Twila posts again!

Sounds like things are going better now!

Much better!

The trip to Rome has been AMAZING since the first day. Today, we mostly had time to ourselves. We got up at the usual time and headed over to see some more churches. We've seen a lot of churches, but they're all churches I've seen in Art History so it is really amazing. Plus, it's like going to a museum, there is so much art in them!
Then we had time to ourselves. Some of us headed over to the Vatican Museum. There, we changed over money and I bought a rosary for a friend. Then, David and Jason and I decided to strike out on our own while John, Lina, Readi, and Fengwei went to the Sistine Chapel and Sam and Tiffany went to the St. Peter's for gifts. Unfortunately due to my wonderful coordination abilities, David, Jason, and I had to walk all the way around the Vatican. In the rain. I swear it looked like the shorter method, but let me tell you - it wasn't!!! -_-
Eventually we got out to the courtyard of St. Peter's where we were supposed to meet Sam and Tiffany, but they were no where to be seen. (Probably because we were so far off course that it took us longer than they cared to wait.) So we decided to head over to the Spanish Steps and get lunch.
The Spanish Steps was a bit of a disappointment. You couldn't see them very well from the angle at the bottom and since it was rainy they just seemed rather deary. However, we did end up finding most of our party again there.
We got to eat lunch, and then Jason, David and I did some shopping. I got Korey some gifts, and they got some leather items. This was in the high-end section of town, though, complete with Armani and the like, so everything was very pricey! I was content with my purchase, though I saw many pairs of expensive shoes I'd love to have!!! =)
It's interesting how much more expensive things are here. Before you purchase anything, you have to consider that you have to add half of your purchase price to the amount you're spending in order to get the American $$ amount. Therefore, when you see something for 30 euros, you have to remember it's actually $45. I wish the dollar wasn't so weak. =(
We also saw some more churches afterwards and the museum recently completed by Richard Myer in 2006. (He also did the new branch of the High Museum, but I thought this work was much better.)
So far this trip has really been an eye opening experience. There are so many things different. No only big things like the language and public transit system and the thousands of little Smart Cars, but little things like the toilets and the way you leave your key card in the hotel lobby and how wireless internet isn't free everywhere.
And let me tell you something, if you thought Georgian's were bad drivers.... well, you have another thing coming!!! I think Korey'd like to have a heart attack if he saw me cross the street like I do. (Not to mention my mother!!!)
Overall though you never really feel alone like I was afraid you would because we always have people here from the school. I worried it'd feel like another world with the language barrier. But really, you get by.
I just wish we had more time!!

Posted by Twila at 5:21:00 PM 0 comments Links to this post

Some Pix From The Family Archives

See the rest here.

Twila's first day in Rome!

Here is a post I swiped from the class blog about the trip:

Saturday, March 1, 2008

A miserable day....

The airport was a very easy experience, but from there, it only went down hill.

When we got to the hotel around nine, Jereme's laptop bag was stolen within the first fifteen minutes! The hotel representatives wouldn't believe us at first, although we all saw the known suspect, and it was their fault for having us place all our bags in an unsecured room.

Nine hours later....
We finally have an informal police report and a new hotel. The new hotel is nicer and seems safer, but more people have to share a room together. We get to dinner, which is yummy, and then some of us inquire about making phone calls because we all have people wanting to hear from us back home.

Now, you might ask why we didn't make phone calls in the nine hours we spent hanging out in the first hotel's lobby. Well, it always seemed that any minute things were going to resolve themselves. No one wanted to wander too far from the hotel in case we had a solution. We didn't know it would be nine hours in the making.

Anyway, we go off to see some monuments after dinner. There was much to be fascinated by, and the old Roman monuments are marvelous when you think of how long ago they were made - in some cases over 2,000 years ago!!

We all started to get tired around midnight and started to head back. (Luckily, most of us got to take naps in the hotel lobby, although this is discouraged as a means of getting over jet lag and it is instead recommended to be in bed by nine.) At this point, it became obvious to me that the likelihood of me getting to call home was dropping by the second. My feet hurt like hell, and I'm going to admit it because everyone knows it anyway, I was crying almost the whole 30 minutes it took to get back to the hotel. I never thought I could possibly be so homesick, but every minute was like a stab in the heart. All I could do was think about what time it was back home and how worried Korey must be that I hadn't called him.

We finally realized phone calls would be impossible after getting back to the hotel and heading to Termini Station - the central hub of the train system.

Luckily I got to send Korey an e-mail, but it wasn't very satisfying. =(

Overall, today has been an overwhelming mix of emotions. Fear, confusion, anger, frustration, awe, sympathy, and excitement have all had their place. Hopefully, though, tomorrow will be better for me. I'll get to call Korey, alleviate some of my homesickness, and be able to get on to enjoying Rome. For now, I hope to get some sleep and that something gets settled with Jereme. =/ Even through my own issues, I feel worst for him.

Posted by Twila at 8:45:00 PM

Info on Italy

Itinerary

I'm only going to highlight some of the big things since the one the teacher gave us is like ten pages long. =)

Saturday -
OF COURSE we'll be eating wonderful Italian food... But in edition, we'll have an introductory walk around the sites close to our hotel which include: Francesco de Sanctis' Spanish Steps, the Pantheon, and the Colosseum (which requires a ticket to get inside, unfortunately). In addition, we'll look at the Arch of Septimius Severus, Temples of Vespasian, Saturn, Julius Caesar, Castor and Pollux, Vesta, Romulus, etc. (There are a lot of temples.) We'll see the Column of Trajan, House of the Vestal Virgins, and a small museum dedicated to the Forum. We'll end it after dinner with the most famous fountain in Rome: The Trevi. You're supposed to drop a coin in it to insure that you will be back.

