Thank you...

(e:chico)

(e:julie)

(e:mike)

Ride for Roswell

Hi Everyone!
So this Saturday is the Ride for Roswell, a bike ride fundraiser in order to raise money for Roswell Park Cancer Institute. My family and I have participated in the event ever since the first ride...about 10 or 11 years.

There are over 3,000 riders registered, and Roswell Park hopes to raise 1 Million dollars for cancer research. As a researcher at Roswell, I know the money that it takes to perform experiments as well as the need for more research projects to help the patients.

In order to ride you have to raise $100, which I have done (thanks to my generous family and friends!)

However, my boyfriend, Nick, needs some help raising money for Roswell. If you could possibly donate for Roswell Park Cancer Institute your money will be going to one of the best causes in Buffalo and towards fighting off the now number one killer in the United States, cancer.

Here is the link. Any amount ($5, $10...) will help!



Thank you in Advance for your Support in this great cause!

Wow. it really has been forever since i have posted anything. I think the reason is that I don't have that much time anymore to keep reading the site so i feel outta the loop and just forget to post.

Ok well not that much stuff has happened to me. I'm officially in grad school and currently interviewing for lab positions to start my masters research at Roswell. Hopefully then I'll make enough to quit old navy because that would be awesome. The classes are ok. Most are pretty hard and there is so much information to know. Like every class you get a hangout a few hundred pages long that you have to know and understand. I have a test next Tuesday so I am a little freaked out about that... probably should start studying soon.

Oh so listen to this. At Roswell we were in this huge lecture room for a oncology seminar and im in like the back row before a walkway that is behind me. So all of a sudden I hear this huge crash and like jump because it really just sounded like something almost fell on my head. Well the doctor lecturing stops the whole lecture to see if i am ok and what happened. Turns out like the huge like bulb from a ceiling light fell from the socket and smashed like right behind my head. Then all these security people had to come in and keep interupting the seminar to ask me if i was ok and if they needed to fill out an incident report. How embarrassing is that because like everyone in the lecture hall was looking haha. That seriously could only happen to me!...but at least it didn't hit me.

Other news is that on thursday to friday i am working 10pm til 5am at work. Its their inventory night. They have these about three times a year. However, the my friend the manager that left for a different store and who i miss soooo much was the only person that used to run them so i was pretty curious about who would be taking his place. Well inventories are a pain so when i was asked to sign up i said no. Then the one manager (who knew how close the manager that left and i were) said that if it was any incentive to me to sign up she just wanted me to know that my friend the manager was going to come back and run our inventory. I was like hmmm let me think for not even a second. sign me up! so now im really excited we get to hang out for an evening and catch up. It seems like its been soo long. And like other people are talking about getting massive amounts of coffee and how it will be so hard to stay up...but i mean its only 5am. I'm usually up til like 4am daily. haha.

ok well thats about it except for some other stuff that everyone that needs to know knows about and i probably should type. but its also been a rough week though with family stuff and my dog crinkles gettin a little sick and other stuff so im lookin for a better week this week!

see ya!

i just want to wish (e:mike) a...


[size=l]HAPPY 22nd BIRTHDAY WALABOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!![/size]

see ya at the party for some crazy fun....and now get drinking!!!

love ya!

Well after a pretty fun week in Miami, I am back home! It was sooo hot down there. Most of the days consisted of going to the beach and then walking around either south miami/coral gables or southbeach followed by dinner at some really cool restaurants and then going out some of the nights. Most of the other nights out weren't nearly as crazy as my southbeach club experience on the first night as i'm sure you have read by now. Well since so much went on i'll stick to givin ya a few highlights:
-breaking (e:julie) 's sink. check out her posts for those pics
-the southbeach club
-my chop chop salad at Dan Marino's restaurant. its like a pre chewed salad haha
-walkin around Lincoln Road...or Ave or whatever u call it julie. This is probably my favorite part of Miami. Lincoln is a street perpendicular to southbeach and no traffic is allowed on it. Instead the middle of the street is like pools and water fountains and tables where you can eat in the middle of the street. its sooo pretty. the sides of the streets have more restaurants and really cool shops. We ate at the pacific time which was a japanese/asian/upscale american type place. we were so outta place but it was supper funny.
-meeting manny the crocodile wrestler thats on animal planet and getting out pic taken
-MOOSE JUICE! its this really really good drink at Moes. it comes in 32 ounce cups. yuuum so tasty!
-sing a long songs. the best video ever when ur drunk on presidente beer haha

Ok well later i will add in the pics i just got developed so you can see some of this stuff!

