It's really been a long time since I've posted an entry and I figured it's time to play a little bit of catch up. This is definately the abridged version, however.


I'm going to take some time later to catch everybody up on this semester and to write some of the stuff down that's been happening so I won't forget, but for now I'll do a birthday entry.


First, thanks to everybody who sent me birthday wishes/presents/cards/IM's/facebooks/myspaces... I was completely overwhlemed with the amount I recieved and I could never thank you guys enough! :-)


Thursday was wonderful- Cassie came up and surprised me after wind ensemble with cupcakes and a present- surprises are sooo nice!! :-)


Then the weekend started out nice on Friday. When classes were finished I spent the majority of the time playing catch-up doing work and later on went over a friends for a movie night... A nice time. Saturday I let myself sleep-in and then started cleaning for the festivities that occured later that night. The party was a blast! The pinata was a big hit and I can never, ever thank Katie enough for all the planning and decorating she did! Love her so much!


My birthday, birthday was, again, enjoyable. I didn't want to do really anything but relax and that's what I did! Later on Kate, Jess, and I went out to Chile's to celebrate. Now back to school mode- midterms start the end of next week! AHHHHH!!!

It's always sad for me to think about the summer past the night before I leave for college again. This one has been a great one- jam-packed full of happenings but really absolutely wonderful.

Quick recap of the big August events since I really slacked on updates:
* Sleepovers at Lauren and Justin's: fun, fantastic times with them. I love the two of them so much and being able to spend time with them and Mike was so much fun. I can only hope that we all continue to have as good of a relationship as we do now.

* DCI weekend! The 4th and 5th I headed down to Deptford to go to the Allentown show with Bethany and Janet... another blast of a time. Great people, great memories, great time... I'll steal all the inside jokes off of Bethany's blog sometime soon and post them here so I won't forget.

* Camp was great. We only did one week of it in August since Rich had band camp the other week- but it was always a joy.

* Lauren got the middle school job! So proud of her...

* Frank's dinner date with Erin and Lindsay- where we ran into soooo many people from high school- some good, some we really did well to avoid.

* Sleepover and lots of dinner dates with the Katester (including the boat roWing and trip all over the place on thursday!); it's so wonderful to have two friends at Rowan that I can tell just about everything two. Thank BJ and Katie. :-)

* Got to see one of Mike's scrimmages where he ROCKED. I really want to make it up to see quite a few games this semester, we'll see how my schedule looks.

* Ended the den for the summer. Miss those guys already.

* Last nights dinner with Lauren who I miss already! :-)

* Tonight was "the annual ice cream sundae night before school thingee" and a great game of Risk with the boys.

I'm sure there was a lot more, but silly me has already forgotten. I'll keep updating this one as I remember. But for now, off to bed since tomorrow is move-in day. Still all mixed up about going back. We'll see how it goes.

What a weekend this has been! The past few days have been absolutely perfect, fun, and just plain amazing. Congratulations must first go out to Lauren and Justin who are now officially married!!! I now have an older brother! :)

Everything really started on Thursday when the bridesmaids began arriving at the house. We had done some things before together (i.e. the bridal shower) but Thursday was time to just relax and hang out with each other! So at about 2:30, Lauren, Sue, Laura, and I headed off to Dover to catch the 3:00 train into NYC and proceeded (with, of course, a stop at the Hershey store!) to head over to Serendipity since Oprah had such rave reviews about it. ;) Unfortunately, everyone else in New York had the same idea and the place was packed. It worked out well, though, since we turned around and headed back to get to the show on time.

We had decided to go see the show "Tony and Tina's Wedding" because, well, it was about a wedding, was a dinner show, and the four of us had heard good things about it... It lived up to the reputation. The entire thing was a wedding and reception- while we took the roles of both families. It was a typical Italian wedding, filled with lots of fights, drinking, and food- all in all a lot of fun.

After that, we booked over to Penn Station to make the 9:39 train and with only minimal running we made it with one minute to spare. Phew!

