August 31, 2009

Apology

I apologize for taking 2 weeks to write anything. Things have been CRAZY around here. I've been going to parties and movies. I've gone to the rodeo. I've wanted to kill some people, and I've been missing others that left this world in my life.

There is one person who I miss more than anybody right now. He was my grandfather's best friend here in Jersey. He was like another grandfather to me and Shannon. Mr. Marvin just had that way about him that when you were around him, you couldn't help but laugh yourself silly. My family had actually saved his life in a way because we urged him to go to our cardiologist when he started having chest problems. Shortly after he went to an appointment, he had to have open heart surgery. I forget exactly what they had to do (pacemaker or bypass....and if it was bypass, I don't remember if it was triple, double, etc.) but doing that surgery kept him alive for about 2 or 3 more years than we thought he was gonna live.
I remember the night he died very clearly. He hadn't been feeling that great, so his girlfriend (another family friend...we did a match-maker thing there ;] ) called my grandfather who told her to call an ambulance My mom and poppop had gone up to the hospital with Mr. Marvin's girlfriend and met up with his family there. They found out then that he had died while at the hospital. My mom then called my grandmom and told her. I walked down into the kitchen from being on the computer to find my grandmom crying. I asked her what was wrong, and that's when she told me and Shannon that Mr. Marvin had died. The night was the hardest for me ever. I couldn't stop crying.
I went to the viewing with my family. That was the hardest viewing to attend. I kept wanting him to open his eyes and tell me that I had better stop crying like I heard him say so many other times when he would be in the hospital. I had wanted to go to the funeral the next day, but I had a field trip that day to NJIT. Now it sounds silly that instead of going to the funeral of the man that was such a big part of my life that I went to a stupid field trip. But I knew that if I had gone to his funeral instead of the field trip, Mr. Marvin would have killed me. He would have wanted me to be with my friends instead of mourning his death. Everyone else in my family went to the funeral. My sister said that she cried the entire time. And my grandfather had to do his best friend's funeral. Apparently he choked up a few times while doing the funeral. Once they made it to the cemetery, my mom said that she actually saw him wipe away a tear.
A few days after the funeral, I finally made it to his grave. Just as I started to cry, the heavens opened up and it started to rain. My aunt kept trying to get me to get into the car cuz it was raining. I wouldn't budge. Not even when my mom tried to get me in the car. Finally after I stopped crying my eyes out completely, I finally got in the car. And to be honest, I think that's when I finally let go of Mr. Marvin. I haven't cried solely for him since that day, tho I have come close to crying for his memory whenever I go past the cemetery now. And on October 29, I am going to be driving myself to the cemetery to pay respect to him on the second anniversary of his death. He died exactly a month after his birthday.
Rest in peace, Mr. Marvin. We miss you so much.

August 28, 2009

Friday Fill In's

1. He was a man who had some rough times in his life, but when he looked at the pictures of his daughters his life looked a little bit brighter.

2. Mr. Marvin's Labor Day picnic is what I look forward to most this time of year...Even if we no longer have them anymore. R.I.P. Mr. Marvin.

3. My best friend and I have had our ups and downs, but she is always there for me when I need her :).

4. You never know when people want to be honest with you.

5. Appearances can be very deceiving at times.

6. The last person I gave a hug to was my grandmom when I got out of the car last night.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to maybe getting my eyebrows done if I can, tomorrow my plans include nothing that I know of and Sunday, I want to do something. I dunno what tho!

August 14, 2009

Friday Fill In's

1. When will people stop being so stupid and demanding?????

2. Don't Judge a Spy By Her Cover (book)...Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (movie)...Degrassi (show) was the last good book I read or movie I saw or tv show I watched.

3. Everything has its beauty but not all of it is visible on the outside.

4. Pizza is what I had for dinner last night.

5. I'd like your background??.

6. With Collin is where I want to be right now. (No shock there haha)

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to babysitting Celine, tomorrow my plans include a parade here in town and John John's 2nd birthday party and Sunday, I want to relax!!!!!!!!!!

August 13, 2009

Today

Today is a big day. Collin and I are celebrating our 10 months today. Which is huge. But, of course, it had to rain today, so our plans to go to the park are ruined now. And we can't find anything to do that won't require us to make an effort to go there. Stupid, stupid rain.

