I will try to fix you.

If you want to check out the blog I created for the sleep out for the Haiti event tonight at my school, go to jwusuddenlyhomeless.blogspot.com. I will be the main blogger, providing updates periodically every hour or so. It should be pretty interesting. I got the idea to make it after you all loved my own blog oh so much. :)

So read it, spread the word, and enjoy!

It can only start with you.

After some pushing by Mama Kelly, I've finally come back to blogland. Sorry for the hiatus, I just haven't really had anything exciting about and I've been pretty busy with school. I also was pretty sick for a little while so I was dealing with that. BUT, I've returned with some updates for everyone! We'll go with the numbering system on this one.

1) I got a job! Hurrah! My money has been seeeriously depleting since I came back from Thanksgiving break. I had to buy lots of Christmas gifts, so that lowered my account significantly. I'm currently working at Victoria's Secret PINK. Not food related I know, but it's simple and easy, something I can do a lot during the week and still be awake enough to focus on school. I basically greet people and fold clothes. Everyone I work with is really nice and I'm enjoying it, so I'm happy. :D

2) I was sick for a weekend. Reeeeally sick. Right after I got my job I came down with something. I never made it to the nurse so I'm not exactly sure what I had, but I have a feeling it may have been strepth since my friend had it. It was not fun. I had to leave my first day of work early which was embarassing. I just slept a lot. I wish I was home so Mom would've made me my nest! She always takes good care of me. :) I'm all better now though! It passed.

3) I worked at the open house for my school this weekend. My favorite chef asked me and my friend to help him out. It was SO nice being back in the kitchen for a day. I missed it so much. We cooked up crab cakes to give to the guests to sample and talked to them about school and answered questions. It was a lot of fun and pretty weird because I was in their position exactly a year ago. It was so strange to be on the other side. Things have really changed since then.

4) I spent a lot of time in South Beach this weekend with my friends Siobhan and Jess. We sat on the beach, walked around, and made some new friends who go to school in Orlando. It's always cool meeting new people. They seem like they'll be good friends for a while. We got along with them really well.

5) This disaster in Haiti is a reeeally big deal down here. My little sister in the Big Brother Big Sister program is from Haiti and there are a lot of people down here connected to the island so the school is doing a lot to raise money. My leadership class has actually designed an event that will happen on Thursday where we will sleep out for Haiti on cardboard boxes with only blankets, water, and little food. We're trying to display the homelessness and people are going to sponsor us. If any of you are interested in sponsoring me let me know! You can't donate online, but there are ways. It should be a really cool event.

Anyways, sorry for disappearing for a while. I'll really try to be more regular about posting, it just isn't as exciting right now because I'm not in labs. If you want to know anything more, feel free to ask me anything via comments. I LOVE comments, so please, if you're reading, leave a comment and let me know.

Thanks to my faithful followers.

This must be it, welcome to the new year.

Alright, so first post in a while. I know a lot of you guys have been waiting on me, so here you go!

I headed home for Christmas break on the 18th, and go back to Miami tomorrow. I absolutely loved being home, and did just about everything I wanted to do. It was so good to see my family and friends, a lot of whom I'm not going to see again until May. Isn't that weird? I'm not going to be home again for five whole months! Thankfully I'll be able to see Peggy and Bonnie as well as Gram and Pa in Florida whenever I want for a while, and my parents and brother are coming down in February, but I'm really going to miss my friends and good old Massachusetts.

Christmas was lovely as always. We didn't have a huge crowd, but the company was fantastic. :) I liked the smaller group anyways. Thanks everyone who gave me a gift for being so generous. I felt so lucky and loved this Christmas, and I really appreciate it. You were all so thoughtful. I would also say that Christmas dinner came out perfectly thanks to Mama Kelly and myself. The mashed potatoes were quite possibly the best I ever made, and the roast beef was perfectly cooked! Delicious. (Wasn't the gravy a good idea mom??) I gorged myself on Christmas dinner and cookies and felt quite wonderful.

Another highlight of the break was going to New York City to meet up with some friends from school. We had a fantastic time. We went out to lunch, to Dylan's candy bar, Serendipity for frozen hot chocolate, Rockefeller Center to see the tree, etc. It was strange seeing them all bundled up in New York as opposed to in Miami, though! I also was able to see a lot of my friends from home. I'm going to miss them a ton, so it was great to see them. We did all the usual things, nothing extremely special, but had a great time nonetheless.

