Rockin’ around the Christmas tree…

Posted on December 2, 2011 by

Well hello everyone! It has been awhile, I hope everybody is having a blessed and fantastic holiday season, thus far. I for one truly enjoy this time a year, I especially love spending time with my wonderful room mates, and sister listening to christmas music, decorating our room with things such as; a festive Christmas tree, lights and stockings.

On another note, the semester is finally coming to a close, and finals are just around the corner, and I can tell you on a first hand basis that I am ready for break to get here, and spend lots of time with family and friends back home.

As for everyone here at good ole NU get ready for the stressed faces to be seen all around campus, and just like I told my T&T (Traditions & Transistions) class, if you see someone in a frustrated or intense mood during finals week or days leading up to finals week…it would be a great idea to just leave them alone, might save your life. Best idea to help in those types of situations, say lots of prayers for people.

God Bless and Happy Holidays,

Britt

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Semester Ending

Posted on December 1, 2011 by

…And my schedule looks as follows:

Tonight: Write rough draft for Writing II essay due next week.

Tomorrow: Work and class, then choir rehearsal until five. Catch up on Greek homework.

Saturday: Class. Write essay for history.

Sunday: Choir concert. Write essay for Greek.

Monday: Work and class. Edit essay for Am Lit.

Tuesday: Work and class. Do Am Lit project.

Wednesday:  Work and class. Study for econ. If not completely dead, go out dancing.

Thursday: Work and class, econ final. Tie up loose ends for essays and projects.

Friday: Work and class. Study for Greek final.

Saturday: Greek final. Dinner and mass with Metanoia women. Go out dancing in celebration of finals week.

Sunday: Relax. Seriously.

Monday through Friday: Just work, no classes except for finals.

Saturday: Perform at commencement (Congrats seniors!). Go home.

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 18: FAMILY ARRIVES FROM  BRAZIL!

 

Remember, friends: Just like Alyssa said, God won’t throw anything at you that you can’t handle. My body hurts, I’m sleep deprived, I’ve started having dizzy spells again and I’m so stressed out that “grumpy face” is a near constant, but there is always a light at the end of the tunnel. I have less than two and a half weeks to go before I get to see my immediate family, and one day later I get to see three people I haven’t seen in almost two years. Don’t worry, be happy. Even if I need to run the next couple weeks on caffeine and willpower, I’ll do it. Family. It can do that to a person.

Anna

 

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Posted in Catholic, Classes, Family, Graduation, Night life | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Don’t Stress, Don’t stress

Posted on November 30, 2011 by

“God will never give you anything you can’t handle, so don’t stress.”

It has been an extremely stressful week so far. I have so many papers due, sleep to catch up on, work, and seeing my friends before the Christmas break. I simply cannot do all work and no play! Although I do not have many traditional finals, I have a lot of papers that I need to write. I have been taking breaks from paper writing to clear my mind through running and spending time with friends.

Last night in particular was the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show, which I got to watch with my roommate. We dressed up and all! Victoria’s Secret has some of the most beautiful women modeling for them. If only I had some long legs so I could try out for the show! Miranda Kerr and Alessandra Ambrosio are definitely my favorites.

I have a ten page paper due tomorrow, another ten page paper due next week, and three smaller papers. But as my quote said above, God will not give me what I cannot handle! I am so blessed and thankful to be given this opportunity for education at Newman. I hope that God will help me get through all of the homework and such.

About two and a half weeks until break, so it’s crunch time! I won’t miss the homework, but I will miss my friends dearly.

Keep it classy,
Alyssa

PS: New Vantage is out tomorrow! We have a lot of good stories this week so check it out!

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Posted in Christmas, Classes, Friends, Night life, Residence Life | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Turkey Day!

Posted on November 23, 2011 by

Hi everyone! Hope all is well. The semester is going by so fast; it’s hard to believe that it’s already Thanksgiving! It seems like every semester is going by faster and faster each school year. I’m super excited to go home this afternoon! I can hardly wait to spend some time with my family and eat all of my mom’s home cooking!!! I’m definitely going to need to hit the gym harder next week and do some yoga next Tuesday night! Well I hope everyone enjoys their much needed time off, save travels and HAPPY THANKSGIVING! :)  

Gladys

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Posted in Holidays | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Moving on

Posted on November 23, 2011 by

“When a deep injury is done us, we never recover until we forgive.”

