Holy crap! can I start out by saying, GO RED SOX!!! Last night's Game 1 of the World Series was probably one of the best Sox games I've ever seen. I mean seriously? How often do you make it through your entire lineup in the first inning??? Amazing!!! Oh yeah...if I ever saw Josh Beckett on the street I would totally jump on him...no hesitation at all :)

Anyway, life here on the Cape is fun as always...spending many nights at the Parrot, either working or just hanging out or both :) I've met some interesting people there lately...mostly good people, but some sketchy ones...the tourists are gone, so we have the Cape back to ourselves, which is definitely nice, but at the same time, the number of young people also drops significantly, which kinda sucks. Luckily there are a bunch of year round people around Bourne/Falmouth so we still have a great time!

By the way, we are having a crazy Halloween party at the Bird next week so come check it out if you're in the area! There's gonna be free appetizers, prizes and great music of course!!!

Upside down again...

It appears that my life can never simply go as planned. First it was the trip to New Orleans that made me change all my plans, and then the internship in New Orleans fell through...so a couple weeks before AmeriCorps ended, there I was without a clue as to what I would be doing when it ended.

Luckily, I have made some amazing friends here on the Cape. After New Orleans fell through, I decided that I want to stay here on Cape for as long as I can. Within two weeks, Tracey had hooked me up with not one, but two jobs, and Laura and PJ offered to let me crash on their couches until I could sublet PJ's apartment. Like I said, my friends are amazing! What could have been a desperate situation turned into a relatively smooth transition from AmeriCorps Cape Cod to the real world.

I really miss AmeriCorps...it becomes so much a part of who you are over the course of the 11 months, that it's hard to realize that you're not a part of it anymore. I miss the service, my Corpsmates, and most of all I miss the sense of being a part of something important. The last few weeks have been fun...I love my job at the Parrot, and I don't mind working in an office again, but it just isn't the same.

Anyway...on a completely different note, I'm going to be an aunt again!!! My sister and brother-in-law will be having a little boy in a couple months and I couldn't be happier! The only thing that sucks about living here on the Cape is that my little nephew won't know me nearly as well as Mikayla does, but I'm sure she can tell him all about Rin-Rin (as she calls me). Speaking of Mikayla, she's is getting so big I can't believe it! I went home last weekend to get some of my stuff and she was running all around, talking and "helping" me pack and whatnot. It was awesome!!!

Well, I guess that's it for now...

A whirlwind yet again...

So once again it's been forever since I updated this thing...I can't believe how much has happened since then...it's crazy...seriously!

So Becca, Kelly, Courtney and I went to New Orleans for our spring break last month and it was definitely a life changing experience for me...I was in no way prepared for the amount of devastation and destruction that we would see when we got down there. The people were absolutely amazing...they have so much spirit and strength. It is impossible not to feel drawn to help them rebuild their lives and their city. So, since that trip I've been wrestling with the decision about what to do with my life for next year. When I got home, I talked to Katie (who's in charge of the EDOLA rebuild program) about the possibility of going down to live in New Orleans and help out with the rebuilding effort down there next year. I had pretty much made up my mind before I even left New Orleans to head back here to Cape Cod. However, my love for the program here on the Cape has not diminished in anyway, so it's a very hard decision to make. Currently I'm waiting to hear back from Katie about the opportunity down there. In the mean time, Dave is doing a fantastic job of trying to convince me to stick around for another year bc he will still be here. Seriously...we would have an absolutely amazing time here again next year, but I'm not sure if I can bring myself to give up the New Orleans opportunity either. Of course the last couple weeks have been incredible, and therefore I really am starting to think that I don't want to leave...

PS - Every once in a while you start crushing on someone unattainable...I think I'm at that point. I'm totally crushing on a guy that has a girlfriend. I can't even help it...the more I see him the worse it gets....I hate when that happens!!!

Swept away

Holy Shit!!! I can't believe it's been two months since I last posted...where has the time gone??? It seems like I was just home for Christmas, but at the same time, it feels like we've been back on Cape forever! I can't believe I've lived out here for 5 1/2 months already...it's CRAZY!

Anyway...so far 2007 has been a pretty great year. I spent an awesome New Years in Boston, responded to 2 dolphin strandings (one live one and one dead one), watched the Colts win the Superbowl, made some new non-AmeriCorps friends, and found a grad program that I really want to get into. Life is good.