So, I head back to Miami tomorrow, and classes start up again Monday, so I'll be thrown back into the swing of things immediately. I'm doing boring academics till the end of February, then will be starting up on labs again! Should be interesting. Love you all, and I'll update soon!

The time has come for colds and overcoats.

Sorry for not posting for a loooong time y'all! A LOT has happened since my last post!

First of all, I went home for Thanksgiving. It was lovely. Much thanks to Aunt Diane for providing the delicious meal and hospitality. Her culinary skills far surpass mine, and I enjoyed the food greatly. It was fantastic seeing all my family, and made me appreciate them so much. I thought a lot of the questions they asked me were going to be a little overwhelming, but I realized that I LOVE talking about what I'm doing. I find it incredibly interesting and intriguing and hope they do too! Anyone who reads this, feel free to ask me any questions. I know now that I have no problem talking about what I love. That's one of the reasons I have this blog, because I love to share what I'm passionate about.

Not only was I able to see my family over break and experience lovely New England, but I got to see my friends too! It is so strange going home for the first time, because you feel like everything is going to be so different and new, yet nothing really changes, which is nice. It felt just like I remembered it to be, and all I wanted to do was what I had done so many times before with my friends. I really realized who I missed and who mattered to me and cared about me, and I loved seeing all of them. Everyone seems so happy where they are and that makes me equally happy. My friends are really finding themselves.

Now, back at school, I'm doing my trimester of academic classes, which aren't NEARLY as exciting as the culinary ones. I'm taking Honors Leadership, Honors Advanced English Communication and Composition, Survey of College Math, and Communication Skills. They are pretty easy and kind of boring, but I can see how they'll factor into my future in the food industry. The professors do a good job of trying to relate whatever we're learning to my future career, which is refreshing, and makes it somewhat worthwhile. I have a feeling I'll do really well this term, as long as I can focus and work hard. :)

This past weekend I was able to go visit my grandparents in Naples. They just got down here for the winter, and I was so glad to see them! It was so relaxing and the closest I can get to home without taking a plane back to Massachusetts. They really made me feel comfortable and right at home. I don't know what I'd do without them, and love them both so much. I'm sure I'll be there a lot this winter. :)

Christmas is soon and I can't wait to go home again! Hopefully I'll see some snow. It's so weird down here. People have Christmas lights and decorations up, but it does not feel like the Christmas season at ALL. Can't wait to go home and feel the holiday cheer!

Au Revoir!

This is fact not fiction, for the first time in years.

So Beverage class ended....and I'm so sad. I loved that class, and got an A in it! (: I'm in Nutrition now which is not NEARLY as exciting. I mean, I can't use any butter, heavy cream, and hardly any oil in ANY of the recipes. That's like an insult to the French way of cooking. Not my style. It's not too bad though.

ONLY NINE MORE DAYS TILL I'M BACK IN MASSACHUSETTS! I'm BEYOND excited. I can't wait to go to the movies and watch Top Chef and eat popcorn with Dad, get my nails done and eat at Chipotle with Mom, be INSANE with my closest friends, go into Boston for cupcakes and Mike's Pastry!, visit my favorites at my high school, see my Schmoops and my brother and sister, and just relax and have some normalcy back in my life again. College is a fantastic, crazy ride, and I love it. But nothing compares to home. I'm starting to make a list of everything I want to do (as you can see), so I don't forget to do anything. I can't wait for the COLD even. I miss New England air...and Boston fans. I'm surrounded by Yankee fans.

I watched them win the World Series last week, proudly supporting my team as much as I could...I wore my Sox hat to one of the playoff games and my four Yankee fan friends made me put it in the freezer in order for the game not to be jinxed...I think it still worked though, they lost that game. :)

I'm continuing to meet a lot of people here, especially a lot of guys from a fraternity here, who are all really really awesome and great friends. Really decent guys who are laid back, non judgmental, smart and capable, and easy to relate to and talk to. I'm starting to find a lot of really close groups of friends who I can turn to when I need advice or strength. We're all kind of a support system for each other for when things get tough. You learn so much about yourself here at school, and about how to relate to and live with other people. It's quite humbling actually. I've examined myself so much lately and am really starting to find out who I am and who I want to be.

