Alright...I know its been forever and a day since I have updated this blog, but after reading all that has been happening, you will understand where I have had no time to update. With the days getting longer and longer (because of sunlight, or lack there of...), I have been getting more and more tired when the work day is complete. It was told to me when I arrived that you are not a true New Yorker, until you are able to fall asleep on the subway, and wake-up either before or just as the train is pulling into your stop. Thankfully, it has taken me many train rides and countless times sleeping through my stops to finally be able to call myself a true New Yorker, and wake myself up the stop before I have to get off the train!! In my book, that is a huge accomplishment!! :D.
Now, onto all the exciting things that have held me back from updating (please bear with the short novel you are about to enjoy):
When we last left off, I had just completed running a half-marathon! It is still hard for me to believe some days that I actually still completed it, and sometimes wonder if I just dreamt it, but then see my medal and race number, and realize I didn't. With the fun had that weekend, I wasn't sure how it could get any better, but the following weekend proved it would! I made a surprise return trip to good ol' Romeoville, IL to visit some friends and share in some wonderful experiences shared by others. ;). I was so excited to be able to pull off such a huge surprise, and I am pretty sure I can vouch for my friends, that it was just as exciting. I never imagined how much I would miss people until I moved away, and was able to return! Though the weekend was
extremely short, I loved and soaked in every minute of it!
It was then back to New York to begin another week at work, but one that proved to be nothing less than exciting. I received a text on Monday morning from my boss alerting me she would be staying home with her daughter who was sick. I immediately became nervous and anxious for work that day because I would be in the office, by myself, hoping nothing would go wrong. One day turned to two, and then three. I can honestly say, I learned that I am an extreme people person from this experience; I began to turn on music in the office, look at pictures of friends on facebook, just to remember what it was like to be around people! It's sad to admit, but honestly, there's no surprise in knowing I need to be around people and their high energy! :)
Though it was different being in the office by myself, I was also able to learn a lot about my responsibility and ability to create tasks for myself when someone is not present. I also got the experience of running one of our freshman retreats all by myself (with the teacher and 2 guidance counselors in the room...). Needless to say, that retreat will forever live in my mind, as a good (and bad) experience!
The week was short, having Friday off for Veteran's Day, yet I went into work late morning for our Lasallian Youth day retreat! This retreat was planned by our Exec. Board Senior students on Lasallian Youth, for the rest of the LY students. This year's theme focused around the idea of cyber-bullying. As all participants learned, cyber-bulling is an up-and-coming force that is destroying the lives of so many young middle and high school students. I believe the students did a fantastic job planning and executing the retreat, and for once, it was nice to be a participant vs. leader.
As the days were growing closer and closer to Thanksgiving, Bishop Loughlin's Canned Food Drive was getting closer and closer to ending. As you well know by now, the house system at Loughlin is central to all activities/competitions we partake in throughout the school day. I believe the canned food drive is one of the two largest competitions (aside from the Penny Drive). This year, we set a goal, hoping to beat last year's total of 4,000-ish non-perishable food items. Now, if you are asking yourself why it's called a
CANNED food drive, yet other food was donated, that's a good question. After last year's drive, the food pantry we donated to got an infestation of pantry moths, and had to close down. All of the food found in boxes/bags had to be thrown away, and thus causing the pantry to no longer accept
ANY food donations. The thought of not providing meals to needy families during the holidays was heart-breaking, and the pantry began to accept donations again from us, under one condition; ONLY CANNED ITEMS WOULD BE ACCEPTED! This put a lot of pressure onto the school for breaking last year's record, but the students rose to the challenge.
The total number of cans brought in this year was 3,126. Though knowing this is less than last year's, we took into consideration the fact that almost 25% of last year's donated items were Ramon and packages of boxed noodle meals. For my first year running a canned food drive, and such, I was very please with the students full participation! :)
As a part of the food display above, we had a giant revealing to the school at our Thanksgiving Assembly. Now, the week before Melissa (my boss) was out sick :(, and the week of the assembly she was at an educational conference (no worries, she truly is the best, and hasn't left me in the office since ;) ), I had to run the assembly by myself. With a large student body like we have, it can sometimes be a nightmare getting everyone calmed down and attentive. This day, that was the least of my concerns. I had received an email the night before telling me that our speaker was not going to be able to show up, and I immediately panicked. Though, had I read the rest of the email I would've learned 2 others were coming to speak on her behalf. These 2 young men showed up at school the next day at 10:27, when the assembly was set to start at 10:30. Again, as you can imagine, I was a mess, pacing the hallways, waiting (and praying) for them to arrive! The assembly went off well, and another lesson was learned that day; ALWAYS call your speaker a week in advance to remind them about assemblies!