Friday was another fantastic day. We all woke up and headed over to the Farmstead to drop off the favors, picture boards, table cards, name cards, etc. After that, my projector came! (which worked out so well on Saturday even though I was really nervous about it!) and I played with it for awhile trying to get it to work. We also had a BBQ in the early afternoon since we knew we wouldn't be eating until late- plus Uncle Mark, Maggie, and Grandma had drivedn up to spend time with us.

After the BBQ, around 5:00, we all piled into the cars and headed off to Blessed Katari for the rehearsal... the wedding cooridinator was a complete ditz who had no idea what she was doing so we all left a little more confused then anything else, I thought Saturday might end up being a disaster! The 2 families came back to Jefferson to Lobi D's (sp?) for a good, long, Italian dinner! Since Le Bistro left the premises I had not been back, but it was really good! We were fed more food then I thought possible- from the unlimited appetizers to all of the courses- it was delicious. Plus, the company couldn't be better. There were 17 of us there- my family, Justin's family, Grandma, Uncle Mark, Laura, Sue, Chris, and Nicole (Travis' girlfriend). It was a blast- and we spent just about 3 hours eating, drinking, and getting ready for the big day! After, we all headed home and finished prepping for the next day- nails, getting the dresses ready, etc.

Sooooo..... here it is..... THE BIG DAY!!!!!!! :)
We all woke up around 9:00ish and got ready to head over to the Collins' for Cathy to do our hair. Dad went first, then Mom, Laura, Sue, me, and Lauren... she had a busy day filled with hair! We each got it done a little bit different and it looked sooo nice together. After that, we walked back to the house did our make-up, got dressed, and hopped into the limo to head over to the church. When we got there, the photographer started his craziness of following us around, we were given the flowers (which were all different colors and absolutely beautiful!), and lined up to enter the church. The wedding manager at the church (the ditz) screwed up again and sent Lauren out too early but it's ok. Between the wonderful playing of the Covenant Brass (I love those guys so much) and the ceremony itself, the entire thing was beautiful and well done.

After that was the greeting line, the bubbles, and then the whole party squeezed into the limo and were taken to the Farmstead. Wendy met us there and we were driven (via golf carts!) down to the gazebo/lake front where we had our private cocktail hour (while the guests were up in the farmstead already) and had pictures done.

This took about an hour and then we were carted back up to the Farmstead's main building where we had the introduction of the Bridal Party, the dances, the toasts (the powerpoint went off with minimal problems thanks to the help of Fiona and Ray!), and then the hobnobbing/eating/partying began!

The entire night was a blast filled with memories- I've never been kissed/hugged/congratulated sooo much (and I was only the maid of honor!), the lap dance Justin gave Mike (hah!), and countless others that I'll write down here at another time. Scoot on Down was amazing (as usual) and played great songs the entire evening.

It's going to be a day I never forget.

Congratulations, again, guys. Have fun in Hawaii! :)

2nd bear sighting of the summer!
I was walking the mutt last night and almost ran right into it- whoops!

Now the epic notebook story...

My notebook decided to throw a fit this morning. I turned it on when I got up to check my e-mail, went downstairs, came back, and it's still dark... "interesting," I think. So I turn it off and try again... still nothing. I hear the thing speeding along, loading up, but no picture. I try once more for good measure, and still a blank screen. So being the brainiac I am (hah!), I think "well, it seems like it's working and only the screen is gone... so what do you do if something is dark? Shine a light on it!" I grabbed my desk lamp shone it on the notebook, and whalah! I can make out a very shady screen. Enough, though, that I can check my e-mail and be typing this entry!

So I head to work, come home, find all of my lacrosse equipment, and check the notebook again... still no picture. I decided not to worry about until this evening and headed off to the high school for lacrosse with Erin. Mike came down to join us not much later and the two of them had fun throwing lax balls at me... since I haven't had my equipment on since last game senior year and I lacked a real goalie stick, I have some winners of bruises!

When we finished, I headed back home, cooked dinner, and sat down to fight with the notebook. After an hour or two of no success and getting EXTREMELY frustrated, I gave in and decided to find help. So I headed off to Dell's website hoping that some other fool had the same problems I had. Alas, no luck.

