So I am alive. Many apologies to any who may have been checking back here to see what my life has been like-- paper work, issues with the blogging site, etc, are all the excuses I have as to the delay. Oh, and I guess I really had to settle in here before having anything too exciting to report.
It's been a beautiful month. Absolutely gorgeous days, and only recently have we started to feel the effects of autumn, most certainly my favorite month. My friends and I have gotten into the habit of watching the sun set every evening on the back hill as of late. Although regaining motivation to do homework is very difficult after sipping coffee and watching the day end, I've certainly found the entire event quite relaxing (and certainly something to look forward to!). Here are a few pictures we've snapped.
Here's an au natural one:
And here's one that we tinted with the help of some orange sunglasses. Amazing how one's perspective can be changed so drastically with a simple pair of sunglasses.
I've been trying to spend as much time as possible outside these days, as I know what kind of conditions winter will bring. I am not much of a winter person. For many, Vermont is the ideal state for skiing, snowboarding, etc... I personally don't partake in many outdoor activities during the winter because regardless of the number of layers I have... I'm usually just plain intolerably cold. But for others, winter is a fantastic time up here. I enjoy it for the first month (we dug tunnels in the aftereffects of our last snow storm and went sledding!) but then... it gets old. So. I'm going to enjoy the late summer and early autumn as much as possible.
My boyfriend's been up a few times to visit, which is really nice, as he gives me the motivation to get all my work done during the week so I can spend time with him on the weekend (usually in the out of doors!) We've been on a bunch of walks down to the river, some of which involved a lot of swimming, some of which were just plain nature walks. It's a fantastic place down there, and there's almost always other people you know, so it's sort of a social spot, too.
And some swimming here. I guess I was taking a break, eh?
And of course, he had to get artsy on me (photography majors! grr! :) ) so he took some cool photos.
This is probably the best picture that has ever been taken of me. He's good.
And of course, he had to take a picture of the sky.
I haven't been up to much beyond exploring the beauty of the campus, working, and of course, doing that school thing. Haha. I have a pretty interesting collection of classes this semester because I severely procrastinated in taking many of my ELA credits. So, rather than having a ton of english classes with fifteen page papers and seven books to read, or a handful of education classes with a similar type of work load (but more discussions and lesson planning), I have calculus homework and history papers. Weird. I'm also taking a Spanish class, so I've been trying to find the time to study another language. Although I've taken Latin (for one year) and French (for three) before, and therefore have worked with other languages, it certainly has been a while... so it is a little odd.
And of course, when things get a dull, I've my friends to rely on...
There's this game we play called Morten's list where you roll a bunch of die and, based on the numbers you roll and in what order, you are assigned a mission that you have to commit to for at least an hour. If after that hour you haven't completed the mission, you can either give up or continue, but you HAVE to do it for at least an hour. Quite often, you get yourself in some really weird situations. For this particular assignment, we were told to dress up for no particular reason and to listen to new music. So, we had a rather bizarre dance party in front of Cree dressed in some of our best clothing. Evan and I even got into character, if you will please note the pretentiousness. Hahaha. It was actually a lot of fun, though we got some really confused looks throughout the night.
Oh, but I guess the big news thus far is the fact that I'm an AUNT!
Oh yes, my dear nephew William was born on the 17th at 10:54 am, a big ol' boy-- 8 pounds 15 ounces and 22 inches tall. All of this after my sister was in and out of the hospital for a week because they were trying to induce her. He was just a little too stubborn, though, and wanted to decide for himself when to grace us with his presence. Quite a cutie.
I don't think I've ever seen my dad this happy before in a picture. His first grandkid! Yikes! How time flies.
And I have to love this picture of my lil' sis feeding him. It feels like yesterday when I was the one feeding her at such a small size. I'm really in awe at how fast she grew up. (Plus, I'm wicked proud of her!)
So maybe I lied. A ton of stuff has been up. Really exciting time of my life, here. Now we're just waiting on my friend's kid. Should be happening soon. And then? I'll be a godmother!!!!
Hope things go well for y'all. I'll update more often, now, I promise.