That weekend was a very special weekend for the Loughlin community. As I mentioned, Melissa was at an educational conference, and I got the opportunity to go down to Washington, D.C. where it was being held, and be a part of a surprise for one of our fellow Loughlin faculty. Mr. Mike Foley, one of the Guidance Counselors and Moderator for Lasallian Youth, was receiving an award as the Distinguished Lasallian Educator of the Year (as a representative of the District of Eastern North America). I drove a group of 4 students down that morning as part of the surprise, and man was it a great time seeing his reaction to the whole thing! :). Though it was a short first time in D.C., I hope to make it back soon, since I also have family that lives down there, and would be able to provide tours!
At this point in the short novel (if you have been keeping track), we are at the week of Thanksgiving. The week began with Loughlin Spirit Week, allowing for themed dressed days! The theme this year was "Dressing" to Impress. The word dressing is in " " because our themes revolved around salad dressings! On Monday we had Thousand Island Day, dressing like we were ready to go out to the warm climates, and take a tropical vacation! Tuesday brought us Ranch Day, and I was able to bust out my favorite plaid shirt I used to wear out to Saddle Up! all the time! :). We had a Sadie Hawkins Dance after school, and brought in a dance instructor who taught the students all they needed to know in square/line dancing, and then some! Wednesday was Spirit Day, and I finally received my first piece of Loughlin apparel!! I can say that I have worn my shirt proudly ever since!
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Just some of the seniors from the Class of 2012 on Spirit Day;
we display our Loughlin "L" quite proudly!! :D |
This year, Thanksgiving was much different being away from family, yet it was so enjoyable because I was able to do something that I have always dreamt about; Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade!! Br. Bill's family has an annual tradition of attending, and I figured there was no better group to go with, then them, and so I followed. We were located at 58th and Columbus Circle (the corner where the groups/floats/balloons make their first turn, before heading down Broadway). It was so surreal to see the balloons up close and personal, versus sitting in the comfort of my home on the couch!
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| Happy Thanksgiving |
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| My favorite balloon of the whole parade! |
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| SANTA!! |
Being in NYC for the holdiays, the next holiday event to look like a tourist was the lighting of the Rockefeller Christmas Tree!! I met up with Stephanie right after work, and we headed downtown to try and get as close to the tree as possible! Arriving at 4:15, and knowing that we would have to wait until 7 for the night to start, we thought we had pretty good spots standing about a block away! Once the program started, a very nice NYPD allowed us to get even closer, thus putting us about 500 feet away from the tree! It was an awesome experience, plus all of the performers, and seeing that tree never gets old to me, it is
so beautiful!
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| Cee-Lo Green |
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| Neil Diamond (this one's for you mom!) |
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| The Biebs |
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| Michael Buble |
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| Radio City Music Hall Rockettes!! |
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| THE TREE!! :D :D :D |
That weekend, I participated in one of the most exciting weekends I've had since moving out to New York; Kairos 6 with the Loughlin community of students. Kairos is a spiritual retreat that helps students further find their relationship with God, themselves, and classmates (sounds like another retreat that I have participated on...). The weekend was filled with laughter, tears, moments of happiness, and moments of sadness, but all focusing around the same theme of "Discovering who you were, who you are, and who you want to be!" Though a giant lack of sleep, I can honestly say the students went into the retreat with an open-mind, and came out with so much more!
This past week, I had Thursday off because of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, and man was it needed. I was able to sleep-in until almost noon, and then was able to get the day "started" by going down to the Upper East Side, and walking down 5th Avenue, looking at all of the beautiful Christmas windows on display outside the big name stores (Tiffany & Co., Armani Exchange, Chanel, Burberry, etc.). Stephanie and I walked all the way down, until we made it to 34th Street, and we went inside the ever so famous Macy's department store, and experienced our own "Miracle on 34th Street". While inside, we browsed for a bit, then went on an excursion to find Santa. After reaching Santaland, we waited patiently with all the children to get our picture taken, and then headed back downstairs to drop off our letters to Santa in his special "Macy's Believe" mailbox!! Reliving the younger years was definitely an added excitement to the beginning of this holiday season!
This past weekend brought lots more holiday activities, including picking out our Christmas tree, and hanging up other decorations! I look forward to being home in just a mere 10 days, and spending time with my family and friends!
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| The stockings all hung at Bedford Park Community with care... |
I thank you for being patient with such a long absence from posting, but with the holiday break ahead, I hope to be able to look back, and reflect on the exciting moments that 2011 has brought me, and what more is left to come!
Live Jesus In Our Hearts. FOREVER!