So, I gave in. I'm not a big phone person ESPECIALLY with people I don't know so I noticed that they had this new chat service to connect you with a Dell representative. I figure why not and loaded up the template. I ended up being in a queue line for about 10 minutes when help arrived! A very nice woman helped me figure out what was wrong with the notebook- I needed a new LCD kit. She then asked me an address that she could send an on-site representative to come bring me one and install it. My mind screeched to a halt at that, and all I heard was "cha-ching." Not wanting to pay a ton of money, I asked her how much it was going to cost. She goes to me, "for you? absolutely free." I was and still am flabbergasted. She set up all the details with the closest person around here and they'll be calling me tomorrow to set up an appointment to install and fix my notebook.

Dell, your customer service absolutely blew me away today! :)

Life moves pretty fast sometimes and this week has been true to that. Lauren and Justin have officially moved into (kind of!) their new apartment in Mt. Arlington. It's really nice- I visited and helped move a lot of things on Thursday and the more that it gets set up the more it's gonna feel like home to the two of them... congratulations guys!

This week has been the usual summer schedule for me- just working at the Den, swimming, 007 marathons with the guys, scrapbooking, crafting, and practicing. It's so nice just to get a break from going on a crazy 24/7 schedule that I keep at school. This is much more relaxing!

The only thing that's been different is that this whole week I've been slowly making the room into mine. I'v put my desk and dresser back together and built two new bookcases. Add that to my GORGROUS, huge, burgundy chair that Jen and Jim gave me, and I love it! It's so strange to not be sharing it anymore (well, kind of since I'm still not moved fully in and Laur's not fully out!) and I miss her already! But it's ok, cause I'm so happy for them to have the new apartment (esp. since it's so nice).

Today I've been working on the room some more, worked on some "top secret projects," and spent awhile outside... but since it's gonna start thunderstorming soon, I headed in.

July is going to be a crazy month... so many things are happening. The first session of camp starts on the 10th and will go until the 21st so I'll be working there in the morning until the afternoon and then head into the den until probably 5:00ish or so. I'm looking forward to it, though, this is the 4th year we've been doing it and each year it gets a bit bigger and a bit better. It's always interesting for me too to see my improvements in teaching. I started not knowing much expect what being drum major and just watching past teachers had taught me and now I have all this teaching class experience that I'm looking forward to trying out. I really want to be a good teacher when I get out of Rowan and I know this will help me gain more experience. What else is going on? Jefferson Day is quickly approaching on the 22nd which is always a blast, the Den is having the 1st "Annual" Softball Game and BBQ the day after (so looking forward to that!), and then THE WEDDING! Can't wait for that craziness!

That's it for now guys, take care!

Meg

Phew, it's over!!!... the bridal shower was a success (yay for finally being able to mention it on here without worrying about Lauren seeing it!!)

The past two weeks have been crazy with details, projects, late night printing, e-mailing, and typing-a-thons, and just getting ready for eveything... and I must say without the help of two wonderful bridesmaids (Sue and Laura) and the two moms, this could not have gone as well as it did!

Although I kind of slipped and Lauren was able to narrow the date down, she was still surprised by the way we went about it... after setting up for about 3 hrs. we had my brother call Laur and asked to be picked up at the fire house- he said that he was badly hungover from a graduation party and his car died. Boy, does that kid deserve an Oscar for his performance... it was flawless and even included a "slip" that the rest of the family was out getting supplies for her shower....

So, with all the guests there (about 35 in all), Lauren and Justin arrived and, hopefully, Laur was surprised! We of course played lots of games, ate lots of food, and she opened lots of presents. I'm so happy that things are starting to fall into place and I really, really hope she enjoyed the shower as much as I did planning it!!! :)

Yesterday was another busy day... I woke up and headed right out for buzz cuts to get the afro taken care of... I hadn't had a hair cut since December and add that to the humidity, it's been pretty gigantic lately. So, I ended up getting about 5 inches cut off... it's a lot and I'm still getting used to "almost" having bangs... so the jury is still out whether or not I like it.

After I got the hair cut, it was bridal shower stuff all day as well as setting up half of the room so that there would be more room in the garage for bridal shower gifts. I successfully put back together my dresser, and built my two bookshelves... HOORAY! After two months of being home from school I could finally empty some of my boxes of books.

