Goooooooood lawd.

These past few weeks have been cah-razy. Boyfriend recently moved into my basement. He was talking about moving out for awhile, and we brought it up to my mom and she just said "Well, you're here half the time anyway. You can put all your stuff in the spare bedroom." His rent is doing random things around the house that Mom won't/can't do. So far, he's changed the lights out front (something Mom just never got around to) and fixed the fence in the backyard that blew down during the blizzard last month (Mom says she can't do 'back-breaking labor', yet pushes herself all the time. Anyway, it was best Boyfriend did it).

Today I started my second semester of my freshman year of college. At the moment, I'm sitting in my bff's bedroom with her and Ethan. Samantha and I are doing our homework (well okay, I'm obviously distracted) and I'm already frustrated with one of my classes. I don't want to be an entrepreneur, so why bother taking the class?

Secret? The only reason I haven't hit the drop button is because Sam over here keeps looking over my shoulder and lecturing me about it.

Other than that, though, I'm loving my other classes. I'm taking geography, which I've always had a passion for. I'm also taking the required English Comp 1, which involves a lot of writing. Along with those, I'm taking Intro To Early Childhood Education and Child Psychology. I've pretty much settled on my career plan. I want this.

I'm going to be a doctor.

There. I said it. I'm going to be a god-diggity-damned doctor. But if someone has a heart attack, you should still call 911. No, I'm going to be a psychiatrist.

Okay well Friendly's beckons for my hardworking, studying, dilligent butt.

(Sam saw me write that and wants to argue: "Stephanie, I didn't even see you do anything.")
She just caught me on Facebook a few times. I swear that I was working. After only one day of class, how much is there to be done? Really now.

After a long talk with my mother,

I feel much better about myself than I have all day.

After a long, slow, boring shift at work, the last thing I wanted to deal with was more drama. I wanted to go home, shower, and order a pizza. No such luck.

I sat around after work watching my pets play in almost total silence. Finally, realizing there was nothing he could do, Boyfriend turned on the TV. We watched hours and hours of stupid TV until my mom got home and I could finally talk to her.

I love my mom. I truly do. She, unlike most parents I know, remembers what it was like to be nineteen, in love, and having issues. She doesn't take crap from anyone. We talked a lot about the issues I was having. They are far from resolved, but it certainly helped. I showed her the text messages I received from someone today, and vented all of my frustrations.

But then we got to talking about other things. My ever-changing relationship with my dad. My family. My uncle David. My cousins. Her boyfriend. Manners. How she raised my sister and I. My family's opinions of my sister and I. Everything.

I really do love my mama. She's done a great job as a single mother. I think I'll give her the fifty percent off spa treatment thing I won today. And pay for the other fifty percent. :)

I swear to God, I thought high school was over.

I was in the car today with my bff Sam, and we were discussing the latest text message I had received from my boyfriend. It contained the latest bit of drama involving certain people who have recently made it their life's mission to drive Boyfriend and I away from each other/make me miserable/cause all around tension.

Lyke, srsly? Wtf.

I'll spare you the nitty gritty details of this ongoing tension, but let me just say this:
I'm over it. No one's opinion should matter to me except my own, my sister's, my parent's, and my boyfriend's. Lucky for me, I have a handful of friends who like me for me. I can honestly say I have a few good friends in this world, and that's more than a lot of people can. They can think I'm a lying, good-for-nothing, trashy witch-with-a-B, but that's THEIR problem. I think know I'm not any of those things, and the people who truly matter to me know that too.

This doesn't just go for these few who have been clouding my brain recently, either. This also goes for the one who holds grudges from middle school, the one who still posts nasty things online from high school, and the bitter ex who still won't get over the break-up. Your words can't hurt me.

I'll leave you with this. My middle school English teacher put quotes up on the board every day, and this was the only one I ever remembered. I don't know who the author is (Google seems to be in disagreement) but it's a great quote to live by.

Be who you are and say what you feel.
Because those who mind, don't matter.
And those who matter don't mind.

I just have to remember to live by it.

Happy 2010!

What a decade.

When this decade started, I was nine years old at my sister's godmother's house. We had played with noisemakers, sang All Star by Smash Mouth into the microphone, and I cried when the ball dropped, half out of fear for the end of the world (remember the Y2K virus?) and half out of the realization that an entire millennium was gone.