Sunday -
We'll see a lot of churches. (Many of them are only open for visitors on Sunday.) We'll see St. Peter's Basilica, the Palazzo di Guistizia, the Tiber River, the Ara Pacis (Peace Alter), some more churches, where the 1960 Olympics were held, and then we'll be allowed to explore the city independently after dinner. =)

Monday -
Of course, there are some more churches, but we're also going to see some catacombs!!! (Creepy!) Then we'll rent bikes and ride along the Via Appia Antico complete with tombs, ruins, and collective burials. O_O We'll see some gardens (yay!) and some more churches. (My professor is an architecture major so I think he mentioned EVERYthing we'd pass, heehee.) We'll also view some sights on the largest and highest of Rome's seven hills, the Esquiline.

Tuesday -
Two things are really exciting to me about today. We'll see the Ecstasy of St. Teresa by Bernini and the Villa Gregorina - "a very special, quiet descending wooded park, waterfall, and grottoes." I'm all about city-gardens. In addition, we'll see the Baths of Diocletian.

Wednesday -
First stop is an Early Christian mausoleum and Michelangelo's Ponte Pia. In addition, the Museo Borghese (more gardens!), the Etruscan collection in the Villa Giulia, and then SHOPPING before lunch! =) We'll visit some museums, an old Jewish ghetto (now a very desirable neighborhood), some antique shops and a flower market, and finally a concern at the Auditorium Parco della Musica.

Thursday -
We have a tentatively planned private tour of Termini Station. We'll also try to go to the Lido, or Rome's beach. (Fun! Although I probably won't be swimming, I do love beaches. It will be funny to see the Atlantic Ocean from the OTHER side...) In addition, we'll see the Baths of Caracalla.

Friday -
We'll go to Florence!!! I'm going to try to see their gardens in the Palazzo Pitti. They're said to be some of the best in the world. I'll also try to see a lot of Michelangelo, such as the David. (Cliche, but if you're going to see something, it'd probably best be that!) We'll have a special dinner celebration as it will be our last together. =(

Saturday -
We'll be home.

Final Note
I'll try to drop a line in at night and a photo or two if all goes as planned. =)
Just wanted everyone to know a bit of what I'll be seeing/doing. (But of course, I won't tell you how many times I've stuffed my face full of gelato!!!
It should be great. =)

TEACH FOR AMERICA

I made it to the next round! Phone interviews!!! Mine is on Wednesday. I am EXCITED!!!


Love from,
Kacie

Flight of the Bumblebee

Emma Ain't The ONLY One With a New Haircut!

Here's what we looked like** before I told George to do his chores*:



Here's what we looked like after I told George to do his chores:



Here's what George looked like after he did his chores:



* He loaded the dishwasher...
** Photos by Zonky

Reminded me of Mike...

Since you guys don't have the wonderful priviledge of watching commericals, I thought I'd post this one which immediately reminded me of Mike. =)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UHKB6nQrzM

(I don't know how to make the videos appear all fancy, but I have a feeling it has to do with being a YouTube member, and I really don't want a YouTube account. So, sorry.)
P.S. - I'm not endorsing Bud Light, it's pretty nasty, but it's still a funny commercial.

Hey Jude

hello!

how's everybody today? miss you all!

Members Only

I changed the blog so that only members can post comments. It's really the only way to keep spammers out.

So, if you are a legitimate friend or relative and you want to be able to post comments, and you are not already a blog member, just let DaddyMike or me know and we'll add you to the list.

One More Of Emma

Guess who?

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Happy day of love, everyone.
Do you know who your valentines are??

Here are mine:









am I forgetting someone???



CHOPPY!!!!!!



hope everyone has a day full of love and happiness.

New Disney Post

Hey I just wanted to let everyone know I posted a new post on my Disney blog! This one has pictures! Go check it out and feel free to comment!
Love and Miss you all!
<3Cheyenne

I'll talk about my life!

Hi Everyone.
Since Dad just pointed out that no one has posted, I decided to.

This weekend was fun. David and I came home for a bit of a visit. We walked Choppy, and I caught on camera David doing this:



Hahaha!

Anyway, last night I finished and submitted my application to Teach for America. Next comes the phone interview...if I make it. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

David and Adam and I are SUPER EXCITED for our Disney World trip coming up in less than a month. Thank you Connie so much for those links. I am having waaaay to much fun planning our three day vacay. :D

School is going well. I have been feeling a lot better aftermy stint with mono. I have been busting my butt at the gym 6 days a week!! I want to be hawt by the time we go to Puerto Rico!!!

Finally, happy almost Valentines Day! To save money, I am making David's gift. I don't think we are gonna go out. Instead, we are gonna stay in and watch the Valentine's Day Episode of Futurama, which is fine with me. That's just as romantic to me. Not to mention, its gonna be crazy crowded everywhere.

Anyway, I miss everyone!! Can't wait to see you guys again soon!

Love from,
Kacie

Fill 'er Up!

I guess nothing's going on in anyone's lives these days...

This has been bothering me....

300th post!!!!!!



(in other news... everything is fine with me. in a month I'll be in Italy!!!)

My Disney Blog

So I made a new blog that I am going to try and keep up with while I am down in Disney. I want all of you to be members of it so you can comment (I set it to only members of my blog can comment so random people dont) but I need all of your emails to invite you!...unless your not interested. If you are please leave me your email so I can invite you!
Thanks!
<3Cheyenne
By the way, heres the address: http://cheyennesdisneycpexperience.blogspot.com/

Free ringtones, wallpaper etc

Sorry I've been neglecting the blog lately! I've been busy with my new job etc and now that Veronica is here there is a lot of shopping to be done and that takes time!!! ;-)

Anyway, here is a site where you can text message ringtones and wallpaper to your cell phone, most of them for free. You can also upload pics & mp3s from your pc too. Pretty cool!

