Posts Tagged “Thanksgiving Break”

Dear Christmas Break, Please Come Soon!

Posted on December 7, 2011 by Stephanie

When you are a student, there are weeks where you just don’t think that either

it will ever end…. or
you will live through the madness.

And sometimes…before Thanksgiving and Christmas…it lasts for two weeks instead of just one. Right now, it is Wednesday of the last week before finals…and this is Day 11 of my quest to get everything done before finals. I had a feeling that this was coming up when I got back from Thanksgiving Break…but I really had no idea what was coming.

In the last week and a half I have worked on projects for up to 8 hour stretches…stayed up until 3 or 4 about 8 times (and I have to be at work at 8 a.m. every day)…put together 2 huge final presentations…while living the rest of my life by going to class and work and finishing up things for all of my extra-curricular activities. Basically…I am ready for break. I think I have made it through the worst of it, because I only have one class left this semester, and more importantly, I only have 3 finals next week. It is going to be the easiest finals week that I have ever had…and it will be beautiful. I will finish finals on the Friday of finals week at 10 a.m….and the sun will be shining…and life will be great once again.

Success...I can feel it coming!

Tagged: busy week, Christmas, crazy, finals, studying, Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving Break | Leave a comment

The Best Thanksgiving Dinner…EVER.

Posted on December 6, 2011 by Stephanie

This Thanksgiving, I celebrated the holiday in a very different way than I usually do. Usually, I spend my morning being lazy and watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, and then my family and I go to my cousin’s house for a HUGE family gathering. All of my Grandma’s brothers and sisters (she is the oldest of 9) and their families comes to Thanksgiving, so it is usually a pretty crowded get-together with tons of food. This year I was visiting my sister, Natalie, and her husband, John, in Albuquerque over Thanksgiving, so for the first time ever, I got to celebrate with less than 50 people.

This was totally new to me, mostly because for the first time, we had to cook everything. When you are in a big family, one person makes the turkey, one makes ham, one makes potatoes….and so on. We obviously didn’t want to sacrifice the quality of our Thanksgiving meal, or the variety of foods we would have, so we made everything that we wanted….which just took a little bit longer. Some didn’t think that we could pull it off…but we worked ahead (by making pies, rolls, and the turkey the night before) and on the day of we each took a different part of the meal, so it was all ready right on time.

I was really proud of our spread of food…so I took pictures…obviously. Check them out:

: The table setting for our Thanksgiving dinner.

: Our apple pie…

: My personal favorite – the cheesy potatoes

: Baked beans…

: Stuffing….

: The most delicious turkey…ever.

: Perfect rolls…

Somehow, we finished off the turkey, the baked beans, and the cheesy potatoes all before dinner…and of course it was all delicious. But the real accomplishment of the day was that we made all of this….and my sister and I didn’t hurt each other in any way. Impressive, huh?

Tagged: Albuquerque, family, food, new mexico, Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving Break, vacation, visiting | 1 Comment

A Photo Summary of my Thanksgiving Vacation

Posted on November 26, 2011 by Stephanie

I’ve been in Albuquerque with my sister, Natalie, and brother-in-law, John, for about 6 days now, so I figured that the best way to share all of the cool things that I have done here would be in pictures….so here we go:

Sunday: Natalie and John are big time football fans, so every Sunday, John moves the TV from their bedroom into the living room…and the day is devoted to football and only football.

Their Sunday afternoon routine....

Monday: My sister and I shopped…shopped…and shopped some more. She taught me how to coupon at grocery stores and even at Target (a college kid’s dream), and then we visited their outdoor mall and had the chance to grab some more bargains.

Tuesday: We started the day by picking up John’s brother, Paul, at the airport, then we did some sightseeing around town. We ended up at Old Town, an area of shops, restaurants, and some historical sights in Albuquerque.

A 300-year-old church in Old Town...

Later that night, we took a tram up to the top of the Sandia Mountains to see the sunset. They are called the Sandia Mountains because they turn to a watermelon-ish color at sunset, which was beautiful…but I didn’t get any photos of that. These will have to suffice.

It was gorgeous to say the least….

The sunset over Albuquerque...

Wednesday: We hiked all the way to the top of the mountain (it was 6 hours of hiking, in case you were wondering), and then took the tram back down. It was pretty cool to see everything again, but in full daylight this time around.

One of the towers that held the tram together...

The view from the tram...

We were really impressed with ourselves for hiking all the way up…so now we obviously feel like the mountain is ours, like we own it.

Our mountain....

Thursday: Thanksgiving Day….which I will blog about…later!

