The backyard waterfall I always wanted

Last night, a little after 11p, the fire alarms began to screech all throughout my apartment building, the Avalon (Avalon Bay Communities), waking all those who had settled into their warm, cozy beds as the blizzard of the decade rolled through town.
Pulling on boots and warm jackets over pajamas, my brother and I left our apartment first and headed directly for the stairs - only to be blocked by a wall of water crashing through the ceiling of the hallway, not twenty feet from our front door. We turned and exited through the other staircase with a stream of sleepy neighbours. Then, we all waited on the lobby for the firetrucks to arrive. All the while, fire alarms continued to whine incessantly against our eardrums. When the firemen finally arrived (it took an extra long time because of the snow-blocked streets), they didn't turn the alarms off right away, either. They had to first check the source of the problem - that leaky ceiling, though "leaky" seems like an understatement. It would be an hour before the blaring alarms were finally shut off, to which we all cheered :)

By the end of the night, the firemen had torn through the hallway ceiling and shut down the hallway lights in attempts to find the source of the leak. It was discovered that a fire sprinkler in a vacationing family's apartment had been set off due to high heat in the boiler room.

After such an upsetting event, you would hope we would never have to do this again. So it might surprise you to know that this same water damage happened last Christmas.
What failures and incompetences in Avalon Bay's infrastructure did not prevent this catastrophe are unclear to me.  However, a fire alarm that went off without a fire seems completely counterintuitive. And having been disrupted by these faulty fire alarms three times prior this year plus last year's Christmas alarms, I would LOVE to see them fixed properly once and for all! Further disruption for such a trivial thing would be extremely irresponsible on the part of Avalon Bay.

Hoping you are all safe in your homes too
xxo, S

100th post!

New York was hit by a great, big blizzard today that has tucked my already-quiet hometown into a silent white blanket. T tried to go sledding earlier (before there was so much snow) but it kinda failed. Tomorrow should be better for snowy day activities - we've gotten at least three more inches since the sun set!

In other news, this is my ONE HUNDREDTH BLOG POST!
Thanks to all you who read :)

Time to settle in with a good movie and some hot coco (my latest hot drink obsession)!
xxo, S

Merry Christmas!

Wishing you and yours a very merry holiday celebration. In the spirit of the day, I won't be working very hard, so this post will just be a short one.

After many hours of MusicChoice's "Sounds of the Seasons"channel, we are finally going to my grandma's house for a big family dinner.


Feliz Navidad
Joyeaux Noel
Frohe Weihnachten
Gleðileg jól
...and all that jazz


xxo, S

Overheard...

Madison Bistro, 238 Madison Ave.
Wednesday, December 22, 2010 at 7.45p

As told by a man who is friends with "Eric."


...and Eric has a sister. Well, in addition to his brother, the middle child. So it's Eric, his older brother and his sister. And apparently the sister is a mess. Like, she's really fat and a total pot head - you know, because of the dad - and she works at the dad's store. Kinda like a Duane Reade out there, like a pharmacy... Anyway, she works at this pharmac and she married a guy who works as a short order chef at the local diner... I know right, of all the people in the world... Well it turns out this guy has a problem with buying things on eBay. Like cars or old radios; either really expensive things or really crappy things, but he'll buy anything. And the sister couldn't stand it, he was always buying all this stuff. Anyway, it was a problem that he really didn't think anyone could help him with and so he wouldn't accept any help... It ended up ending the marriage... So sad, right?

...so she started dating this new guy, who I've never met, but Eric has. Eric just met him, he was down there visitng and when he came back, he told me that the boyfriend is [whispered] blind and has 80% hearing loss. [nods] Right??? Of all the people. And his sister met this guy because she works at the pharmacy and he had been there to pick up his medicine for his problems. Apparently it's a really terrible story. He was this athelete and he had this degenerative disease that first hit his eyes and then his ears, so sad...

...they were crossing the street and she ran off to catch up to Eric, like "Eric, Eric!" and she let go of her boyfriend's hand. And she was supposed to be holding his hand! And so he tripped and fell and scraped - it was warm, he was wearing shorts - he scraped up all his legs and his arms and face and it was all bloody... I mean, she let go of his hand!