A Tale of Two Sisters

It was a dark and snowy morning. Veronica and Cheyenne were in reasonably good spirits, and I remembered my Christmas present.

A few minutes later...

From Last Summer

Yabba Dabba Doo!

For Kacie, Emma, Cheyenne and George...

The Monkey and the Dog

3/4 Time

Starting in March, I'm going "3/4" time. The bad news is I'll be making less money.

The good news is that I'LL BE HOME AT LEAST ONE WEEK PER MONTH, and I won't have to work that week.

Yay for me!

Sinse no one has updated in a while....

I thought I would!

Well I guess I should start off with school related stuff....well I'm not there! Yay me! Haha! But I am actually quite bored so that sux, but whatever! So to everyone that does have class and such, have a great semester!

Secondly, I am so STOKED for Disney!! I leave in 19 Days and those 19 days cannot go by fast enough! I'm so ready! I will definitely keep you all posted about Disney when I do get down there, but I am going to warn you, it might get annoying with me talking so much about Disney! haha! anyhow...speaking of Disney, I thought I'd tell you when the Block-Out Dates:

2008 Block-Out Dates
Date: 01/01/2008

* Magic Kingdom: February 16 – 17, March 14 – 28, July 3 – August 1, November 27 – 29, December 24 - 31, 2008

* Epcot: March 18 – 25, December 24 - 31, 2008

* DIsney's Hollywood Studios: March 18 – 19, 24 - 26, July 3 – 5, November 10, 28 – 29, December 26 - 31, 2008

* Animal Kingdom: February 17 – 18, March 17 – 27, November 28, December 26 - 30, 2008

These are times when I cannot get you in!

Anyway, I guess thats it! Talk to you all soon!
Oh and someone needs to change the poll!! haha]
<3Cheyenne

Back by Popular Demand --- with a twist!

As many of you will recall, we didn't have Christmas stockings last year. I know it was an unpopular decision, but I felt it was justified, as I was spending a rather substantial sum of cash on stuff that no one really seemed to want, at least not past the first few minutes of thinking "hey, what's this!?" More than once I've found stashes of unopened stocking gifts 6 months or a year or two years later, which was a demotivating factor overall for me.

But this year, someone --- and I really can't remember who --- came up with a great idea. So it is with great pleasure that I announce the return of the Christmas Stocking, with a bit of a twist!

The twist is that, instead of me trying to find and buy stocking stuffers for everyone, each kid will buy a stocking stuffer, one for each stocking of course. You don't have to buy one for yourself if you want to save money, but the idea is to buy something you yourself would want, presumably, and it's not supposed to be expensive. In fact, shopping at the Dollar Store is certainly acceptable.

You can buy the same thing for everyone, or something different for everyone, as long as you spend the same amount for each gift.

The stockings are hung by the chimney with care at this moment. Feel free to put your items in whenever you want --- you don't have to wait till christmas --- but no peeking!

Note to Twila: Since you are out of town and this is short notice, I realize you might not have time to shop for this. Let me know if you see this post, and if you think you'll have time to find something. If you can't, I'll do it for you. If I don't hear from you I'll assume you didn't see the post...

Mike's Wish List

OK. I know this is late, but Kacie requested it, so here goes.

A wall calendar or a desk calendar with a theme that I'd like.

Whole bean coffee. Mild or medium roast. Not flavored.

"Letter to a Christian Nation" by Sam Harris.

Eric Clapton's Crossroads 2007 Chicago 2 DVD set.

Frie Brothers Cabernet Sauvignon or Beringer Knight's Valley Cabernet Sauvignon or Coppola Claret.

Black Leather Gloves.

Grandma's Flowers

This is Twila writing for Grandma so that she can get her flowers posted. They are very pretty! (Even Twila is having a hard time uploading photos, so you're only getting one! ;_;)

Sad Christmas Songs

Saddest Christmas Song Ever!
Which is the saddest Christmas song?

I'll be Home for Christmas 28.6% 2
River 28.6%2
Blue Christmas 14.3% 1
Happy Xmas (War is Over) 14.3% 1
Same Old Lang Syne 14.3% 1
The Christmas Song 0% 0
Other (Post in comments) 0% 0

total votes: 7

When in Rome...

I thought I'd make it official because my passport came in and it looks like the class is going to make, so, here goes:
I am going to Italy next semester!
Probably by now you all know about it, but mum asked if I was going to post, so I am.
It's only for a week, but that makes it affordable, and it will make me feel a bit validated for taking Latin in high school. =)
So it will be off to good food, annoying classmates, and an incredibly scary flight! (Yeah, btw, I'm secretly pretty terrified of flight, and over the ocean seems just a tad intimidating for me.)
But this, to me, is a must:

my music blog

Hey folks.
I had to put together a music blog for my review writing class, and I wanted to share it with you. I was on a team of four, and had to incorperate other class mates reviews, but I did the all the posting and putting together, and I plan on continuing to write on it. Its more like a web page than a blog right now, but oh well. Take a look!!!!
Love,
Kacie


UGrooveMusic

The Boyfriends

The boyfriends in the family had something they wanted to say about Christmas this year. To see their message CLICK HERE

<3

Bambi and Thumper

More here.

My wish list!

I posted a wish list at Amazon too! It's under my gmail account. Or you can probably just search on my name... anyway, there's some $$$ and some not so $ on there, including a few that would be good for Secret Santa....