Tonight there is a party for my graduating class from my middle school. A pool party. My best friend (who actually graduated from Woodstown, not Oldmans) is gonna be there cuz she went to Oldmans her entire life with the exception of 5 and 8 grades. Collin is going also. lol And afterwards, Rach is spending the night here. So, that's good.

Still have an issue of figuring out something to do.....Crap.

August 11, 2009

Blog Hop! Favorite Pictures

Welcome to the newest Blog Hop! :) This one is all about my favorite picture or pictures. As you can probably tell, I LOVE taking pictures of people, whether I'm in the picture or not. So, sit back and enjoy, and I'll make sure to give some background information about each picture. :)


One of the girls I babysit (Nathalia) came with my mom and grandfather to pick me up from the airport when I came in from visiting my dad. Once I picked her up when I saw her, she didn't leave my side once, except when I went to find my baggage. I love this little girl with all my heart, and this picture reminds me that sometimes, all you need is a hug from a little girl who doesn't know - or probably care - that things go wrong in life every day.


This picture was taken last summer when I was up in the mountains in New York State with my best friend, her brother, mom, and cousin. We were hiking the last day, and my best friend and I were farther ahead of everybody. I took a picture over my shoulder while we were walking, and after I looked at it after taking it, I smiled so much. Jimmy (the cousin) is in front, Colton (the brother) is behind him - and slightly blurry - and Jenn (her mother) is in the very back.


This again was taken during our hike in the mountains of New York. Jimmy and Colton were chilling at this rock while we were taking pictures of the scenery (which was GORGEOUS!). They looked great in the lighting, so I took a picture of two members of the family I've adopted as my own. :)


Rachael, me, and our families (my mom and sister, her mom and brother) LOVE to go to concerts together. Last year after the New York trip, we went to go see Boys Like Girls, The Maine, Good Charlotte, and Metro Station. After we were starting to get a bit tired, we went into the tent area to cool off since everybody was pushed up against eachother during the concert (outside concert, no seating). My little sister took this picture of us while we were obviously posing for another picture. This picture is one of my favorites because it shows me that even though last summer we had a major fight, we've stayed best friends for over 6 years so far, and nothing, not even boys, can come between me and my best friend :)


This is a picture of Nathalia, the first time I babysat her. It was in December of 2007, when she was about 2 years old. We were in the doctors office where both her mom works and my mom works. They were having a meeting in another room, so we sat in the kitchen playing in there. She was so shy at first, and then she ended up crawling on the floor and into my lap. She was so cute and adorable then. And she still is too. :)


This is Rachael's cousin Ciara. She is another person that I have adopted as my own family member. She is a goofball, just like us. We were at the hospital in the waiting room because her mom had given birth the day before to her baby brother and there were lots of people in the hospital room right then. We decided to hang out in the waiting room to avoid all of them, and did so quite well for a while. :)

Hope you all enjoyed this week's blog hop!!
MckLinky Blog Hop

August 8, 2009

Salem County 4H Fair



The robotics team had a booth at the fair...here are pictures that I had from Monday night (set up night) until Friday night (last night)
ENJOY!! :)

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August 7, 2009

Friday Fill In's

1. Relaxing on the beach is my favorite summertime past time.

2. My favorite John Hughes movies is Yea, can't think of any John Hughes movies. LOL.

3. Soft baby clothing is something I love to touch.

4. The full moon makes me appreciate life actually. It reminds me of lessons I learned the hard way.

5. I'm tired and hungry right now.

6. When daylight fades I get mischievous ;) .

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to getting the fair done with, tomorrow my plans include hopefully going swimming in my aunt's pool and Sunday, I want to go to Logan to have my eyebrows waxed if possible!

August 5, 2009

Good news!!! :)

If you to go this blog, you will learn some VERY good news in regards to the robotics team.

Registration this year will cost us $5000 instead of $6000. AND we will be getting a Classmate PC to use in our driver's station (where we control the robot) as part of the Kit of Parts. This is HUGE!!! :)

August 3, 2009

YAY!

