Apr 26, 2007

April 25th Rocks


Breakfast in Bed!
Originally uploaded by cheryl_lynn425.
So on the morning of my 22nd birthday, I had two little delta elves come into my apartment and make me and my lovely roomie breakfast in bed. This did require me to migrate from my bed to AJ's but it was so worth it. They also brought me a cake, on which they put 23 candles (22 + 1 for luck). The cake was about 5 inches in diameter hence why in the photo it looks like Constance is just carrying one large flame.

To be totally fair, this breakfast wasn't because of my birthday, it just worked out that way. It was really part of Delta Senior Week. It was fantastic nonetheless.

In other birthday news, I got the best voicemail from my Dad ever. He sang all of happy birthday on it. Such a goofy guy; I think he's great. Oh and of course the call from Grandma which was full of good cancer-free and attending-graduation news. I like phone calls like that. And another one from little brother who has now officially finished his first year of college. And one from Mom, at almost exactly the moment I turned 22.

And now I must go. I have to take a writing test for a job/internship I'm applying for. I had a phone interview with them yesterday and it went really well. So this is step two in the "give Cheryl a job" process.

Cheerio!

Apr 24, 2007

Spring's Here!

I wish I had actually taken this picture myself but please rest assured it IS this pretty out. The only reason I wasn't able to take a picture of beautiful Boston was I left my camera on my desk. But I'll work on it.
Happy Spring!

Apr 21, 2007

April 20 2007 Will Go Down In History


S8000600.JPG
Originally uploaded by cheryl_lynn425.
When I tell you this was quite a day, I mean it. No kiddin friend.

1) Barack Obama came to BU and was amazing. I believe he said it was his largest fundraister to date but don't quote me on that. As yall all probably know, he's a pretty excellent speaker. And while I don't support every element of all his plans, I think they are probably the best we've got, and not in a lesser of two evils way. For example, he has all these plans to improve schools. You have to be in favor of improving schools. Who isn't? But as a strong opponent of Texas's Robin Hood policy, I have to admit, I'm a little wary of education funding programs. Families work hard to afford to live in areas where their kids can attend good schools and should have all of their taxes go to their kids school. But I suppose I must concede that under that system, bad schools will never be able to afford to get better. So while I don't want my money going anywhere but my local school, I don't have a better plan for funding the improvements of schools in low income areas. So....OK, I'll go with it. Now that I'm done with that soap box, let me just say: Obama. You. Are. The. Man.

And I got to see you speak. SWEET DEAL

2) Relay for Life was pretty rockin, in every sense of the word. The DDD team raised upwards of $1500 which rocks. And the music that was being played ROCKED -- as in rocked the building it was so darn loud. And the MC was a horrible person who made it his goal to mercilessly keep us all awake all night. I left early.

3) Bob. Usually that one word is enough but not for yesterday. Once I decided it was time to leave RFL, I got a text from AJ saying she was taking Bob to the hospital. A little investigation into my inbox taught me that Bob was in excrutiating pain, mostly in his ankle. I slept on the futon so I would be able to find out what was wrong when they got home. And got home they did, at 530a with Corey. And Bob's broken leg. Some mishap at the frat house and now Bob has not a broken but a shattered right leg. He told a friend today that he would make it because he has a whole sorority to wait on him in his gimp-ness. For a guy who can't really walk at the moment, he sure is seeing the sunny side.

4) Part of me doesn't feel like this should really be put on par with an obnoxious MC at RFL but it is a reason whil April 20 was eventful to say the least. NASA. As if the gunman at Virginia Tech earlier this week wasn't enough, we needed a gunman at Johnson Space Center too. Thankfully my family member who works there is alive and well but it was a stressful thing to learn about.

Which leads me to a short soap box on Clear Lake. The CL is a great place; coastal, good schools, upper middle class, well manicured lawns, well educated, safe place for families, all that good stuff. For being a mostly boring suburb, we have an inordinate amount of high profile crimes and tragedies. Why so many? Why so much negative media attention? People connect the dots on my home and things like Clara Harris, Andrea Yates and now this gunman and they think I come from this unsafe place of crazy people. I don't. I like Clear Lake. I just wish all the craziness would stop.

OK thats all. And all that folks, is why April 20th will go down forever in my personal history book.

Basically...


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Originally uploaded by cheryl_lynn425.
He's the man. More on the fun later

Apr 19, 2007

Never Never Land

Yesterday I decided that all this talk I've been doing about graduation, its no good at all. I mean yes, on the one hand, getting a new car, decorating my apartment and having an income all seem like good things. Not doing homework again for a very long time, that sounds swell.