Twila's Holiday Itinerary

It's pretty awful that I'm finally done with school and yet I still have SO MUCH to do!
But, I wanted to let everyone (esp. Mom, Mike, Grandma, & Grandpa) know what's going on with me this Christmas.
I will be out of town from the 18th to the 24th. I will definitely be home the night of the 24th so that I will be there for Christmas morning. I'm not sure currently how late I will be home, but I will be home. I simply can't make that decision right now because I'm not working with all the facts.
Because Korey already had plane tickets, when I went to go get them, I couldn't get the same departure flight (on the 19th) as he could. (Well, I could, for $230 and that wasn't acceptable to either of us.) His flight was really late and I could only get a really early flight. There was literally like 13 hours between our flights. So I was going to rent a car and go visit Grandma and Grandpa (or take a flight that had a 7 hour lay over in Florida - woohoo! - but Korey didn't like that idea.)
I called and talked to Grandma and instead we decided that I would just go up a day early and spend the night with them. Therefore, here is my flight information:

December 18, 2007, Flight 204 [Non-Stop]
Departing Atlanta, GA (ATL) at 8:00 AM
Arriving Akron/Canton, OH (CAK) at 9:35 AM

December 24, 2007, Flight 202 [Non-Stop]
Departing Akron/Canton, OH (CAK) at 12:20 PM
Arriving Atlanta, GA (ATL) at 2:00 PM

Anyway, I just wanted to let you know what was happening with me and let Grandma and Grandpa know what time my flight came in.
Know I'm off to deal with housing so I can get my grades! (Just so you know, mum, I might have to bring you in as the calvary, this is the same issue I've been dealing with for almost 5 months now.)

New Poll

The new poll is "Which is the saddest Christmas Song?"

I'm not sure if everyone would know all of them. So I posted links to the lyrics. If you still don't remember them, try to listen to each at least once before voting! If you have another song you want to nominate, post it in the comments.

"Blue Christmas" sung by by Elvis Presley (lyrics)--- How could Christmas be anything but blue, without you?

"The Christmas Song" sung by Nat King Cole (lyrics) --- I'm not exactly sure why I think this song is sad. The lyrics aren't all that sad. But I'm not the only one. I read that it was recorded during WWII, thus the inherent sadness, as the boys were all far away... (Some tofu and some mistletoe? take a good look at those lyrics...)

"Happy Xmas (War is Over)" by John Lennon/Yoko Ono (lyrics)--- okay, it would be better if Yoko weren't singing, but it's still pretty sad. "The world is all wrong."

"Same Old Lang Syne" by Dan Fogelberg (lyrics) --- pretty schlocky if you just read the lyrics, but his delivery is still touching. You have to hear him sing it.

"I'll Be Home for Christmas" (lyrics) sung by Bing Crosby
Classic, and sad. Probably gets my vote. "If only in my dreams"...

"River" by Joni Mitchell (lyrics) --- Poor dysfunctional Joni. She really messed up --- again. If you haven't heard this recently, you MUST listen again...

So, don't be too cheery. Even though it's Christmas, it's not all lights and candy!!!! ;-)

UPDATE: I realized that the Nat King Cole song that I think is sad is NOT "The Christmas Song", but rather "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" (lyrics). Not sure how I could have mixed them up, but probably when I searched on Nat King Cole christmas songs "The Christmas Song" came up first....

Modern Day Poll

I was a little surprised; I thought more of you would say "cell phone"...

Modern Living Which would be hardest to live without?
Internet Access	71.4%	5
Television	14.3%	1
Your Cell Phone	14.3%	1
total votes: 7

Food Photos

I don't know if anyone else is as stressed out about finals as I am right now, but I stumbled upon something funny that I thought I would share. You know, laughter is a very good way to de-stress. Unless you are in the "no talking" section of the library (like I am). You will just have to think "LOL" to yourself.

Here is the link to more pictures (entirely made of food) like the one below ---> CLICK ME!

DADDY

Hey Dad,

Just to let you know, I have not been ignoring your efforts to contact me. Its just that I, unfortuantely, have the memory of a fish. Therefore, I forget to respond to your calls and text messages at convenient times.
No worries though: here I am. :]



As for my secret santa ordeal type thing.
You are completely S.O.L.
"Why?" you may ask.
Because I haven't the slightest idea of what I could possibly ask for.

And for anyone else who was planning on being a pally and contributing to the Christmas Spirit and my happiness as well; all I ask for is money.
Yes, money.
We're going for a two-fer...
"Why?" you may ask.
No, it is not because I'm greedy or a Scrooge.
It is because I am poor and need the money in order the embark on the chorus trips occurring next semester.
It costs just short of one G.
After my car crash, it seems I'm short of cash.
Fortunately, I can rhyme.
So as you can see, I need the money.
So be a honey, and make my Christmas filled with glee.
I just might dance around the Christmas tree.

You get the picture.


P.S. I'll try to remember to not forget to check back soon to read your oh-so-special responses.

PS2 Emulators??

I guess I am making a stretch here but...

Does anyone know how to install a PS2 Emulator on a computer?
I have a game that I want to play and Ethan and I couldn't get the Emulator we found to work (and Ethan has installed PS1 emulators before). I've read that to get a PS2 emulator to work you have to know how to program.

Twi, I thought maybe Korey would know, since he is a programmer. If so, do you think he would help me do it?

Thanks!
Em

Mom: New Poll Please!!! you should make it something about funniest christmas memory or something...