The plane landed at about 4:50 ish or so I wanna say. I had texted Mom asking her if Collin could go with her to pick me up. She said that there wouldn't be enough space in the car. I assumed that that meant that both of my grandparents were going to be coming with her. Well, my grandfather did go with her. But instead of my grandmother, I got this person


Nathalia Rose came with my mom and grandfather to pick me up. Which made me smile SOOOOO hard. I saw her before she saw me and I handed Shannon my Diet Dr. Pepper and ran over to Nat and picked her up. She didn't even realize I was right there until I had picked her up. She started hugging me like crazy and was holding onto me up until when we got to baggage claim.

I missed that little girl <3

August 1, 2009

Mostly packed and home for 6 weeks

It's official....Last night I packed up all of my clothes that were not in the washing machine or dryer. I leave tomorrow and I have mixed feelings about it. For 6 weeks, my home has been Santa Cruz, CA. I've been with my dad, the man who I've always looked up to, no matter how bad things were during my life. And believe me, things have gone from great to horrible in the matter of a few minutes during points of my life. And he was always there for me, even tho I used to push him away during one point in my almost 17 years of being on this earth. Being with him was great. But I'm dying to get back to Jersey where almost all of my close friends are. And where my boyfriend of over 9 months is. Packing my suitcase this time took longer than it usually does because not only was I packing all of my clothes, but I was packing away memories that I had made on this trip.
I have a bunch of pictures included in this post...Of my room that I lived in for 6 weeks. Kinda lame, I know. But I figured I'd let you see what I saw every morning for the past 6 weeks. Very different than the room I live in when I'm in Jersey...


My bag that is almost all packed. Just need to put a few more things in it to finish packing.


My dresser when I'm here. With a few books on the very top. At one point during these 6 weeks, that open section had about 10 books filling it. Now the majority of them are in my suitcase, waiting to be added to my collection at Mom's house.


My desk. I've had that desk from when I first moved to California about 10 years ago. I think it used to be my aunt's desk when she was about 7, which is when I first got the desk. It's gone through many moves, and now it's final place for now is at my dad's house.


My bed. Kinda a bad shot. haha. Oh, and please ignore the mess of clothes on the right side of the room. Those are my dad's clothes, not mine or Shannon's.


My sister's bed with her clothes on it. She didn't pack last night like I did because she was at a friend's house for the night.


The closet in our room. It's a HUGE walk-in closet. Like, I could easily fit my bed in there and have room for a dresser. Larger than the one I currently have at Dad's house. I didn't use it that much, only to hold my suitcase for 6 weeks. Shannon used it because she doesn't have a dresser here and was living out of her suitcase.


The messy, messy bathroom. Yes, we have a bathroom off of our bedroom. My stuff is generally all on the left side. Tho not all of it is mine. haha.


The broken towel rack. Don't ask why it's broken...We didn't break it.


The lovely shower. haha


Shannon's bed and my bed. The purple sheets are actually mine. Not Shannon's. Dad couldn't find Shannon's sheets before we got here.


My bed and desk.


Behind the picture of Half Dome (in Yosemite Park, CA) is a TV....The TV has not been used in about 2 years or so. But oh well. :)


Better view of my desk. If you look closely at my computer, you actually see my blog up on the screen. haha. My desk is cluttered with my iPod, sunglasses, cell phone, water bottle, books, cell phone, head band, and the monkey I plan on giving the baby girl born to Heather and Jeremy on June 7, 2009. :)


And I had to put this picture on here....While up visiting my grandparents in June, my grandmother took me and Shannon out into town the last full day we were there. She bought me knitting needles and 3 skeins of yarn. I have been working on a scarf for myself since then. It's not quite done yet, but it will be soon hopefully.
My grandmother supports all of the hobbies and activities that my sister and I pick up along the way during our life. She sends a check each year to support the robotics team, usually over $250 by alot. She buys knitting things for me constantly and she is always giving Shannon culinary tips and recipies for her to try out. And my grandfather is extremely supportive as well. He will have many conversations with me about the robotics team. He also is driving out the 1988 Mazda RX7 cross country for me in September. :) I am VERY blessed to have grandparents who are so supportive and will do anything to help me and Shannon accomplish our dreams and goals.

I find it amusing that this started out as a kind of sad post for myself to a happy post that has now caused me to smile. :)

I leave tomorrow to go back home. I am really looking forward to going home. I'm going to miss it here like crazy, but my homesickness is really kicking in.

Robotics things

Team 316