Hello everybody! This is my last post before Thanksgiving break. My thanksgiving break is going to be very busy…mostly because I work and have a ton of homework to catch up on!

I have been very sick the past couple days with a sinus infection. It is awful! Everyone needs to take care of themselves and make sure they are getting plenty of sleep! Good health is such a blessing, so do not take advantage of it!

Now onto the quote…forgiveness is something I am really working on this week. Someone I was close to did something that is…in a sense…unforgiveable. But I do realize that I wish to be forgiven for my wrongs, so I am working on showing forgiveness to others. Not everyone is perfect, we are all human, hence we all make mistakes. If we can learn to forgive we can go on more happily with our lives, rather than holding a grudge.

Just because you forgive, however, does not mean you have to forget. My friendship will never be the same with this person. I know I sound awful saying that! When trust is lost, however…trust can be lost for a long time. I know from experience with my mother. Which by the way…don’t lie..people (especially parents)…will find out!!

As for the rest of my day, I am packing up and going to my parent’s house and then going on a date tonight! Wish me luck! I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving holiday!

Keep it classy,

Alyssa

 

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Posted in Career, Family, Friends, Thanksgiving | Tagged | 1 Comment

Tea Time!

Posted on November 18, 2011 by

Hi everyone!

I have had such a tiresome week! It’s been absolutely exhausting. I had the wonderful honor and privilege of hosting a tea party for a professor who visited from England, Dr. Susan Docherty of Newman University College Birmingham. It took place for an hour yesterday afternoon up on the third floor of Beata Hall, where I live. As some of you may know, the third floor is called Metanoia, and is reserved as a floor for people who want to come together and grow in faith. While it is Catholic faith-based, people of all religions can come and live in the community. It was an appropriate place to have tea with Dr. Docherty because she is a theology professor and wanted to learn about Metanoia.

I got to plan and execute the whole thing! Of course, I had the help of several friends and everyone pitched in at least a little bit. I was really warmed by how many people not only reminded me to not do everything myself, but went out of their way to make sure I didn’t. People cleaned their pods so we could show off the building, helped make food, decorated, and helped with guests. In the end, we had earl grey tea with sugar, lemon, and/or cream, cookies, tea sandwiches, and mini quiche. We had so many people show up to celebrate! There were professors, faculty and staff, undergrad and masters students! Even Dr. Carrocci, Dr. Austin, and Fr. Mike showed up.

Dr. Docherty gave us the most amazing gift as a token of goodwill from Newman Birmingham. See, Cardinal Newman was beatified near there last year, and Father Gile got to be one of the celebrants. There were hundreds of priests! The celebrants all got to wear special vestments. Father Gile really wanted to keep his, but had to give it back. Dr. Carrocci opened the gift and there was a set of the special vestments!! They’re absolutely beautiful. I think they’re going to be worn for very special occasions, like the Cardinal Newman celebration we have every spring.

Overall, I could not be happier. The party went off without a hitch and was a massive success. I couldn’t stop smiling the entire time and there were congratulations abound. I hope that the exchange program with Newman Birmingham happens soon!

Cheers!

Anna 

 

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Posted in Campus, Catholic, Faculty, Friends, Life, Mass, People, Residence Life, Staff, Students | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Don’t Be Alarmed, It’s My First Time
Jazzy

Posted on November 16, 2011 by

Sorry to anyone who cares but I’m finally writing my first blog of the semester. YES, I know that it’s already Novemebr and I have a lot of catching up to do but hear me out. I’m truely not the slacker that I may appear to be. Between bowling, cheer, looking at grad schools, trying to maintain 21hrs this semester (I failed miserably) and working on my portfolio for my senior show next semester, who has the time?! I’ve only been going through the motions in some of my classes this semester (okay maybe all of them) so I didn’t see fit to try and muster up enough line for a blog, only to constantly remind everyone that I really don’t have the time to fit this all in. Some of you may say thatn if I can frequent the pages of FB as often as I do, then I should be able to write out the happenings of my entire life story within a blog, but that really isn’t the case. In all honesty, I leave my computer at home just so I’m not tempted to take a “quick” glance at my notifications, or to see what everyone else is up to. With that being said, anytime you see that I’m online, or have just posted a quick reply to a comment, I’m on my phone. It’s one of those low quality, but gets the job done blackberries, if you need to make a phone call kind of phones…and it’s NOT WordPress compatible.