But holy God! Do yall know what happens when one graduates college? You become a grown up! I have a friend from high school who in the course of about one month, got married, got a job and bought a house. Now she's very happy by all accounts and I wish nothing but happiness for her but I don't know if I am ready for these to be normal things among my friends. And its Texas yall; we get married young. Its what we do. It makes me want to remain a college student in the northeast where nobody gets married and on the off chance that someone does the majority of us are thinking "HUH!? What?"

Obviously I have to grow up and graduate (in 31 days). I'm not Peter Pan, I don't live in Never Never Land. There are no time machines to send me back 30 years in a Dolorean. I can't remain 3 years old on a swing with my Dad and baby brother. (but look at the pic! If I could, I would totally do this over again!) So I'm going to do it; grow up and graduate. But sometimes, I must say, it freaks me out just a little bit.

Apr 17, 2007

The 2 Things I Couldn't Live Without


Meet my family.
Originally uploaded by cheryl_lynn425.
AJ.
Val-n-Kristin.

I have to tell you, these ladies are pretty darn great. And though I technically only live with AJ, I really do live with all of them for all practical purposes.

Friday AJ and I spent over at Val and Kristin's place. And then Saturday we stole Kristin's car to drive to the Build-a-Bear in Natick. We were jealous that Val and Kristin had made each other Build-a-Bears and we had not. And then, while eating at Friendly's and excitedly discussing the 40% off sale at NY& Co; we made the impulse decision to visit Mama Kris at the Booden home. I called Kristin and said "hey friend ...what if we returned the car like tomorrow and not today?" Like the great friend she is, she said "yeah sure man." So we went on a mini-roadtrip to Brimfield and promptly decided that we for sure needed to go on several real roadtrips.

One night with Mama Kris, silk pajamas and Tim McGraw til 3am later, we came back to Boston in the most awful weather you have ever seen. Rain, sleet, ice, snow ALL AT ONCE. In April. Crashed on the futon for a bit and then joined our amigas (and amigos) on the Boston Marathon Bar Crawl. It was grand :)

Our Marathon Monday included food and the futons. The 4 of us actually spent 10 hours straight in our living room. We rotated spots on the floor/futons some but that about covers it. Oh and AJ and Val did go to the door to get our food from the Bertucci's guy. But yeah, 10 hours, in the living room of 14A with the occasional visitors. AMAZING day,

There are no beautiful delta ladies I would rather spend 10 hours in my living room with. No way, these ones are my favorite.

Apr 12, 2007

Boston Rule # 458

Rule #458: It is NOT ok to have rain on Marathon Monday!!
And if weather.com is telling us anything right now its that the cold rain falling outside my window may disappear for tomorrow and Saturday, but its coming back Monday for a special performance.

Whats a girl to do?

Laundry, job applications, watch bad TV, cuddle under a blanket...
Really just be dry, warm and most importantly, lazy.

Apr 9, 2007

Happy Easter


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Originally uploaded by cheryl_lynn425.
Val & Kristin make a mean turkey. And I so wish I had a picture of them where you could see their matching outfits. They each had big flowers in the hair with matching earings, Kristin in pink and Val in turquoise. and then their tops were reverse colors, black capris and slippers on both. Pretty darn fantastic if you ask me.

It was my first easter not with family of some sort. I've spent a couple college easters with my mom's family down on the south shore and last year I went to CT with Lindsay and had an easter/passover dinner. Matzaball soup for easter -- strange. So this easter, like I said, was my first easter without a tradtional family, no mom/dad/brother/sister/cousin combo. But who in Boston is my family if not AJ, Bob, Val, Kristin and Jane?

And happy 82nd birthday Grandpa Jack!

Apr 8, 2007

40 Days


VB is grand
Originally uploaded by cheryl_lynn425.
Not that we need help finding reasons/ways to have parties but the countdown to graduation is a GREAT excuse. We might have had to fudge our days a little but that is actually a sign of maturity. Otherwise we would have been celebrating 40 days til graduation this coming Tuesday and that just wouldn't be a good plan.

So Saturday was 43 days and we celebrated 40, only off by 3, No biggie.

Apr 7, 2007

Pretty as a Picture


I checked KBR's blog just now and she's got me craving Texas more than usual. I wish I could say I was in Texas for a hot second to take this picture but the only place I went to get this picture was Google.

I'm much too content in Boston right now to be quite ready to leave, but I hope Texas with all its goodness is happy to take me back in 6 weeks.

