I'm Baaack!!

I'm back in my home away from home and it feels so good to be on the same campus for the second year in a row. Even though this is my junior year it's the first time since I started college that I didn't have to start all over and meet new people when I got to school. It's really refreshing. Plus, it's really good to see everyone and hear about summer adventures.

I've been at SMC for over a week now. The women's XC team comes a week early and then goes up to Sleepy Hollow Inn for a few days (it's an inn in the woods that our coach and her family run) for training. I was hoping to have a big pre-season post with pictures and stories, but unfortunately I ended up with a lovely case of bronchitis and didn't actually go to camp. I would drive up to Sleepy for dinner and then drive back to campus in order to get a solid night's sleep and avoid getting the other girls sick. It was really nice when they got back to campus on Thursday for freshman orientation. I had been so lonely!

Being in my suite all by my lonesome for so many days (I did go home a few times...I wasn't confined to the suite, don't worry) gave me the opportunity to get my room in order. I'm going to give you three guesses to figure out my favorite color and the last two don't count.

I love living in a suite because, I won't lie to you, I'm a terrible roommate. I like to have my own personal space where I can go and close my door and be by myself if I feel the need. I also really like having friends literally right outside my door.

I'm so excited to see what this school year will bring. We had the first day of classes today (I had two math classes, Prob Stats and - ahh! - Abstract Algebra) and so far no homework. So life is good. Perhaps this trend will continue? Wishful thinking.

On a Hot Summer Night

Earlier this summer I saw Grace Potter and the Nocturnals on Church Street in Burlington. At this point I was already planning on getting tickets to the August waterfront show. Seeing her at the free show in the middle of downtown Burlington solidified my obsession. (You can check out the earlier post here) Saturday's show did not disappoint.

After a delish dinner at Three Tomatoes and some desert from Ben & Jerry's we made our way down from Church Street. Getting to the waterfront 45 minutes or so before the show we just sat on the grass and enjoyed the beautiful night. I also got to meet up with my friend, Adam, who wrote a very enthusiastic post about his night.

Then Grace started. And played for 2 full hours. And of course she had a ridiculous amount of energy the entire time.

One highlight was when, partway through the show, she stopped to throw some Cabot cheese and Lake Champlain Chocolates into the crowd. Only in Vermont.

There's not much else to say other than the show was completely amazing and if you ever get the chance to see GPTN you should definitely go for it. Maybe I'll see you at the New Years Eve show because I'm pretty sure I'll be there.

Check out the videos from the show. Please ignore the struggs camera movements. It's better in person, trust me.

Low Road

The first section of the encore, Nothing But the Water

The end of the encore

Getting Lazy...

I just took a look at the blog and noticed that my last post was all the way back on August 2nd. My bad. It's been extremely busy, but to be honest I didn't have much to write about. I've been doing the same old, same old for the past few weeks. Work, work, work. Not that I'm complaining, I just figured that no one would want to read about my daily schedule. But with the date of my last post being two weeks ago I figured I could at least throw in a bit of an update.

I didn't realize how close the end of the summer was until Saturday. I got tickets to the Grace Potter Waterfront show at the very beginning of the summer and have been looking forward to it. I knew that it was right before school so it always seemed like such a long way away. Now that day has come and gone. (AMAZING CONCERT! I still have to upload photos and vids so I'll write an actual Grace Potter post then. Because she deserves an entire post. Because she's awesome.) And now, in my last week of work as it winds down I'm starting to realize that I do have to go back to school in six days. And that I have to pack. Like now. That aspect of my life is not looking good. I guess I know what I'll be up to on my night off tomorrow.

I'll have a full on blog post written in the next week or so when I have everything uploaded and work has just about ended.

so if I can't run 40 miles a week, should I not bother joining? I e-mailed the women's coach but she hasn't gotten back to me yet (thats why I am filling up your formspring haha)

Don't tell Molly, but I can't say that I ran 40 miles this week. However, I've been running enough that when I get to pre-season I will be able to run whatever distance she has planned as well as do intervals. I'd say that if you aren't in running shape when you get to school then it's probably not something you should do this year.