Love you all, keep the comments coming! I appreciate every one I receive (:

Heavy is the mind that can't be told, when it's time to let it go.

Wow, so sorry for the wait for a post. The last 10 days or so have been craaazy busy and somewhat bittersweet. Last weekend was my birthday, which was awesome. My friends went all out for me, buying me really funny and cute presents, getting a group together to go out to dinner, and overall just making me feel really special. Yet, I don't think I've missed home more than I missed it last weekend. It was so strange not being home on my birthday, and I missed my friends and family TERRIBLY. My friends from home were equally as amazing as my friends here though, and my family was spectacular. I got so many unexpected letters and presents and phone calls and I'm so grateful for all of them. Yes, they made me miss home a lot, but they also made me feel really really special on a birthday that I was not even expecting to be that good.

All of last week was once again, up and down. The beverage class I'm in right now is really really cool. Our chef is really laid back, lets us take lots of breaks, text during class, and really respects and understands us. Plus, we basically bartend, taste wine and beer, and learn about alcohol all day! It's quite enjoyable. I'm going to have to make some drinks for my family over Thanksgiving break, I'm getting pretty good. Yet, although class is really fun and great, working has been pretty hard at the dorm, since I've had to deal with some drama I don't really want to go into detail about with my roommates. I think it's pretty much sorted out, but it just gave me a lack of sleep and caused me a lot of stress. You know when you try really hard not to get involved in drama, then it kind of just falls ontop of you? Yeah, that's how I felt. Yet all I could do was try to be a good friend and not get too involved, and I think things are gonna be okay. I realized that late night walks and beach trips are perfect for calming me down and centering myself. I also made a few epiphanies over this week about what I can do to adapt better to college life and be a little more happy and confident:

1) Eat better! I have pretty good eating habits during the week because the food is provided for me, so I try to eat lots of salads and good protein and not a lot of dessert. Yet, on the weekends it is difficult because we have to make our own meals. I need to try to keep those eating habits regular on the weekends to stay healthy and happy.

2) Take more time for myself. At school it's hard because you're around people ALL THE TIME. Which means you also have to deal with their problems and concerns all the time. I love my friends here, but I realized I need to take more time just to myself to relax and focus and center myself.

3) Get a better sleeping schedule. I have to wake up at 6AM every morning to go to class, yet I like staying up late, so I don't get too much sleep. Even though the lack of sleep isn't a huge problem for me, I know that I'll be way better off if I go to sleep earlier, or take more naps. Naps are my new favorite things.

So, those, along with some other resolutions, are ways that I can adapt better to college life. This weekend was equally as good as my birthday weekend, if not better. I spent it with two of my closest friends here. We went to the beach, relaxed, went to dinner, and celebrated Halloween in style. I was a French mime, naturally, and we gave out candy at our dorm and just had a good and really fun night. The warmth down here is still very strange to me though. 90 degrees in November?! What?! I miss the fall.

So, there's an update for you. I'll try to be more regular about posting, this was just a very busy couple of days. Enjoy!

My friends, my habits my family, they mean so much to me.

So meatcutting ends tomorrow, and I am extremely happy. I'm kind of tired of standing in a freezing cold room cutting up dead animals all day. It's somewhat interesting, but I'm ready to move on.

A cold front entered Miami this weekend, and temperatures went down to GASP, 70 degrees?! It was actually really funny because all of the people from down here were freaking out about how cold it was and I loved it. It felt like Massachusetts in September, so I enjoyed it greatly.

Nothing actually really that interesting is going on right now, and I don't really have any good stories, so I feel like this is kind of a pathetic post, but my birthday is Thursday and I'm really excited. My two best friends here are apparently planning a ton of stuff, and my friends from back home are being amazing and sending me gifts and cards and such. When your birthday comes around you really figure out who cares about you. I wasn't expecting really anything so I feel really really lucky.

Anyways, I have to go study for my meatcutting exam tomorrow on different parts of different animals and what cuts of meat come from each animal...interesting stuff....so I'll be sure to update after my birthday festivities are over! Sorry for the lame post.

Au Revoir!

P.S. I miss Ana Buckley. (: