A long, long, long time ago (probably about 6 years...yikes!) my friend Natalie and her friend Chris and i went to visit our friend Jessica in Napa Valley. It was about this time of year because I remember the way the sun felt on my skin. My skin having endured 5 months of a frosty cold winter. It was heaven. I'm sure everyone can relate. Its the feeling you get on that first gorgeous, perfect day after winter. I was cheating though. I had driven from Quincy (about a 4 hr drive) where it was still oh so nippy outside :) I got my first day of spring early!
We all decided to go wine tasting! It was a fabulous idea and we weren't taking any shortcuts. We stopped at a quaint (quaint for Napa Valley translates to snooty, overpriced, deliciousness) little store on the side of Winery Lane and purchased the necessities: 2 types of bread, 3 types of yummy cheese and water. Then we were off!
The rest of the day Jessica navigated us around the best wine tasting experience. We went to a few very well known wineries like Duckhorn, Opus One and Whitehall Lane but we didn't overlook those off the beaten path either. Because Jessica was working in the restaurant industry at the time at one of the more upscale restaurants in the valley she was able to pull some strings so the whole thing didn't end up costing us our arms and legs (would have made driving very difficult) Overall I'd have to say that it was one of the best days of my life. I was with 2 of my best friends in the whole world, it was a beautiful day and we didn't have a care in the world! For some reason I always seem to think of that day when winter withers to spring and I'm glad to have a day like that to remember :)

YippEE SkiPPee!!

I just finished my 3rd and final test for the week and I am so happy about that! I am also happy that my friend kristen is coming to visit! Lots of things to be happy about! Also, I just really like exclaimation marks so any excuse to use them is fine by me.
I recall having a conversation with Paul a little while back about a little thing I like to call reflection. I think that most people in their twenties have to go through a period of time when they do a lot of this. At some point in your twenties (hopefully) you become a real, live adult and its really wierd. I have spent all of my teenage years and a large chunk of my twenties thinking with a predefined mindset. This mindset allowed me to do things like flaking on a friend and assuming they'd just always be there, paying my credit card late every month or heck, just not paying it at all. It allowed me to be half-assed at things because I thought, "hey I'm young and irresponsible, people expect that of me and there will be time later". Well, that "time later" has come. I'm not really sure when I started changing the way I thought about things but one day I realized that my life would be what I make of it and it would represent the kind of person I am. Instead of it being half-assed I wanted it to be kick- ass! (ha, see? exclaimation mark)

What caused me to ponder such things is a behavior that I see at school everyday. I go to a community college where there is a much more diverse age group than at a university. I guess I just expected that along with the "older" more "experianced" crowd I would see a determination that is sometimes lacking in the younger kids. But....no.
Most of the people that are in class with me are attempting to get into nursing school. I would actually say about 90%. Getting into nursing school is very difficult and insanely competitive because there are way too many students and not enough teachers. Anyways, don't you think if you were in fact "older" and trying to better your life by going back to school you should give a damn about what you are learning? People who sit around me in my classes think I am a smarty-pants because I do well on all of my tests. The fact is that I am not smart. I'm actually fairly average if you ask me. I do, however, give a damn and I give it my all. I gave it my all when I was working 60hrs a week and still managed to pull A's in all of my classes. The only difference between me and those I am speaking of is that I have made up my mind. I am determined and I have decided that I want something more out of this life than sitting on my ass can provide. If I am going to do something I am going to be responsible for it and do it the absolute best that I can. No one else is going to do it for me.
So in a nutshell, I guess I am proud of myself and I am glad that the reflection I needed to see clearly didn't happen too late in life and that I was able to recognize it for what it was. Ok, that is all. Till next time. Ta ta :) !!!!!!!!

Alright people.... I have 15min before I have to leave for class and I absolutly CANNOT study anymore. I feel like my brain is so full that if I tip my head to one side or the other all that fabulous knowledge will start pouring out my ears!! Maybe I should wear some earplugs....anyways. It feels like finals week this week and its not which sucks because finals week is coming up very quickly. So lucky me I get 2 finals weeks ;) Okay...I'll stop complaining.
Paul and I went to CO for my alledged "spring break"..(i had to study a lot...ooops, I'm complaining ;0...Long story short, it was oodles of fun and now I must run ;)