Second Bi-Annual Christmas Eve Eve Dinner

Hello all. DaddyMike here, phoning it in from beautiful downtown Ottawa, CA. I love it here. It is a clean, peaceful city. There is snow on the ground, and it is pretty cold out there. I went for a short walk after I got settled in the room, just to get my bearings and see what restaurants and shops were within walking distance. The cold weather was a nice change, but my face started to get frost-bitten. Luckily I stumbled upon a Starbucks and bought a Decaf Americano. That did the trick.

Anyway.

Sunday, Dec. 23rd is going to be our second bi-annual Christmas Eve Eve Buffet Dinner. Bf's and Sid and Julie are all invited. I'm hopeful that this is enough notice for everyone to get off of work and juggle their busy holiday schedules so we can all be together at least once for the holidays.

Maybe Uncle Sid will bring his new guitar...

(To whom it may concern: We know that picture was not taken at our house. The nutcracker is definitely not invited.)

Blame Canada

I leave for Ottawa, Canada on Sunday morning. I won't have access to my cell-phone and will likely have limited access to the internet until Wednesday night. My emergency contact will be ConnieMom.

I love you all and look forward to the days when I have a job that keeps me home.

my birthday

Hi everyone!!
Thanks for the bday wishes. I had a good one. David gaveme an adorable stuffed monkey for my present. We went to chili's for dinner and I had a delicous Grand Sunrise Margerita (it cost more than my meal!!!!!) and Texas Cheese Fries and Chocolate Lava Cake. Adam, Mary, David, Shrooms, Amelia, Sarah and my roomie Kristy all came. After dinner we went out (to a bar!) and everyone (cept me) had drinks on my behalf. It was a lot of fun!!!



There's me and my roomie!!!




And me and David. I had a lot of fun but I am super tired today since we were out pretty late. I can't wait for Xmas break!!!

I miss everyone.
Love,
Kacie

My Secular Holiday Gift Wish List

Here is my Google Wish List

I also have one on Amazon under on_with_stella@hotmail.com A lot of the stuff is the same, but there is some other stuff on there too.

Also, a gift to a spa to get a facial and/or massage.

It's KC's 21st!

Happy Birthday to Kacie!!!

WOOO!

On the day KC was born the No. 1 song on the US charts was Bon Jovi's "You Give Love a Bad Name."

You can find out what was number 1 on any day from this website.

Everyone is getting so old.

Em's X-mas List

Here is a link to my google wish list. Those are the main things I'd like.

I would also love

-a gift certificated to EyesLipsFace.com. Here is the gift certificate order form. This is a site that sells cruelty free make-up.

-a pair of these socks, size large.

You can also check out my amazon list by searching my gmail email address (mcconnell.emma) but the things I want most from that list are super expensive and I don't expect to actually get for christmas.

And for my secret santa person, I posted a cook book I wanted that is in the price range on Elfster. But if you have other ideas on what to get me, that's fine.

OK. Thank you!

My Christmas Desires

Hey guys! Just a quick post between a TON of homework...
For the 'rents my Amazon wishlist is tied to my tmcconne [at] spsu [dot] edu account. There's one specifically for Christmas. Please use that one. Not much on it, but what is on it I /really/ want. (P.S. There's only one rather expensive item on it but it's something that will get a lot of use and is the most economical. I badly want it. And it's the only one I want. I'd rather not get it at all then get a down-graded version.)
For my Secret Santa:
+ a cute black purse with enough room for a large checkbook wallet
+ some funky cocktail/margarita glasses
+ cute socks (I always like cute socks!)
+ 8 & 1/2 by 11 sketch pads
+ One of those positionable dolls with joints which you use for drawing the human body (can't think of what it's called right now), preferably at least a 12 inches tall
+ gift card to Kohl's, Forever 21, Borders, Amazon, Micheal's or anywhere you think I might like
That's all I can think of right now. O_o Thought I'd do better than that. But I hope it helps!
Sankyuu! =^. .^=

My Wish List

Hey guys. I just thought I would tell you all what I want for Christmas. I'm pretty sure that I'm making it very easy on you guys.
1. Gift Cards for Kohl's-I need nice clothes for Disney-Publix-There are Publixes in Orlando and I'm going to need to live!-and Target or Walmart! Or just money would work.
2. Anything Disney! Tote bag, Stuffed animals, clothes, anything! I love all Disney but I would be especially happy with items that have Belle, Ariel, Giselle (the newest Disney princess), or Mickey!
3. Anything Harry Potter!!
4. CDs! I want the Enchanted Soundtrack, Across the Universe Soundtrack, but I want the special edition. I don't know when that one comesout/if its out so, yeah. I also want the new Avril Lavigne cd.
5. Pajamas and cute socks!
6. Anthing thats on my amazon wish list. The email I use for that is violetc731@yahoo.com so you can search for my list like that.

I hope this helps!
Love you guys!
Cheyenne

Christmas Lists

I know you've all heard Christmas might be a little slim this year, but that doesn't mean we aren't doing any presents. We need to know what you guys want.

You can create a "froogle google" shopping list here. Then you can browse the 'net for stuff that you want and add it to your "shopping list." Once you are done you just tell us which email address you used and we can review your list.

Where are the Recipes & Travel Schedule????

By the way, I am still trying to get FTP access to the Bellsouth server so that I can upload our recipes and a calendar. I'm pretty mad that it won't work! They have an ftp server, and all I have to do is upload my pages to it, but I can't log in. When I call Bellsouth, they say "Yep, that's the right user name and password. Don't know why you can't log in..." ARGGHHHH!!

UPDATE: I was finally able to log in tonight! I got the Recipes back up; still working on the travel schedule. I might just replace it with a Google Calendar....