(e:Julie) and i made it to Miami around 7:00 Saturday evening (and boy is it hot) but after the looong drive we were looking forward to just a nice relaxing night out around her apartment. but of course whatever we have planned never really works out.

she called a girl from her team to see if she wanted to join us when she said she knew a guy who could get us into one of the clubs and get us a few drinks for free. so of course we went for it. we were planning on going down there some night while we were there, but how can we pass up a free night out!

so she stresses us out that we need to dress all "sexy" for south beach, but i didn't bring any "sexy" clothes. I borrowed a pair of shoes from Julie and had to wear my new $3 skirt (from old navy in the clearance rack) and a black top, and then I "sprunched" my hair.

we had a few drinks before we left and then Julie's friend picked us up around 12:30. while we were walking from the parking garage to the club, we passed by these 2 guys and a girl and one of the guys yelled to Julie, "hey, you row for Miami!" and then, "don't ignore me" by then she turned around, recognized who he was as the younger brother of a other girls on her team. he had recognized her from past visits to Miami and from last weekend up at a rowing party in Canada. so as we start to talk to them, the guy from the club walks up to us, all the introductions happen and before we knew it, we were getting sent through the side into the club completely bypassing this huge line of people waiting to get in. then there was a huge man dresses as a woman, but not really, he had huge swords sticking out of his neck and all this makeup and it was insane. then the guy we had just met started giving us wristbands to get into the VIP sections, which we later found out were like $75 dollars each if people wanted to get up there, (meanwhile, even though Julie and i were overwhelmed by what was going on, the three people we just picked up on the street who Julie knew were really shocked, we just told them we were gonna get them in.

so once inside, we had this "body guard guy" and the guy who got us in (we understand that he's like one of the top people in the club, but not sure) so he tells us to stick together and he's leading us up to our table up in the VIP section. but unfortunately, we get there, and some ridiculous person gave our table to these WWF wrestlers. I mean really now, we are so much more important than they were. so he again led us through different rooms and different levels to another table. so none are free, so he leaves us just at a table and brings over a $240 bottle of grey goose vodka and then some red bull and 6 glasses and a bucket of ice. he made us these most disgusting drinks, they were sooo strong! we were shocked at what was going on. just as we were getting situated and starting to check out what was going on down on the dance floor, he takes us away from there and leads us into this little private room with a curtain and a couch and leaves us there with our little body guard guy. and there were all these people going around with cameras and stuff catching glimpses of all the famous people there, and one of them asked us if we wanted our party to get our picture taken, but we were like, "um... we're not famous" but there were a lot of potential famous people sightings, if only we could focus enough to realize who they were.

we were all talking, drinking, observing the scenery (i swear it was like what you see on the travel channel, i never really thought anything like that really existed) people we down on the dance floor, dancing up on boxes, in these crazy costumes and stuff. then after a little while i really had to go the the bathroom so Julie asked our little helper guy who was escorting us through everywhere to take me to the bathroom because i knew i was going to get lost, but he didn't take me to the normal bathroom, he took me into the actors dressing room and up these crazy spiral stairs to this huge bathroom with tubs and everything, it was insane.

then once i got back we all decided to go down to the dance floor, so we got escorted down there. ok, and before i forget to mention this, the younger brother of the girl Julie knew was so hot, he really was, there was no doubt about that. but so we get down there and we start dancing and i start dancing with him and tell julie to dance with the other guy who was really nice, but i didn't even realize it, but he was really short, and julie has her fear thing of short guys so she was like, "ahh, no." i mean she tried, but he was really shy too, so it just didn't work out. and since i was dancing with the hot guy she was screaming, "I hate you" and "I'm gonna kill you" to me, but he was really hot, i didn't have a choice. ;)

after that the guy who got us in (who looked like a golden retriever by the way) got us each another drink and we headed back up to our curtained off room where we started dancing in there. julie and he friend disappeared to somewhere, while i was dancing with the short guy. he kept trying to pull my skirt up and all these guys were crowding around our box watching us.

then everyone came back, we were just sitting in there talking and the really hot guy kept trying to kiss me, but i tried to resist, but like i said before, i really couldn't help it, he was so hot. ( but i learned today that the other guy was really upset he was kissing me, but i didn't even know, i thought he left, i didn't realize he was still sitting right next to me. ooops

but then, before i knew it, the lights were coming on and we were getting kicked out, it was 5:15 the next morning, but i swear it only felt like 2-3 hours.

then we went back to the golden retriever guy's house right by the club and sat around there till like 7 when julie and i were like , we really need to get out of here. so by like 8:30 we were back to her apartment, first thing we did was strip down and jump on the futon out in the living room. (her room was too warm)

it was waking up a few hours later that was the killer part, i don't know how she did it, but julie was up and walking around at like 11:00. i couldn't even move till 2:00. i really couldn't move. it wasnt until 3 that i could even sit up, it was crazy, and we hadn't even had that much to drink.

but at least i remembered it all, (well most of it, we are still a little foggy about some parts) (e:mike), aren't you proud of me? ;)

so as you can see, yesterday was a very unproductive day, with a movie at 5:30 (must love dogs) and then asleep by 11:00. i don't think i've gone to sleep that early in a long time, but we were exhausted.

now that that was our first night here, i can't wait to see what else julie has in store for my visit! I want to see her top that.