Tagged: Albuquerque, couponing, family, football, hiking, new mexico, Old Town, Sandia Mountains, shopping, Thanksgiving Break, Thanksgiving Day, tram | 3 Comments

My Journey to the Top of the World: Part II

Posted on November 25, 2011 by Stephanie

Yesterday, I went hiking for the first time, on the Sandia Mountains with my sister, Natalie, her husband, John, and John’s brother, Paul. We planned for about a 6 hour hike, but we weren’t positive about where we would stop and everything until halfway through (check out Part I if you haven’t yet). Long story short, we decided to push through and hike to the top instead of stopping. We googled the trail, and found out that there were 19 switchbacks, and then about a mile of pretty easy trail after that until we could be at the top. So….we kept hiking.

At first, we were really glad that we kept going, because we were getting into a more rocky hike with snow, and it was way more fun than the first half. The views were amazing…so obviously we knew that it was worth it….

Natalie was ready to go...

Then, we realized that we were pretty close to being out of water, and we knew that we were not even close to being finished. Right around then we got into an area with tons of snow….so we decided to eat that instead….which worked out pretty well.

Snow...our makeshift water.

Since we knew that there were 19 switchbacks left, we counted them. The first few were alright, and then they started getting harder and harder. Around switchback #8, it hit us….and it was a legit struggle. There was snow all over the trail, it was really steep, and it was outrageously long…and I thought that I was going to die. But, somehow we pushed through…and made it through the worst of the switchbacks. Around #14, they started getting significantly shorter, and after #19 we only had about a mile or so left…and it was cake.

: This was my favorite view…by far.

Even though the last mile really wasn’t awful (except for all of the mud from the melted snow)….we had been hiking for almost 6 hours….and we were exhausted and hungry…really hungry. We started hiking around 9:45, and lunchtime came and went…but we didn’t really have a choice but to keep hiking. Around halfway through, Paul offered to buy everyone lunch at the restaurant at the top of the mountain if we made it up there….so that was really pulling us through. We each knew that we wanted a coke, a water, and something really unhealthy….so that was really all that mattered to us. So as soon as we made it to the top….we went straight to the restaurant and got down to business. We ordered four cokes and four waters, told them to keep the refills coming…and we got an order of onion rings and chips and queso. Perfection.

Onion rings and our chips and queso....amazing.

The leftovers of the best cokes we had ever tasted....

So, 6 hours and 10 miles later, we were finished. It was the most exhausting day ever to say the least…but now at least we can each say that basically we own that mountain now….because we hiked it and took names while doing it. Forget the fact that we rode the tram back down the mountain…because we were really not wanting to work our way all the way back down. It wasn’t being lazy, because #1 – nothing is considered lazy after you hike for 6 hours and #2 – we were just being time conscious, obviously.

My sister and I at the top of the mountain...

Tagged: Albuquerque, family, hiking, Sandia Mountains, Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving Break | 2 Comments

My Journey to the Top of the World: Part I

Posted on November 24, 2011 by Stephanie

Something that most people don’t know about Albuquerque is that the city is set in the foothills of the Sandia Mountains, and that it is actually the highest elevated metropolitan city in the US. So one of the things that we wanted to do while visiting over Thanksgiving Break was hike up the mountain (I know, I didn’t go to the top of the world…it was closer to 2 miles above sea level…but it sure felt like the top of the world). We set out around 9:30 this morning, and I’m pretty sure that I was definitely not prepared for what was coming. First off, I’m not really what you would consider “in shape” at the moment, because with school, work, and extracurriculars, I barely have time to sleep, let alone work out. Secondly, I’m pretty afraid of heights…including standing on top of mountains…or walking along trails that drop down into rocky pits of death. So…I knew this was going to be an adventure…no matter what. We started off on the Tramway Trail, which didn’t really take us up the mountain, but it led us around the foothills to the La Luz Trail, which would take us all the way up.

: Great, so if we don’t just fall off the mountain, the fires will get us instead.

We set out on our hike…and of course we stopped to take pictures every once in awhile. But at the beginning my brother-in-law, John, told us to save our pictures for later….because the view didn’t even compare to what was coming. He was definitely right, but here are a few pictures from the beginning anyway….

: The side of the mountain and Albuquerque…

: Just posing a short way into our hike…this is my only photo of myself…since past this point I couldn’t totally feel my legs.

As we hiked up the mountain, we kept talking about where we wanted to stop and turn around, or if we wanted to go all the way to the top and take the tram down. (There was a tram that led from where we started to the top of the mountain, so it would save us the couple hour hike back down the mountain.) We decided that we would just wait until we got to the lookout point, and we would make the final decision then. Of course, it took forever to get to the lookout point, and we were basically exhausted by that point.

: My brother-in-law, John, just taking a nap at the lookout point…

But, fortunately…the view was completely worth it.