I can't say for sure since I don't know you or what you've been up to. Hopefully Molly will get back to you soon and give you a much better idea. Sorry my answer isn't really a solid one.

Ask me anything!

Are there requirements for cross country? i.e a certain amount of miles i should be able to run?

First of all, sorry I took so long to respond!

At this point on the summer training schedule the women's team was given we're supposed to be at about 40ish miles a week. The races are about 5k, but we run farther distances for training. The guys races are about 8k.

If you're thinking you'd like to run your best bet would be to talk the coach. The women's coach is Molly Peters, her email being mpeters2@smcvt.edu, and the men's is Joe Connelly, his email being jconnelly@smcvt.edu. I'm not sure where they're at as far as adding names to the roster in the fall and if you're looking to run in later years keeping in touch with them definitely makes it a lot easier.

Ask me anything!

Back To School, The Non-Essentials That Are Sweet to Have Anyway

My last post was about all the stuff you'd probably like to have for your dorm room. It's all stuff I have for my own. They're pretty much the basics that any incoming freshman would be shopping for. This post, instead of being about what you probably need is about what you probably would like to have. It's basically all about the decoration aspect, which to me is the most fun. These are just some tips and ideas to make your room fun, comfortable, and overall just nice to be in.

We're going to do this bullet-ed list style just for simplicity's sake.

• Scented oils. I like to walk into a nice smelling room after class or a workout everyday. Considering the amount of running/hiking/rollerskiing/skiing I do during the school year I tend to have a lot of dirty clothes in the pile at any given time. I used a Yankee Candle Reed Diffuser to make sure that my room smelled nice (vanilla lime to be exact) at all times. (You can also go with something like a Glade Plug-In or Febreze)

• Lights. A lot of people like to have a string of Christmas lights around the room just for decoration. I have a string of paper lanterns that I put along the wall my bed. Freshman year my bed was lofted and I wasn't anywhere near the light switch. At night I'd turn on my lanterns, turn off the light, get into bed, and unplug the lanterns so that I didn't kill myself climbing up when my roommate wasn't around to turn off the overhead light.

• Posters. Show off what you love while filling in white space on your wall. Websites like allposters.com have all kinds of posters. You'll be able to find pretty much anything you're looking for.

• Power Strips. While most rooms have a decent amount of outlets most people find that there aren't enough or the placement of the outlets isn't exactly helpful. Having a power strip or two can solve this problem.

• Pictures. Some people have a couple of pictures on their desks or by their beds. Others completely cover the walls in them. As a first year it's nice to have a reminder of home in the room. One idea I used in my room was to put a poster board on my wall. As the year went on I took more pictures from time spent with friends. Every so often I'd develop the pictures and add to the poster. At the end of the year I had a collage from my entire sophomore year. Also, when I transferred to SMC I found a big picture frame at a craft store and made a collage from my ex-school. When my friends came to visit they all counted how many pictures of themselves I had included and bragged when they happened to have more than someone else.

• Chalk. Last year the suite across from mine had a big mural on their wall that they had all drawn together in colorful sidewalk chalk. I thought it was a really cool idea. Make sure chalk will wash off of your walls easily before you start anything major though.

• Curtains. Curtains to cover boring blinds make the room more happy. I also saw one person hang them in the corner of the room and hang Christmas lights down behind them to make the room brighter.

• Crates. I use stack-able plastic crates to move into my room and then stack them one on top of the other on top of my desk for shelves for my books and snacks.

• Nintendo 64. This is mostly for my friend Adam (I'm sure any guy who would consider bringing this or any other system does not need me to remind them to bring it) who commented on my last post saying this would be an essential. You would not believe the amount of Mario Kart I watched my freshman year. Boys.

I can't believe I only have three weeks left at the Tyler Place. I'm excited for pre-season and to be back at SMC, but at the same time I don't want summer to end. It's insane that it's August already, but I'm definitely going to enjoy what's left of summer!