Ever have one of those weeks that's just terrible and your like "phew, glad to have that one behind me" ?

well..that's kinda how i feel as its been a rollercoaster of emotions this week...only i know its not really behind me..just a temporary postponement of the inevitable.

i guess that's expected, but it always suprises me how like when you know something for certain will occur sooner or later and then when it does you are shocked. just goes to show you how some things will never be easy to accept regardless of how much notice or preparation you are given.

oh well time to make the best of it and enjoy every moment we have left.
did i mention i looove my baby crinkles yet?

oh and im leavin for Miami with (e:julie) in a day. im driving down with her and then flyin back up after...although im not sure when im coming back.
so no suprises while im done
everyone just stay put!

see ya when i return everyone!

ok so i know this post may be a tad boring because I don't have any illustrations for it.... but i just thought everyone would be happy to know that I have made some progress in figuring out which area i would like to specialize in for my masters and for my research at Roswell that both start at the end of august.

I couldn't decide for the longest time and had to have a tentative course plan for the next year and a half submitted by aug 5th -so the pressure was on. Finally a few days ago after spending countless hours researching the different areas, i decided to go back to one of the classes i found the most interesting...immunology.

i love it and all the classes about it! so how can i go wrong? right? its just so hard to decide because pharmacology as well as molecular biology are both good as well. Ok well i do feel a lot better now that i have that half figured out. Now i just need to decide which lab i want to do the research in...and hopefully there will be a part time job involved with that as well. :) starting new stuff is always a little scary.

oh and i also love how i always seem to be posting at like 3am....i guess i just am usually getting home then or just get broed then haha

Ok, so i've been meaning to get these pictures up for a while but didn't get around to it. For my graduation present (e:julie) sewed me pajama pants. Its a long story i guess how she picked that as my grad present...but i did pick out the fabric and as soon as i saw those big dog noses all over the place i loved em -as everyone who knows me knows i love dog noses! haha. so cute! But yeah they turned out better than i ever expected. They are a little big so sometimes they fall down, but i think i have finally been able to tie the string tight enough to prevent that. Only sad part is i sat kinda funny in them and sorta tore a small hole...so they are currently being repaired by (e:julie). ah, but boy do i miss my pants!

Here is a close up pic of the fabric and those beautiful noses!




And here I am after waking up after a fun night out at my favorite Monday bar haha
(e:julie) crashed on my floor and was able to take the pic right when i got up. stunning, i know ;-)




Oh and the (e:strip) party sat night was very cool. i'm sure the videotape (e:mike), (e:maureen), (e:julie) and i took is sure to be very amusing. It was also cool to see some people from the site...although i must admit i am terrible with matching user pics up with real people, so most likely i failed to make the connection between the people at the party and which journal they are...oh well there's always next time right? maybe some name tags would help with ur journal names haha.

Also, i'm a little stressed out right now because i have to plan out the next two years of my grad school as well as which laboratory i will be doing my masters degree research in. the form has to get to them by aug 5th so that means i only have like another day left to plan everything out. hopefully ill decide soon and be happy with the choices.

ok im off to sleep.
have a good night/day!

Ok so now that i have this picture situation figured out i guess i can start putting in some pics. It makes these journal entries so much more interesting if there are pictures and not just random rambling....like my previous entry... haha thanks (e:julie) for making me sound completely crazy. i should learn not to let people write me entries...haha but it was funny...and mostly semi true.

ok now onto some pics... so what better time to post Christmas pictures than July... right? well, i guess it really can be a sort of Christmas in July...

here is my baby crinkles sleeping by the presents and waiting for us to wake up to open them. she absolutely loooves Christmas and gets so excited when she even sees the box of decorations being brought up from downstairs.




and here is a picture of me and my brother Andrew in our house on Christmas...




In other news:
-my birthday was great. thanks to all those who came out to celebrate with me... esp. the people on this website (e:mike) and (e:julie).
(e:julie) thanks for sneeking out and braving the buffalo dangers as well as some angry parents.
(e:mike) thanks for the cake, beer and card. it was really nice of you :-) and im glad as ,least one of us has parts of the night that you can't remember...including how u got into ur pajamas haha oops

-on a sadder note, my manager/ friend at work is leaving. I've been really sad about this for a week now. its hard when you have become pretty close and have worked together for 3 years. he got promoted to be the general manager...but the store is in rochester. hopefully we will still talk but its hard because while we are close at work and basically talk about everything, we are at completely different points in our lives and i worry that this is it.

-oh but i got this awesome smoothie maker from katrina for my b-day. yesterday we went rowing on the man made lake by her house and made some amazing mango rum and strawberry smoothies!

- and i'm going to the taste of buffalo on sunday with (e:julie) and maybe (e:mike) if he is able to digest all the food he ate there from sat. I just wish all those samples weren't so expensive...but i guess there isn't that much out there that i can eat since im a vegetarian but still i always seem to run out of tickets! haha

ok, have a fun day everyone!