When this decade ended, just last night, I was nineteen years old (celebrated my birthday on Wednesday!). I was sitting in front of my mother's laptop with my sister, my boyfriend, and my best friend. I didn't cry; I cheered and sent out a mass text to my friends, wishing them a happy new year.

A recap, from years 2000-2009?
-I traveled the furthest away from my family. I went to Ecuador in 2005 with my middle school on a trip to research the rain forest and to bring medical and school supplies to the indigenous children of the rain forest.
-I made and lost two best friends; first Caroline, then Katie. I realized I couldn't limit myself to one bff; I'm just not that kind of girl. And especially not when they expect me to ONLY hang out with them. Nuh-uh.
-I started and finished high school, and I started college. I started my 'life', I suppose. I figured out what I want out of it. And here it is: I want to be a psychologist. Taaa-daaaa!

Those, I think, are the major ones. But hey! I think I'm ready for a fresh start.

Presents?! For me?!

As I'm sure you're all well aware, Christmas was two days ago. I got everything I wanted (except for a dress I had my eye on!), plus a gym membership. Some people may think this is a 'hint hint' gift, but I'm not offended. I'm comfortable in my own body, thank you very much! I just want to be healthy. :D

Aside from a ton of gift cards, I got about five scarfs, black Uggs, some DVDs, a t-shirt stamping kit, a couple books, and everything I asked for from my daddy.

Well, I'm off to spend my Forever 21 gift card!

How did you make out this year?

My friends are all home!

I made the choice to stay home for college this year and attend my local community college to settle on a major, but it's still hard to see my friends having a good time without me. But now it doesn't matter, because we're all stuck on this man-made island together!

I'm really happy that they're all home, even though we only became friends at the very end of last summer. It was so weird how we all sort of clicked, but here we are, miss you's and hugs and frienships bubbling over all around.

Even though most of my friends and Boyfriend are all staying here for school, it seems like the glue of the group are all off-Cape (which is how us Cape Codders refer to the rest of the world). Good news, though: I'll be joining Adam and Cooper at Emmanuel in the fall, and Caffe e Dolci Samantha (hereby referred to as Caffe Samantha, or any variation of such) will be joining us in Boston at UMASS, if she so chooses.


Me, Boyfriend and Adam at our last reunion.

In other news, my tiny corner of Massachusetts has been hit by the Blizzard of 2009. In the hour and a half it's been snowing, we've been blessed with two inches of "perfect snowball snow". Part of me hopes work is cancelled so I can go sledding and spend time with my friends tomorrow. I'm all for that.

I'm officially done with all my official class-work!

I just submitted my last test for psychology, and with that (which I got a perfect score on, thank you very much!) I am done with my assignments for this semester. Now, I have two finals to take and then I'm done until late January.

I have some countdowns to look forward to, too.

Christmas is in nine days. Nine days?! It was true what my parents kept saying-it comes faster and faster every year. I (almost) finished my Christmas shopping, and completely cleaned out my checking account in the process. Bad me, but totally worth it. I just have Boyfriend's sister to buy for. I can't wait to set up my Christmas tree and see all the gifts under there!


My birthday is in fourteen days. I'll be nineteen years old, and all I want is a surprise party. Or, at least, a party I don't have to plan within an inch of it's life and bake my own cake for. I want my friends together in one place to celebrate with me. I asked Boyfriend to help me with this, and I sure hope he comes through. It would be really cool to just hang out all night, like a sleepover minus the sleeping and mean-spirited gossip.


I'm also leaving for Miami in twenty-one days for a cruise with my sister, my dad and my grandmother. My dad is a cheapo, but not when it comes to travel. Are you ready for this?

We're taking a limo from his house in New Bedford, Massachusetts to Providence's TF Green airport, where we will be taking a Southwest Airlines flight to Florida. We'll be taking a town car to our ship, the Carnival Imagination, where we're going to have VIP status. Which really only means we don't have to wait in line to board the ship. We'll be staying in a penthouse suite on the ship, which has a balcony. We'll be going to Key West and Cozumel, then back to Miami.

I think my dad is going to spoil my idea of cruises from now on. After all that, how am I going to be expected to settle for anything else? Of course I will. I love travel too much to let my accomodations fool me. :)

What are YOU looking forward to?