My work never ends!

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Posted in Extracurricular Activities | 2 Comments

What’s good, Monday?

Posted on November 14, 2011 by

“Truly great friends are hard to find, difficult to leave, and impossible to forget.”

Happy Monday everyone! I had a pretty delightful weekend considering that I did not have to work at all! I got to spend a lot of time with my family and friends. I really enjoy having good, quality bonding time with the people I love the most!

Before I get into my weekend though…Thursday night was a big night in my family. My little baby brother got Confirmed! I was lucky enough that I got to be his sponsor! Not only is he my brother, but also my best friend. I do not know what I would do without him. I am truly proud to say that he is my brother.

On Saturday I spent the afternoon with my amazing mom. I had a great time shopping with her and just being able to spend time with her. I was also able to have family dinner with my family on Sunday night. Nothing can replace the importance of family.

As I also said, I got to spend a lot of time with my friends. I have made so many great friends here over the past couple years and I am truly blessed to know all of them. I am so thankful to have these amazing people in my life.

As for this week…I work tonight and then tomorrow night I start training to become and editor for the Vantage! If anyone has any good story ideas, or something they would like to read, let me know! Wednesday should be a good night out with my ladies and then some fun festivities over the weekend!

I hope everyone has a delightful week!

Keep it classy,

Alyssa

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Posted in Catholic, Family, Friends, General, Night life | Tagged | 1 Comment

Soul Food

Posted on November 11, 2011 by

Hey Y’all!

Last week I talked about how excited I was to go dancing. Let me tell you, I have been in a good mood since last Friday and it’s only gotten better! Sure, there have been some rough spots – migraines, oversleeping, still being tired anyway, etc., but overall, it’s like the heavens are smiling down on me.

So I went dancing with friends that Friday night and it was amazing! I had tons of fun and I owned the dance floor. For real. It was great. Then, Saturday night, we went out again! We went early and got in free. Later on, a guy kept asking me to dance and insisted on teaching me swing, not that I had any obligations. I can now say that I can swing dance well! I also saw a man waltz and I am still insanely jealous of his dance partner.

I’m not sure what has made my week so fantastic, really. It’s been just as stressful and just as jam-packed as usual. I had a really successful tutoring session and the NU Day today went fantastically, but I had a couple 10/11 hour days thrown in (minus homework time). I got some really good grades on a couple assignments but I did a spectacularly awful job on a couple tests. I got sent home from work for having a migraine/being useless but I also got two really awesome massages. It’s been pretty 50/50 on the good and bad, but maybe I’m just looking at everything through rose-colored glasses ;)  

I hope this weekend will be just as great, because I haven’t wiped the smile off my face in days.

Much Love,

Anna

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Happiness

Posted on November 9, 2011 by

“Being happy doesn’t mean that everything is perfect. It means that you’ve decided to look beyond the imperfections.”

It’s been a rough couple weeks. Between being sick, deciding to double major, and worrying about my uncle, who has brain cancer, I am super stressed.

Besides my uncle’s cancer, I have been worried about what I am going to do with my life. Yeah, I’m only 19, but I still feel that I need some sort of plan. So, I have decided to double major in Psychology and Communications. That way, if I do not want to pursue grad school right away, I have two career paths to look into. How cool would it be to do Sports Broadcasting though? I love sports and would love to do something with that. ORRR. Sports Apparel marketing. Incorporating my love of fashion and sports would be AWESOME.

It snowed last night too. Nothing stuck because it is pretty nice outside right now. I hate snow, but it will be fun to see everyone out on the quad once it snows and such. Which reminds me, saw a group of guys playing football on the quad the other day. I love having such a small campus and being able to appreciate the small things like that.

As of right now, I am putting all of my faith in God. I can only pray that He will lead me in the right direction. I am going to try and destress and just appreciate my life while I have it. There may be a lot of imperfections, but that is no reason to not be happy.

Keep it classy,

Alyssa

PS: new issue of the vantage comes out tomorrow!!

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Posted in Campus, Career, Dreams, Family | Tagged , , | 3 Comments