THE END

Cross my heart this is truly what I heard next to me during dinner tonight. Don't know what else to say except that life is stranger than fiction!


xxo, S

Espionage & Spies

(in the literary sense, of course)

My aunt brought me a book over Thanksgiving titled, The Tourist by Olen Steinhauer, plus its sequel. Having never been one for modern literature, I was hesitant about reading it. But it sucked me in so fast, I forgot about my resistance instantly! I ripped through both novels and quickly proceeded to research the upcoming third in the sequence. Need I spell it out? A M A Z I N G .

Not to be confused with the recent film of the same title starring Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp, Steinhauer's novel follows the life of disenchanted secret agent, Milo Weaver (to whom we are introduced under a different name). It turns out that his life has been entirely shaped by the underground world of espionage. We follow Milo through a series of events that threatens to overthrow everything he has worked to create after he vowed to leave the Company. Steinhauer's narrative also revamps the spy world audiences were exposed to by John le Carré and relates how we all deal in this post-9/11 world.

After reading these books, I watched a little James Bond marathon and The Bourne Identity, having been inspired by the life of a spy. Next, I want to read old-school spy novels like le Carré and Flemming. But I think I'll stay on this side of the metaphoric wall - no martial arts or rifling classes for me ;)

xxo, S

Surf's Up soundtrack

You know that silly DreamWorks animated movie that came out a few years ago when every movie had cute penguins? The one about the surfing penguins? Well, the Bearcat has taken to it recently, so I've watched it a few times. It's sweet, funny, and has Shia LaBoeuf as the main penguin. But best of all is the movie's soundtrack.

From Green Day and Incubus to Sugar Ray and Pearl Jam, got a real surf-rock sound and truly makes a lot of the scenes. So the movie itself is pretty generic... but so what? With memorable song choices, it's something everyone can enjoy :)

My favourite picks:
Into Yesterday, Sugar Ray
You Get What You Give, New Radicals
Reggae Got Soul, 311
Drive, Incubus
Big Wave, Pearl Jam
Welcome to Paradise, Green Day

xxo, S

Boston weekend

Today I came back from an extended weekend in Boston. First, I stayed my cousins who live north of the city for the few days after Thanksgiving. I don't usually get to spend a lot of time with their family when the rest of the family is around, so it was good to see them.

Yesterday, Ginger and I met up in Boston and spent the day wandering around. Then I spent the night at her house to the south of the city. I hadn't been into Boston in several years and even then, it was just a quick visit with my family. It was good to really go around and see what a nice city it is - even better with a friend :)

Ginger's family is really fun and it was cool to see her house (esp. since they're moving soon!). We planned a trip for her to come down to New York in a few weeks and she'll stay with me this time. It's comforting to have someone from DU so close by because the winter break is so long (five more weeks).

Now that I'm in New York, I think I'm here to stay for a good while. Drop by my high school, see friends who are around, spend time with my grandmothers and my family, and of course roam around the city!!! I love it here...

xxo, S

Airplane pictures

So as we are about to land in Philadelphia (my connection from Denver to New York), I look out my window to see this incredible light shining down through the clouds. I'm not a religious person, but it looked like the "light of God" to me. A beautiful way to end the day.

I landed safely and am excited to be home!
xxo, S

Travel day - going home

After watching all of my friends slowly clear out of the dorms this weekend, I was the last one left. Today, I got picked up by Uncle T to go to the airport and go HOME! for six lovely weeks.

It's a bittersweet departure. Of course I am happy to go home and see my family and drench myself in New York-ness, but I'm also going to miss all the friends I've made these past ten weeks. We've gotten really close really fast and had a lot of fun times already... I don't know what I'm going to do without them for six weeks - that's more than half of the time I've even known them!

All this means is good news - I'm having a great first quarter at DU (I know this was the right choice for me) and I'm going to make the most of my time at home.

See you on the East Coast!

xxo, S

Becoming literate

I made it a goal this year to become more "well-read." This has a different meaning for everyone; for me, it means reading old books, classics if you will, and actually enjoying them. When I read these kinds of books, I want to really appreciate the language, style, and structure that's captivated so many people over the years.