UPDATE 2: I linked to Google Calendar now for Mike's travel schedule & other stuff. For those of you with gmail --- if you have a Google Calendar account, I can send you an invitation to the calendar so that you can edit it too....

Poll results

Another Vacation Poll

Since Cheyenne will be at Disney in the spring, should we reconsider Disney as our vacation destination?

Yes, definitely. 62.5% 5
Not my first choice,
but it sounds like fun 37.5% 3
I was afraid that might happen! 0% 0

total votes: 8

Well, that's good to know.

By the way, we really aren't very close to making up our minds yet...

Thanksgiving Eve

We are planning an informal evening. Most likely we will be having Chicken with Spaghetti, but if everyone is coming we might do Mellow Mushroom Pizzas. After dinner I'm going put on a seldom seen animated film from 1971 called "The Point." I saw it once when it originally aired - I was 14 and I loved it. I have no idea if it's aged well or not, but either way it will be fun. Boyfriends are invited but we need a headcount as soon as possible so RSVP in comments. We might have to move the extra couch into the TV room if we have a good turnout!

(The Video is a synopsis of the entire movie - so you might just want to watch the first minute or so - wouldn't want to spoil the ending.)

Me and My Mono

Hi fam.
Well guess what? I have mono. I feel like crap. I've had to quite my job for the rest of the semester, cancel my bday party, and basiclaly live like a troll for the rest of the semester. I am super bummed since my 21st is coming up and I was really looking foward to going downtown with my girlfriends (which is now out of the question since consuming alcohol could cause my enlarged spleen and/or liver rupture) and having the party I have been planning since like, April. Oh well. Maybe I am cursed.

Anyway, when I am back in town, take care not to kiss/eat after/drink after me, lest you want to suffer this lovely afflication.

Miss everyone, can't wait for a nice, easy Thanksgiving.

Love from,
Kacie

Emma's News

Hey Family,

Everyone probably already found out through Facebook, but Ethan and I are going out again. Woo!
I deactivated my account on Facebook when Ethan and I were breaking up, incase anyone was worried I had defriended them. I didn't!

Besides that there isn't much excitement. Getting some good grades and some bad grades...looking forward to being out of this torture that some call "college." Hah!

Cheyenne -- how is Annie liking Tech? More than me I hope.

I was home for a little while on Saturday and I saw Veronica. She is selling 100% soy candles to raise money for chorus. Everyone should buy one! Mike totally copycatted me and chose the Fresh Rain scent after I chose it.

I guess that is all I have for now!
Miss you all and hope to see you on Thanksgiving!

Poll

Halloween Poll Should George be allowed to attend a concert at the Masquerade in Atlanta on Halloween Night?
No way.	62.5%	5
I would have been punished just for asking!	25%	2
Sure. Why not?	12.5%	1
total votes: 8

I would really like to know who voted YES to this one!!!!! Maybe Grandma???

My McGill Symposium

Hi Family.
Daddy wanted me to make a post about my McGill Symposium that happened on Wednesday, so I finally obliged.

The Symposium is an extension of the McGill lecture series, that invited top editors from around the nation to lecture Grady students every year. This year, they decided to gather a group of 5 professors and have them pick 12 (10 undergrad, 2 grad) students they thought were some of the highest acheiving students in Grady College. I was, somehow, one of them. What we did all day was had round-table dicussions with 6 visiting journalists on 4 different topics that all related to what is journalistic courage. It was really interesting and riveting conversations.

The first pair were from a newspaper in Idaho that uncovered a child molester in the boyscouts, even though the boyscouts, the Mormon church, and the court all covered it up, and he was still working in teh boyscouts. Everyone was trashing the poor reporter, who turned out to be gay. They outed him publiclly, his life partner got fired from his job, and there were threats on his and his editors life....all because he was trying to stop a child molester!!!

The second talk was from a really cool woman named Moni Basu, whose been imbedded in Iraq 6 different times. She is orginally from India, so both being a woman and being Indian worked against (and sometimes for) her when over there. She was really interesting and a very strong journalist, and a strong woman at that. I really enjoyed her talk. She was my favorite of the day.

The next one could have been cool, but our speaker was a little clueless. He was supposed to talk with us about Ethnic Press, but he just sort of gave us a history of Black Journalism in America, whcih most of us are pretty familar with anyway. He didn't give many chances to talk, though I did manage to get in a question about what he thinks we should do about minority writers who are in the mainstream press, and the mainstream press only wants "moderate" writers of color, in order to appeal to a white audience. I asked what he thinks should be done about that. He sort of waffled and said the we need a wide range of everyone in all facets(?).

The final pair were two medical journalists; one was Harriet Washington, the author of a book called Medical Aparthied, which is a history of medical experimentation on black people in America. The other was this woman named Margie Mason, who covers all of the medical beat in Asia for the AP. Both really acomplished, really interesting.

It was this talk, however, when I got into it with Margie, and I am proud to say that I was the only student that day to piss off and actually debate with one of the jouranlists. She said something that really stuck in my craw: she was talking about emotions when you are witnessing horrfic scenes (like the Tsunami, AIDS, ect.) and how she has to "work twice as hard as a man" to hide them because if you show emotion when you are a woman, you are looked down upon and so on. Now, I thought a lot of the stories we had read by her had a pretty humanitarian angle, so it obvious she hasn't completely shut down her emotions, so I asked her how she thought that was effective, and what does she think would happen (to her writing) if she more embraced her emotions. She got a little flustered and asked me to clarify. I just said if she was aware of them more and wasn't ashamed of them, or hid them b/c she was a little woman. And she kept asking me "Do you think I should cry on the field? Is that what you think?" and I said I didn't think that was professional; and rather, dealing with your emotions was a professionalism thing, not a WOMAN thing. Of course, crazy feminist that I am, it just had to come out at some point.

