have someone take a full length shot of the dress to post here, so for now all I have to share is the sitting down with shawl version.

However, I can share a shot of the perfect shoes I found to go with the dress (thanks to a little get away from all these guys shopping trip that the Schnabel girls took one evening during a Project Management training weekend. I must say, these shoes were a new experience in the walking department. In general, my dress shoes have straps or buckles or they are strappy and stay so that something has to be done to take them off. I'm not usually good in the ~~slipoff~~ slipon fashions. My flat/wide feet with narrow heels just don't do well in slipons... besides they usually look silly. Well, popular opinion at the DSW in DC said that I had to get them because they were a perfect match for the dress and they looked cute... and best part, they were on clearance sale!!!

Soooo, here you have it... the shoes... w/o feet... and with foot (yes, singular foot... couldn't get a good shot of both feet by myself)

Happy Birthday Aimee!!!

2008-01-11T20:26:00.000-05:00

o o o o o o o
I I I I I I I
XXXXXXXXXXX
~~~~~~~~~~~~
XXXXXXXXXXX

And the final answer is......

2008-01-05T00:20:00.000-05:00

I PASSED THE F.E. EXAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In case you've never heard of it, the F.E. (fundamentals of engineering) exam is a two part, eight hour exam that tests all of the stuff one apparently should learn in college while obtaining an engineering degree. Essentially, it's eight hours of pure stress... and then eight to twelve weeks of waiting for the results. My letter arrived on Christmas Eve... nice timing State of Delaware! After a few seconds of considering waiting until after Christmas to open it, I gave in to the curiosity... luckily I passed or there may have been a few tears in the Christmas pirohy! I was perhaps a bit too excited to add the E.I.T. (Engineer in Training) to my signature... my signature finally looks like I'm more than a secretary!!!! I called my mentor right away... on Christmas Eve... what nerve (luckily she didn't answer so I didn't feel the need to appologize for disturbing her on a holiday).

Here in the wonderful Commonwealth of Pennsylvania one cannot call themselves an engineer until they hold a professional license... which requires five years of experience and another 8 hour test... I'll worry about that in a couple of years. For now, I'll celebrate the great relief! (I really didn't want to take that test again!!!)

PS - Don't forget, the Christmas season is not yet over!!!

From one of my favorite Christmas movies...

2007-12-28T09:49:00.000-05:00

"When Christmas time is over and presents put away, don't be sad
There'll be so much to treasure about this Christmas day and the fun we've had
So may happy feelings to celebrate with you
And, oh, the good times hurry by so fast,
But even when it's over there's something you can do to make Christmas last

Keep Christmas with you
All through the year,
When Christmas is over,
You can keep it near.
Think of this Christmas day
When Christmas is far away.
Keep Christmas with you
All through the year,
When Christmas is over,
Save some Christmas cheer.
These precious moments,Hold them very dear
And keep Christmas with you
All through the year.

Christmas means the spirit of giving
Peace and joy to you,
The goodness of loving,
The gladness of living;
These are Christmas too.
So, keep Christmas with you
All through the year,
When Christmas is over,
Save some Christmas cheer.
These precious moments,
Hold them very dear
And keep Christmas with you
All through the year."
(Christmas Eve on Sesame Street)

Buuuuuut, unlike the radio stations might lead you to believe, the Christmas season is not yet over!! The Christmas season lasts until the feast of the three kings on January 6th! So, continue eating cookies, partying it up, leaving the bathrooms dirty, or whatever it is you choose to do to celebrate.

I hope Santa was good to all this year!

The Second Week of Advent

2007-12-08T20:13:00.001-05:00

So, here we are at the beginning of the second week of advent... but has your advent really started? or are you being swept away by the hustle and bustle of the commercialized Christmas? It seems that many people completely miss advent in their lives. Advent is a time of preparation, waiting, anticipation, and a time to sweep out the spiritual cobwebs in preparation for the Lord's coming. Does the world even realize that there is more to Christmas than santa and fruit cake... don't get me wrong, I can't wait for Aunt Mary Ann's fruit cake. (I really don't understand all the bad-mouthing of fruit cakes that happens at this time of year! Aunt Mary Ann's fruit cake lasts no more than a few days at our house.) Fruit cake aside, while you may have all your cookies made and all the presents wrapped, have you remembered your spititual preparations? We do not know the day or time... he will come at an hour we do not expect? Will we be ready?

Have a blessed Advent! Don't forget the reason for the season!

Selfless Advertising... because I can

2007-11-27T20:42:00.000-05:00

Drexel University Chorus
Fall Concert Series:

December 2, 2007

Main Building - Main Auditorium
(32nd & Chestnut Streets)
3:00 PM (FREE!)

Featuring:

Pueri Hebraeorum (Victoria)
You that wont to my pipes sound (Morely)
Ave Maria (Byrd)
Christmas Cantata (Charpentier)
Daniel, Daniel, Servant of the Lord (arr. Moore)
My Soul's Been Anchored in the Lord (Hogan)
Two Blake Songs (Powell)
Deep River (from "Jubilee Songs" of the United States of America)
Witness (arr. Halloran)

December 7, 2007

Longwood Gardens
1001 Longwood Road, Kennett Square , PA 19348
7:00 PM and 8:00 PM

Featuring:

selections from the previous list
various christmas carols arranged for chorus

All three concerts promise to be wonderful (if I may say so myself :D) Hope to see you there!

home for the holidays...

2007-11-19T23:43:00.001-05:00

Only two days of work this week! I have taken off on Wednesday... goal: get life back in some semblance of order (or start anyway... particularly by filing the large and still growing pile of bills... which also invovles paying my ever forgiving roommate several months of utilities).

This weekend I went to Thanksgiving dinner #1 at the Gardenville Hotel. We were late... the pies were still in the oven at planned blast-off time. We managed to arrive in the middle of dinner (with the green bean casserole, corn relish, and two egg-nog-pumpkin-pies). Dinner was lovely... and then the madness began... Seeing as my sister is the youngest in our generation on both sides of the family, I'm not used to having 30 little cousins running crazy around a reception hall... or anywhere for that matter. Although this is not the first family function I have attended, I still find them most intimidating! I'm starting to be able to recognize some of the kids but names are a whole different issue... with which even their own relatives seem to struggle at times. I played some ping-pong with some kid - name withheld due to lack of knowledge (although I think I heard it while we were playing). I nearly had my head taken off by child weilding pool stick... no idea who that was as I was busy ducking out of the way. The "older kids" stayed after most of the insanity died down and played a few games of pool... Aunt C (don't know who is and isn't ok with their names being used) even played a game or two with us.

Thanksgiving dinner #2A will be at my parents house... and there will be much peace and quiet... well, peace and quiet may be a stretch but there will be much less running around in circles for sure!

Thanksgiving dinner #2B will be at JB's sister's house... with substantially fewer children than aforementioned dinner #1. I will be sitting this one out this year... however, I may have some sort of hand in the mashed potatoes lest Older Girl (sorry, the new code names escaped the brain) be disappointed... we shall see.

Temptation: I have my eye on a chef's outfit for JB... and perhaps a minitature matching one for me. I'm just not sure that he'd actually wear it. I think it would be fun though!

finite element analysis

2007-11-14T03:44:00.000-05:00

oh the joys of classes... here's what I've been working on all night... enjoy

Free Stuff

2007-11-11T12:49:00.000-05:00

If you haven't found this yet, it's a great place to try products as well as get free samples of some that you might already love! Walmart posts new free samples frequently. They send you the sample, you don't have to provide an email address and I haven't received any junk mail beyond the samples