Bring on the wildflowers, big skies, horses, country music, lakes, rivers, Gulf Coast, BBQ, hills, 95 degrees on a cool summer day, margaritas and that slow Texan twang.

Apr 4, 2007

Take Me Back to Paradise City


Opera House from Entrance
Originally uploaded by cheryl_lynn425.
...where the grass is green and the girls are pretty.

Every once in a while, I decide its time to return to Sydney. I want to hop on a big silver bird, fly for 30 hours and go chill next to the Opera House. After my chilling session, I'd go have Pancakes on the Rocks then walk down George Street back to Unilodge. Maybe stop by the office, have a little chat with Al and Lauren.

I'd watch Blue Heelers if it was on and then go take a jog around Victoria Park, up to the Sydney Uni quad and back home again. Take a book up to the roof and pretend to read while I tan and admire the skyline. I might wander down to the Cancer Council to see Naushin and see what kind of trouble Erin has cooked up.

Then I'd gather up all my amigos, head to the roof and make some mean roo burgers while we watch the sunset. After that we'd probably get cleaned up, which would include telling Jake to hurry up A LOT and teasing Ankur about his old man loafers which we secretly all love.

We might hit up the Marley Bar for a while but Andrew would either not be let in or would get kicked out. Even if he hadn't had anything to drink. Those naturally rosy cheeks of his always get him in trouble.

We'd walk in a mass to Central Station and head out to Kings Cross. Killian would have inevitably forgot her ID and would use Ashley's extra ID to get into places with exciting names like The Fishbowl and The World Bar. The boys would wander off to a 'gentleman's club' and Jake would get lost. It would be 3am and we'd want to go home but we'd know that if we could hold out just 2 hours more we could use the roundtrip subway ticket we already purchased. Then we'd be on a mission.

In those two hours, Jake and I would probably chat with some random Aussie about footy, I of course not knowing which sport we were really talking about since the Aussies call everything footy. Ashley would have 2 or 3 guys try to buy her drinks and none of them would be Australian. Mere would meet up with some musicians. Matt would try to pay the crazy lady with the whip to whip Steve while he talks to his girlfriend back in NH. Ankur would bust out with some dance moves, shocking us all. And Melvin would say a lot of random bizzare things leading to fits of laughter.

Then we'd throw ourselves back onto the train and walk slowly home, wishing there was a diner we could go into but knowing the only place we can get 24-hour breakfast is down at Pancakes.

Here in lies the only problem with sending me back to paradise city: you'd have to send about 10 people with me. That could get expensive.

And as soon as you sent me back to Sydney, I'd want to come back to Boston.

Apr 3, 2007

Mommy & Daddy Warbucks


The Q1 campaign dollars are out. Most camps have 'fessed up to how much the public has thrown their way -- Obama being the most notable exception.

Folks, so far its Mitt and Hillary. The leaders for their respective parties, he's raised $21 million; she's raised $26 million. I have to tell you, if these dollar amounts are any indication of how the primaries will go, then I shall lead Texas to seccession. Now if Hillary is elected, I think Texas will secede all on its own. Mitt -- I dont know what the state would do if he were elected.

Thankfully I trust my fellow Americans enough to believe in Novemeber 2008, it won't come down to Mitt and Hillary.

Apr 1, 2007

Sunglasses at Night


Representing the Office
Originally uploaded by cheryl_lynn425.
Hats and Sunglasses is the BEST PARTY THEME EVER. Omigod, it added so much to last night's fesitivities. I called Nate just to tell him we have to have "Hats and Sunglasses, Part 2" next year.

It was Hats, Sunglasses and 50 days til graduation. The official title was "Half way there, Ooooo Livin on a Prayer" which we played many many times right along with "Sunglasses at Night." We played them on 14As new surround sound system. And by surround sound system I mean the way Bob and I relocated one speaker to the kitchen from the living room by taping the speaker wire to the wall and ceiling. Yeah, its special but man did it make the music flow that much better.

It doesn't get much better than last night. And we were strict on the theme. There were multiple people who I stopped at the door for a hats/sunglasses check. I had to help out Ben, Maura and Ross who came unprepared, generously loaned them some of my hats/sunglasses. Not ones nearly as cool as the blue ones I picked up shopping earlier in the day, but hats/sunglasses nonetheless.

Moral of the Story:
Hats + Sunglasses + Friends + byob = BEST PARTY EVER
and I graduate in 49 days. Eeks!

PS Check out the pics, they are fantastic