I thought I made an ass of myself, and I felt bad that she got upset, but my teacher who was there, Dr. Boyd, the one whose class I am always making a stink in, cornered me later and said that she was really proud of me for calling Margie out and pointing out that flaw in her method. And then in class the next day, she had to tell the whole class about it (three of the people from the Symposium were in that class, so they were sort of egging her on) and it was pretty embarassing.

I did a lot of networking at the reception, talking to people from the AJC and other places. The edior from the Idaho Newspaper ate lunch at my small table, and he was really helpful too. Hopefully, this will help me get further in my career, as well as it was a great learning experience. I am really glad I did it.

Aside from that, everything seems well. My mono-like virus has flared up again. I might go back to the healthcenter on Monday. My swollen lymph nodes are bugging the heck outta me.

And I turn 21 in 18 days. I am so exctied. But I will be home for Thanksgiving before that!

Love you guys,
Kacie

Mitch On Letterman

Homesick, Again

I'm stuck in Texas this week - Houston Mon-Wed morning then off to Dallas til Friday. Back in Houston next week.

I miss each of you.

Post in the comment section what you are up to this week...

What's going on...

I hope everyone remembered to set their clocks back last night!

George and Veronica have Monday and Tuesday off. Must be nice!

Cheyenne came over this weekend. We were going to take her to breakfast at the new Flying Biscuit on Johnson Ferry, but it was wayyyyy too crowded. Probably with the extra hour, everyone felt like they had time for breakfast. So we went to Bagelicious instead. Of course, George complained bitterly about that!

Speaking of new places around here, the new Super Target is now open. After waiting for soooo long, I have to say, it's lame! It has no deli section, no bakery, and no produce! So it's not very "super". It has an underground parking lot, and this strange contraption that I guess you put your shopping cart on to get it down the the lower levels of the parking garage.

We went out to eat with Twila and Korey on Saturday night and we had a good time. They were on their way to Blue Ridge to visit Korey's family after that.

Mike is in Houston for the first part of the week. He's not too happy about having to go back out of town again! Fortunately Thanksgiving is coming soon so he'll have a little time at home.

Kacie was over last weekend. I drove her back to Athens on Sunday so I had lunch with her and Adam at the new Mellow Mushroom there. I guess her McGill reading must be coming up this week...let us know how it goes!

Emma was supposed to come by this weekend but she didn't quite make it. She's really loving her physics class this semester --- not! she has a test on Tuesday so wish her luck!

I expect to see Veronica on Wednesday if she's not too busy...

And just for fun, here is a link to a page of fun optical illusions...

Happy Halloween!!

Did you do anything special for Halloween? We want to hear!

And check out the new poll!!

I'm Going to DISNEY WORLD!!!!!

Heyy all!
I recently tol you guys that I was accepted into the Disney College Program and told you I'd let you know if I decided to go. Well I have decided to go! My arrival date is January 28 and I will be there for about 7 months! My departure date is August 15! 5 days before fall classes start here! Looks like no summer break for me, or family vacation. Too bad I really don't care! I'm going to be in Disney World!! I will have a two month Winter Break though-Most of December and most of January!. That's a plus!! Well, I am so stoked!! I'll be expecting you all to come and visit, but I'm sure won't be complaing! I guess I'll talk to you later!
<3Cheyenne

we are back!!!!!!!!!!!!

FINALLY we are back on the internet. I had to switch to Bellsouth FastAccess; Earthlink could not get the problem resolved. The technician from Earthlink even told me "If I can't get this fixed you'll have to cancel your service"!!!

I got my setup package from Bellsouth today and as soon as I entered the new user name and password we were back in business.

For anyone who was using an Earthlink email address, it will be deactivated because I canceled the Earthlink service. If you want a Bellsouth email address, let me know and I'll get you one.

Also, our Bellsouth service includes wireless access at AT&T hotspots all over the place. I'll check into how it works and let you college kids know if you can use it too.

YAY!!!!!!!!! it was a very tough 10 days!!!!!

Guess What!!!!

Guess what, guess what, guess what, guess what!!!!
Cheyenne, thats me!, got accpeted to the Disney College Program!!!! Yippee!!
I am going to talk to Jan Flynn tomorrow and see what she says. I'm most likely going to take it but I want to see what her advice is first. I'll post tomorrow after I talk to her and let you know!
Love you,
Cheyenne

Kacie is, in fact, still alive

Hey family. Sorry I have been out of touch as of late. I have been pretty busy with midterms and papers and crap, topped off with a nice dash of all-out senioritis.

The good news is that I have that McGill Fellows thing coming up--apparently I have to give a speech on "Why I have Journalistic Courage." I'm still a little unsure as to how I got into this, conisdering the only thing I try to bring down is the white male patriarchy in Dr. Boyd's class....but whatever. The bad news is, it's a closed ceremony thing, which means parents can't come...so yeah. If I invited you guys, don't worry about it, because you can't come anymore!!! :(

In other news, I made my debute in the Red and Black............I was featured in a story about tattoos today. You can see the story here.


I'm allllll the way at the bottom. And my tattoos are nowhere near is cool as these others. But oh well, it's still pretty cool.

I'll be home for fall break on Wednesday. I was planning on coming over for friday....and maybe someone at that house could bring me back to athens....prefreabrly Saturday morning/afternoon?

Love you guys,
Kacie

Unorganized!