: My favorite view from the lookout…

While we were resting there, we decided that we would much rather push through and go all the way to the top, because it would actually be a faster hike than trying to go back down the mountain. I was really feeling pretty decent at that point (besides the fact that my right calf had been hurting for a few hours, and my legs were slowly turning to jello)…we were about 3.5 hours into the hike…and I figured that I could make it…so we went for it. Check back tomorrow for more about our hiking adventure….the second half was rough to say the least.

Tagged: Albuquerque, family, hiking, mountain, mountain hiking, Sandia Mountains, Thanksgiving Break, trails | 3 Comments

Trying something new for Thanksgiving Break…

Posted on November 23, 2011 by Stephanie

I’m currently on Thanksgiving Break, and for the first time ever I am not following my usual break routine. This includes the following things…in this order:

Drive home
Eat some great food
Sleep
Lay on the couch
Watch every one of my TV shows on Hulu
Sleep
Watch every movie that is decent on TV
Go out to dinner with my parents
Hang out with my friends
Sleep
Wash clothes

This time around…instead of recuperating from school with this routine…I flew to New Mexico. My sister, Natalie, and brother-in-law, John, moved here after they got married in July, so John’s brother and I flew out to spend Thanksgiving with them. We’ve been having a great time seeing their new home and exploring a new part of the country…but I’m not going to lie…I miss being lazy. I always use breaks to be as lazy as humanly possible and to watch move television than anyone in their right mind should. But, I keep reminding myself that I didn’t fly halfway across the country to sleep and sit inside…so I need to make the most of my time here. I’ll be posting more about all of our adventures, including hiking up a mountain and making our first Thanksgiving dinner on our own (help us, please!). So check back soon for updates!

The view of the mountains from Albuquerque...

Tagged: Albuquerque, couch, family, lazy, new mexico, sleeping, Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving Break, thanksgiving dinner, vacation | Leave a comment

I guess there is a first time for everything…

Posted on October 29, 2011 by Stephanie

For the last month…I have been extremely busy every single week. I would work like crazy from the time I woke up (around 6:45 a.m.) until I either fell asleep or went to sleep (around 1-2 a.m.), so not only was I busy…I was also exhausted. I was so busy because each week I had something intense going on…

First, I had Derby Days lipsyncs. This lasted for a few weeks actually, since we had practices for Derby Days almost every night for a few weeks leading up to the big event.
The next week….I had a big paper due in my internship class. It ended up being about 8 pages, single spaced.
The next week….right after my paper was due (on a Sunday night) I had a Sales exam on Monday, and another big paper due in Retailing.
The next week…I had a Health Care Econ exam and a Retailing exam…and we were starting to practice for Yell Like Hell.
The next week…we were practicing for Yell Like Hell. All the time.

This brings us to now…the first week in over a month, where I didn’t have something big to do every night. Every night I would finish my internship at 6 p.m. or work in Speakers Lab until around 7 p.m., and I would feel like I needed to be rushing somewhere to do something….but really, I didn’t have to. Then, I started looking ahead, and the weeks before Thanksgiving are going to be EXTREMELY rough. I basically have two papers, then two tests…all in exactly a week. After I finish with that, I will fly to Albuquerque, NM to visit my sister and brother-in-law, and while I’m there, I actually have another paper due. But let’s be serious, I’m not going to write a paper while I’m visiting two people that I think are pretty great that I haven’t seen in 4 months, so I will have to do the paper before I leave too.

I get to hang out with these cool people for Thanksgiving...I'm pretty excited.

So even though I thought I was going to have one more relaxing, chill week…I don’t think that will be happening anytime soon. Instead…I’m going to start on things…early. Or at least that is my goal. When this round of tests, papers, etc. is done…I’ll let you know if I actually succeeded or not. Odds are, I won’t actually work ahead….but I can at least try… right?

Tagged: family, internship, papers, studying, tests, Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving Break, yell like hell | 1 Comment

It isn’t Christmas without Dominick….

Posted on December 22, 2010 by Stephanie

Every year, as soon as everyone gets back to Butler after Thanksgiving, we all notice something different on campus. If you are on the Hampton Drive side of campus….everywhere you go….you hear a rather catchy song. Over the years, this song, Dominick the Donkey, has become synonymous with Christmastime at Butler…and unless you live in extremely close proximity to TKE (the house that plays it) you will love how this song automatically puts you in the Christmas spirit when it plays. What this does mean though, is that when you are a freshman, you will probably hate it for a few reasons…

Schwitzer and Ross and Resco (the residence halls that freshmen live in) are some of the closest buildings to TKE…..and since they play it from 9 am to 9 pm…the people that live in those buildings get really tired of it…really quickly.
When you are a freshman, you don’t realize how special Dominick is to the Butler culture, or how much of a tradition it is on campus. So basically, you just don’t appreciate it for what it truly is….the best holiday song ever made.