The only thing I don't like is that people are already starting to talk about what they're going to do after the program ends. I'm hoping to stay here on Cape for a second year, so I haven't really given it a whole lot of thought. But now people are talking about moving away and getting jobs and whatnot. I don't want to think about that! I love my AmeriCorps family and I don't want them to leave!!! :( So for now I'm trying not to think about it, cause we still have another 5 1/2 months to go, so I'm just going to enjoy it while it lasts.

PS - It'll be spring pretty soon...I need some good ideas of things to do and places to see out here in New England...let me know if you have some good ones!

Good Times, Great Fun

Wow...I can't believe how long it's been since I wrote on here. Things have been kinda crazy for the past few weeks, so I'll just give a few highlights.

We'll start with Thanksgiving:
1. getting to Mel's house at 11 o'clock in the morning and finding out that Dave already had six beers, so of course I did my best to catch up by drinking six mimosas and two huge glasses of sangria :)
2. sitting on the floor with Matty and Dave playing with the craziest collection of wind-up toys that I've ever seen (Mel's parents are awesome!!!)
3. eating a fabulous dinner with Mel's family and friends, plus a few of my wonderful AmeriCorps peeps
4. watching Elf for the fourth time in a week
5. wandering around Boston the day after Thanksgiving, shopping, sightseeing, and listening to some sweet street performers
6. going back to Mel's to watch National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, cause really, how can you possibly get into the Christmas spirit without it?

Liz's birthday celebration at Liam McGuire's:
1. getting Liam and Dave, and the rest of the bar to sing happy birthday to Liz
2. going up on stage with Kelly to do the hand motions to the Unicorn Song
3. dancing and singing along with fantastic live music

Moving on to the Jolly Jaunt:
1. our team, Bourne to Run, raised over $1200 for the Special Olympics, raising more than any other team...OH YEAH!
2. seeing Dave dressed up like an elf, complete with the belly shirt and elf hat
3. actually finishing the race with Kelly...we placed 100th and 101st places respectively

And finally, the EDS drill in Dennis:
1. standing outside in a parking lot for seven hours in the freezing cold directing traffic
2. having a cute old lady roll down her window and yell, "You look so cute!"
3. almost getting hit by cars driven by crazy old people who probably should have given up their licenses about 10 years ago
4. having some lady tell me that I was doing a great job and should get a job with the fire department or police department
5. watching two little kids get busted by the cops for playing chicken in the road after mary tattled on them
6. turning off the cops car after he left in running for about an hour without going anywhere
7. watching a little old lady decide she didn't like her parking spot, so she left and proceeded to come back a few minutes later and park one spot over
8. learning to play the orc drum beat and doing to happy dance to keep warm
9. getting yelled at by an old guy who decided he wanted to go out the entrance and got really pissed when we told him he couldn't

So overall, things are going great!

Home is...where???

It amazes me how quickly things can change. Not just big things, but little things too. I spent my entire life living around Rochester. Now granted, I've never particularly liked it, nor have I ever really thought that I would stay there, but still I considered it my home. I suppose I felt something of an attachment to it. But this weekend I had some kind of epiphany.

I went home for Mikaya's 1st birthday over the weekend, and don't get me wrong, I had a great time seeing everybody. I loved spending time with my family and whatnot, and I was sad leaving them...but when I was driving back and I saw the sign for Cape Cod, it was such a relief. It was an almost overwhelming feeling of coming home after being away for a while. How is that possible??? I've only been here on the Cape for ten and a half weeks. Why do I feel so much more at home here than I do in Rochester? It's as if some void in my life has been filled, and I didn't even know it was there. Maybe it's just the combination of being near the ocean, surrounded by amazing people, and doing something I love. But then again, maybe not...I don't know. I feel somewhat guilty, as if I'm doing something wrong, but at the same time, I'm happier now than I've ever been, and I think I deserve that. Am I wrong?

I love the MBL!!!

Ohmigod!!! Today was quite possibly the best day that I've had with AmeriCorps. We spent the entire day working down at the Marine Biological Lab in Wood's Hole, basically cutting up quahogs. Technically we were preparing samples of quahog tissue to be tested for QPX (Quahog Parasite Unknown), which pretty much means measuring quahogs then cutting them into pieces to be made into slides for the microscopic analysis. It was perhaps the coolest thing that I have ever done. I was somewhat skeptical at first, cause it's been a while since I've done any kind of dissection, and I don't recall loving the last experience (it was with a cat...weird), but I totally loved it!!! I know that this was only a two day day thing (we were there Friday but I didn't get to cut things up), but I definitely think that I want to go back to school for some type of environmental/marine science. Probably not next year or anything, but definitely sometime soon. :)