Hey family!
I know that most of you have heard of me complain that this campus is filled with Christians! And it's really annoying, as you all could have guessed. Well, other people were annoyed by it too so they decided to start a group for non-Christian, and I decided to go to the first meeting last night. It was pretty cool. I was pretty excited because I finally didn't feel alone in my views! I mean there we athiests, agnostics, pegans!, and others that just didn't know what to call themselves. They believed in nature and love and just being good people! There was one Christian, but he said himself that he thinks that there are very few "real Christians" left in the world. He talked about how real Christians don't judge others and are accepting of people who are different. It was pretty cool. I am afraid that I might not be able to stay with this group though. The Bridge Program, starting next Monday, is requiring us to do these stupid things every Monday at 7! I already told the lady that I would be late because I have class until 6:45, but the Meetings last until about 7:30! Any suggestions on what I could do? She already told me we "had to come to ALL of them," becuase I already asked! Maybe go to the meetings and just be really late to the Bridge things? I don't know...
Well I guess that's it. I just wanted to share my excitement.
Love you guys!
Cheyenne

What's been going on

Well, the weather is getting cooler now, and I know most of us are happy for that! We've had to run the furnace for the first time this season. But still no rain.

We got to see Cheyenne and Veronica for a little bit this weekend. Veronica got her hair cut and then we went to lunch at Cazadores on Saturday.

Mike is in NY for a two day class. He will be back late Tuesday night.

Kacie had a good time at the Foo Fighters concert. Maybe it had something to do with meeting Dave Grohl?? I hope she got an "A" on her review!

George had his last driver's ed class on Saturday. That's the last of six kids to put through the course --- whew. He still has the driving portion to go, however. How mad will you girls be when you find out that I bought him lunch at Wendy's and delivered it to him during lunch time at driver's training so he wouldn't be hungry??!!

Last week was "fall break" for Emma. Her dad came down for a visit, too. They had a great dinner at Twi's and then she brought him to visit George on Sunday. Also this week, they were out of hot water at Emma's apartment for a day or two, but it's back on now. That's inconvenient!

Veronica's football team is STILL undefeated! The AJC ranks them No 1 in the class AAAAA rankings. They haven't been at the top of the AJC Rankings since 1959; also North Cobb is the first Cobb County team to be ranked No. 1 in any classification since 1998. That sure makes going to the football games fun, doesn't it?

Twi has a big event around the corner... just a few days away from the BIG 21; now that's hard to believe! I think she said she's having dinner with friends for her birthday; I don't currently have anything planned for now. But that could change! Also, rumor has it she will be participating in NaNoWriMo in November; now that's a contest tailor made for Twila --- if there is anyone who could write 50,000 words in one month, its her!

Cheyenne will hear in a couple of weeks about the Disney internship. The nice thing is, if she doesn't get it, she can always try again next year. We think she has a pretty good chance.

Me, besides conserving trees (see my last post) I'm also working on conserving water! By some reports, there are only 3 months of water left. So, we're taking shorter showers, combining laundry loads, cutting back on dishwashing, etc. It's a bit concerning when you see those pictures of Lake Lanier:

Catalog Choice is a service that helps you to stop unwanted catalogs from being delivered to your home. With Christmas season coming, the catalogs will be bombarding our house, and I'm going to use this service to stop every single one of them. So help save some trees and spread the word! I know you kids in college probably don't get catalogs, but if you know someone who does and doesn't like it, let them know.

Disney College Program

Hey Family
How are you all doing? I'm doing just fine at the moment. As everybody probably knows, I really want to work for Disney and do the College Program. Well, I just might. I have an interview tomorrow for the Spring Advantage session (January-late July/Early August). I'm not expecting an offer this time around, however I am still very excited! If I do get it, even if it's not when I was planning on going, I'll be going! Just thought I should let you all know!
Love and miss you guys,
Cheyenne

I Never Thought I'd Say This...

Where did the time go? So hard to believe so much time has passed and the changes in all of us. I remember ConnieMom and me getting dinner together (with two bags of Milano’s waiting on the counter for dessert – “How many do we get!”) with George and Veronica running around the house building forts, Cheyenne watching “The Little Rascals” for the 50^th time and reciting the dialogue, Emma doing her homework projects 3 weekends before they were due and Kacie and Twila down in the lair laughing and making Anime drawings like it was just a year or so ago.

I don’t know how the heck we did it, but here we are in 2007 with 4 of you in college and two of you driving (or almost driving anyway!) I never thought I’d live to see the day, but I’m saying it:

I miss the old days when we had dinner for 8, kitchen duty teams, movie time, dessert, and bedtime. Whatever you think, let me say I feel lucky and privileged to have had the 6 of you as my kids, and I had it to do over again I would in a heartbeat.

Post your memories in the comment section….

Love, DaddyMike

Finally taking that poll down! Here are the results:

The word RANDOM is/is not a synonym for "arbitrary"	33.3%	3
Whether or not a LITTLE DOG like Choppy should get a WHOLE HOTDOG with his dinner	22.2%	2
After the picnic is NO TIME to tell your spouse that his/her butt looks big in those shorts	22.2%	2
NY PIZZA IS THE ONLY EDIBLE PIZZA	11.1%	1
"Just because I'm a feminist doesn't mean I have to kill that bug myself!"	11.1%	1
The athiest vs. agnostic argument	0%	0
total votes: 9

Another nomination

Hey Family

Um, I got nominated by my Critical Writing professor to become a McGill Fellowship member which I guess is a pretty big honor in the Grady School. The ceremony where I am inducted is on November 7th, and I'd really like it if one or some of the parents could be there since its a big deal. Not quite as big as my CURO thing where I did the reading, but still pretty cool. So um, yeah.
Thanks!!
Love from,
Kacie