Here's where I'm at so far:
Pride and Prejudice
Alice's Adventures Under Ground
Through the Looking-Glass
Slaughterhouse Five

I also just finished what is now one of my favourite books of all time, Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. The film version is being released this coming April starring Robert Pattinson, Reese Witherspoon, and Christoph Waltz, all of whom I adore. If you haven't gotten the chance, read it! I tore through it in one week... probably would've been less time if I hadn't had so much actual work to do (oh, college). Seriously though, I rarely recommend books written today, so pick this up - especially if you plan on seeing the movie.


xxo, S

Adventure in Denver

My friend took us to Vietnamese food down on Federal the other day. So goooood..... :D I haven't had really tasty Asian food in so long, and I do love me some good noodles!

While we were waiting for the bus, I got crafty with my camera:

Can't wait to get back home and be all artsy photography with ma hipsta cousin bella
xxo, S

Initiation

Tonight I was officially initiated into Delta Zeta!!!
It was a cute little ceremony in the chapel on campus... very secret so I can't tell you anything... But by the end of it, we were all active members - no more "new member" status - and learned can learn absolutely everything about ∆Z now!

Come to think of it, I am the only member of my family to be Greek. I wonder if my brothers, cousins, or children will do so, too. And while we're on the subject, I hope that I'm setting a good precedent for my cousins going to college. Man, so many obligations as the oldest in the family

Still love it, though!
xxo, S

Pillow-Paddle

I made a pillow for my Big as party of Lamp Lighting week at ∆Z and she made me a paddle! I spent alllllll week on my pillow and am so happy with how it turned out... although I did have a lot of help from one of my friends. We exchanged them last night - how I love getting gifts!

Here's how my pillow turned out:

xxo, S

Lady Antebellum

(or Stephanie goes to a country music concert)

So I'm not sure what possessed me to buy tickets to see Lady Antebellum in concert on Wednesday, but I went with four of my friends, and had a pretty good time. What's strange is that I A: only know one of their songs and B: don't really like country music.

The opener was the dictionary definition of country music, but I enjoyed Lady A a lot more. They have a great live sound, which a lot of bands don't. And they looked like they were just purely enjoying themselves. Their number one song is "Need You Now" and that happens to be my favourite, too.

Most of the audience was middle aged; we were definitely some of the youngest people there. But they were funny and drunk! so we were entertained left and right. One lady had this incredible nest-ish hairstyle that prevented all five of us from seeing the stage and another kept spilling her drink in my shoes...

We sang along and took lots of pictures:

Is living in Denver, being out west, and hanging with Texans changing my music taste??

...we shall see...

xxo, S

Election Day

Since I am finally of voting age, I got to vote in my first election this year!

I registered in Colorado (not dear NY) and one of the designated voting areas was right in my residence hall! Perfect, since I'm kinda too lazy to GO anywhere to vote.

We just had little paper ballots and it was cool to fill them out. My friend and I went downstairs to vote together and got little stickers when we were done.

YAY FOR BEING AMERICAN!

xxo, S

∆Z New Member Formal

Thursday night was the Delta Zeta New Member Class Formal event. It was at the Denver Aquarium and we had a ton of fun!

My friends from my floor helped me get ready and my roommate did my hair... I'm such a girl, I love getting dressed up.

I brought a friend from my FSEM, and there were actually six of us from that one class! We went to get dinner beforehand, then took pictures at the ∆Z house. All members went (freshman through seniors) and most people brought dates so there were SO many people in our little living room.

Once we got to the aquarium, we got to go to the exhibit inside and see all the fish. There are some freaky-looking guys in there!

Ginger and I went around with our dates in the exhibit most of the time (because the DJ was kinda a little bad...) and mostly just giggled :)

We even found Nemo and his friends!

Hitting up the photobooth at the end:

The drive home took forever because of traffic but it was a really good night. Way more fun than I thought it would be.

∆Z initiation - which means I'll be a full-fledged member! - is next week!!

xxo, S

Halloween (belated)

My first Halloween... at college!
Oh, we made it last four whole nights. No big deal.

No tricks here, just lots of FUN!

Happy Halloween,

xxo, S