That stuff took up most of my day and my mom and I also ran to the store to get more shower stuff and dinner. The evening was nice, spent baking brownies for the shower...

That's basically it, hope you guys all had a nice weekend too!!!

Megan



NYC on Tuesday to watch Jeff perform with the Imani Winds in Central Park!!! Whooo!

Today was such a nice day, nothing extrordinary but that's why I loved it so much.

I woke up a little late- like 9:00ish, got ready really quickly, and hightailed it into work. Good thing we don't have exact hours (well, I would just end up setting my alarm then!)

Work was nice- I worked until 3:30 and I finally got to meet Cottonball, what a sweetie pie she is. Today was also payday so after work I went over to Commerce to deposit it since my Commerce account is lacking in funds lately...

Then headed home, changed into my bathing suit, and headed down to the lake to work on cleaning the beach/swimming area more. Since I was daydreaming I didn't even realize that Justin came to visit until he jumped out and scared me! The two of us spent awhile just chatting and catching up a little. I also started "to fish" again, Mike beat me in a game of horseshoes, and I took my swim.

Now the funny story of the day...
So Justin and I were sitting on the edge of the dock, me practicing casting and him trying to help me when all of a sudden across the lake we hear a big crashing noise/rustling in the leaves. We turn to each other and know that it's one of three things; 1. deer 2. kids 3. a bear... lo and behold a minute later a nice sized black bear peaks out into the opening by the lake. He looks at us, we look at him, and in he jumps to take a nice, relaxing swim. Who can blame him, it was beautiful out!!

So Justin and I continue sitting on the dock watching this bear swim directly towards us. Now before you think we're absolutely nuts (which we admittedly are!) keep in mind seeing a bear is nothing that new to us, I grew up with them romping around the area. Anyway, so the bear is swimming right towards, maybe within 15 feet when we finally decide to get up and retreat to the stairs... I run inside to get my camera (my dad loves bear pictures) and Justin and Mike watch him dry off and head up (no joke) Bear Road. (yes, that's a real street name!)

Now I've just been working on my "top secret stuff" and watching Mythbusters!

A perfect, relaxing day... I hope you guys all had good ones too!

Meg

So much good news!

First, congratulations to Mike for being named lax captain for next year! It's scary how much our lives parallel each other sometimes...

Next, congratulations to Laur for getting the call back for Mt. Olive and the other two possibilities! I'm so proud of you!

Then, congratulations to Justin for surviving his 1st year of teaching! Margarita and 007 Marathon tonight to celebrate! :)

Finally, a congratulations to both Lauren and Justin who are probably gonna close the deal on their first apartment very, very soon!

This week was nice... working at the den, wedding stuff, organizing, scrapbooking, and lunch with Katie yesterday were some of the highlights!


That's it for now,

Meg

If you need a laugh... some things which I wish I could say to a few people! ;)

(This came from an e-mail and it has cartoons with each, if interested leave me a comment and I'll send it to you)

1. There is no vaccine against stupidity!
2. Wipe your mouth, there is still a tiny bit of bullshit around your lips.
3. I'm ready to listen... are you ready to think?
4. Why don't you slip into something more comfortable... like a coma.
5. Never go to bed mad... stay up and plot your revenge.
6. Well, aren't you just the most adorable black hole of need?
7. Shhh... that's the sound of no one caring what you think.
8. I don't know what your problem is... but I bet it's hard to pronounce.
9. Don't make me use UPPERCASE!
10. have something to say raise your hand... and place it over your mouth.
11. I'm busy now, can I ignore you some other time?
12. Don't let your mind wander... it's too small to be let out on its own.
13. You really are as pretty as a picture... I'd like to hang you.
14. I'd like to help you out... which way did you come in?
15. As long as there are tests, there will be PRAYER in public schools.
16. If there is a tourist season, how come we can't shoot them?
17. Everyone seems normal until you get to know them.
18. If you woke up breathing, CONGRATULATIONS, you have another chance.

WARNING!!!

The last entry is extremely, extremely long.
READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!