But if you don’t live super close to TKE, and you only hear Dominick when you are walking around campus on beautiful winter days, you will most likely love it. This year, as I walked around campus on days like that….whether I could hear Dominick or not, I found myself walking to the beat of the song….hoping that I would be able to hear it soon. And last week when I was completely finished with finals, I kept hoping that I would hear it so I could fully enjoy being done with finals…..but they had stopped playing it the week before…so that was out of the question. I love Dominick so much that I am considering playing it for the next two days around my house….I wonder how my family will feel about that….

TKE at Christmas....the house that plays Dominick the Donkey.

Tagged: butler tradition, campus tradition, Christmas, dominick the donkey, Finals Week, hampton drive, resco, ross, schwitzer, Thanksgiving Break | Leave a comment

You can sleep when you’re dead…

Posted on December 8, 2010 by Stephanie

When you’re a student, your life basically revolves around sleep. Whether it is how much sleep or how little sleep you are getting, you are constantly thinking about it, talking about it, or making your Facebook status about it. I am no different, except that I always feel like I get a significantly smaller amount of sleep than everyone around me. This is for numerous reasons…

I am a night owl….so I usually am not ready to conk out until at least 1.
I have 8 a.m. classes…every day.
Since I am a night owl, I work the best late at night. It is when I am the most alert…until you get past the 3 a.m. mark, then it becomes a struggle to sit up straight.
I live in a sorority house with all of my best friends, and we talk until the wee hours of the morning…frequently.

But, when I am at home for break, that is the prime time to sleep until I can sleep no more (although I never really reach that point, where I can’t sleep anymore). Over Thanksgiving Break, I slept for 9-10 hours every night, and it was beautiful. Getting that extra sleep made me feel like all was becoming right with the world once again, and also kind of like a small child, since probably the last time that I slept that much was when I was 3.

So, in honor of Finals Week (which starts in 5 days and counting), here are some tips for how to be able to sleep, in any place, under any condition. With these tips, you will hopefully be able to catch up on sleep…frequently.

Train yourself to be indifferent to noise while sleeping. So basically, teach yourself to sleep like a tank. I learned how to do this by living alongside a highway that has high volumes of coal truck traffic overnight, every night. Needless to say, I can sleep through anything, even my alarm.
Get a snuggie. They are great for keeping you warm, but not too warm while napping.
Train yourself to be able to fall asleep at any time, within minutes. I have yet to discover the true trick to this, but I think that I understand it well enough, because each time I try to fall asleep, I don’t even have to think about falling asleep. It just happens. So maybe, deprive yourself of rest for as long as possible. Then you will be able to fall asleep anytime you would like to.

Me, practicing my napping skills at Girls State, amidst the loudness and activity that was all over the place.

Tagged: facebook, finals, Finals Week, napping, projects, sleep, snuggie, sorority, studying, tests, Thanksgiving Break | 3 Comments

So much classiness, so little time….

Posted on December 5, 2010 by Stephanie

Every year during Thanksgiving break, some of my best friends from home and I all get together for a little gathering. We started it my senior year in high school, because while we were talking about our family get-together plans for Thanksgiving, we decided that since we have family Thanksgivings, we should have a friend Thanksgiving too. Makes sense, right? And since my friends and I love to be random, and we love to dress up, we decided to make it a classy Thanksgiving, with a dress code and all. Thus, the Annual Classy Friends Thanksgiving was born.

This year was our 4th year for Classy Friends Thanksgiving, and I am sad to say….I almost forgot about it. Prior to Thanksgiving I was super busy at school, and I would have completely forgotten if I did not get messages on my Facebook (thank you, Allyson) or if people didn’t ask my Mom about it when they saw her at the grocery store (thank you, Braden). Luckily, we found a date that worked for almost everyone, we channeled our classy selves, and we gathered together to celebrate our friendship. Now, you may be wondering about what kind of food we have at Classy Thanksgiving…..and you definitely should be…considering that we are all college students without much money….or cooking ability. Originally we decided to use Classy Thanksgiving as a time to get rid of leftovers from Thanksgiving, which was a pretty successful idea. Somehow we didn’t all show up with cheesy potatoes or green bean casserole, and it was always delicious. But this year, we decided to switch it up, and we decided to all make appetizers. I love appetizers…so much….mostly because of my Dad’s Bacon Wrapped Water Chestnuts. MMMM.

Since you can’t really get the full effect of how legit Classy Friends Thanksgiving is without truly being there….here are some photos from over the years…to show you how classy we are.

For the first celebration, Tyler brought sparkling grape juice. You know, to up the classiness factor. So, we decided that it needed to be chilled, and since we couldn't find an ice bucket...we made due.

The following year, Classy Thanksgiving landed on my dear friend Taryn's birthday. So, we decided to celebrate, but since we only had pie, we let her blow out just a candle.