My friends' twin girls turn One!

Maia and Sela Turned one on 22 Oct this year.

What is on the Future.

First of all, I absolutely got the title of this blog post from Ali Dagnes on CSPAN booktv talking about her book, Politics on Demand: The Effects of 24-Hour News on American Politics (New Directions in Media)

Props to her.

Check it out here: http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/296070-1

I know it's been a while, dear dedicated readers- yes, both of you. I am SUPER busy- tomorrow, I'm watching Brianna, Jenn and I are cleaning the house, I'm having Brooke over, my mom is hosting a wine-tasting, then my friend's twins' birthday party the next day. Oh, and I still have to go through and (oh-my-gosh edit) the 322 photos I took of the girls today. (the girls are my friend's twins. they are turning one tomorrow.) Same day that my niece and nephew turn 3. Their party is on Sunday.

Baseball

So I just watched the Phillies win game 5 of the National League Championship Series (!) Tomorrow our Boys have a travel day, then Saturday (my) afternoon they play the Giants again; if they win that, they play another game and THEN if they win they go to the WORLD SERIES!! Ahh!! I'm SO excited. but if they lose either game, that's it and the Giants move on. *cough-fuckyoucodyross-cough*

Job-wise

So I can't start at PriMerica until I can get licensed. And I cant get that until I have 125$ to pay for the course. well... I'm broke. I've been taking photos a lot, but I feel bad charging my friends when I'm not REALLY a professional photographer. But today I was Blessed by the woman my best friend Brooke lives with, she asked if I would be interested in cleaning their house for 130$ !! I was like... uh, ok God, I get it, I'll do this. So I'm going to be cleaning the Sider's house and then getting licensed for financial planning with this place. Hopefully, prayerfully, I will find an (at least!) part time Nanny gig in there somewhere as well.

Church

So, basically, things are picking up. Especially church-wise. I do a lot of church stuff now. I went to and think I will continue to go to Monday morning women's bible study, and I go to growth group (it's just a small group through the church) on Wednesday nights, and church itself is from 10-12 on Sundays.

School

I need to really start working on my thesis so I can actually get a college degree. It's just absolutely killing me. when I think about it, I just get so stressed out that I cry. literally. I get heart palpitations, I can't breathe, and it feels like I'm literally having a heart attack. ... it's bad. I'm hoping spending time with all of these people that are generally my age, (that go to the church; no one at PriMerica is near my age) that have graduated and have almost all done post-graduate work, will propel me into working on my thesis.

Emma and Jackson

So here is a story about Emma and Jackson...

First, Emma. She is going to be three in January and she is being raised bilingual, Slovak and English. Bilingual children speak later, but when they do, they know two languages so let's not judge. Jackson will be three in October, but he's a little behind in speech. Sweet kid though, really. 

So one day we left Woody and Cameron's house, the entrance of which which is behind Lori's house. Lori is a very tiny woman. She is, really, she's maybe 5'1" and 100 lbs. her dog, Bodey is a Burmese Mountain Dog. He's bigger than me, and very well behaved, cute, fun and all of the kids love him.

Woddy and Cameron had their kids, I was holding Emma and Jackson's hands. Emma points at Lori's and says, "Bo-dey ! Bo-dey!" "Yes, Emma, Bodey lives there." Then I ask, "Emma, is Bodey a dog, or a cat?" Emma says: "Cat." clearly repeating what I said, but very factual, as if what she said was some sort of explanation. Perf.

So I turn to Jackson. Maybe I'll have better luck with the one that's a little older and, you know, only speaks one language. "Jackson, what is Bodey?" He says, "Jackson." in the same matter-of-fact way that Emma replied. 

I love these kids.

Pictures of an Autumn Future

I have always enjoyed taking pictures, but this summer I took pictures. I mean hundreds. It was amazing. The family I nanny for (my camp family) has the absolute cutest children ever so they were my main subjects. The dad had bought the mom a Canon Rebel XS and I went to town. Here are some lovelies that I captured:

Sophia Leigh

Sophia Leigh

Sophia Leigh- Scared Face

Sophia- Wellies

Emma

Emma

Oliver- Obeder

So when I got home I needed to buy one of my own. I went with the Canon Rebel T1i, and I am patiently (or not so patiently, really) awaiting its arrival in the mail.

My friend Shayne saw all of my pictures on Facebook from this summer and asked me to take pictures at her wedding reception. I agreed. Why? because I’m psychotic. I enjoy stress. I have been researching wedding photos and wedding photography, camera/lens aperture/flash uses and much more for the past month. The conclusion I have come to? I’m totally screwed.

But on the plus side, if this goes well, I may have a future in this. … But probably not. Heart you Shayne, please don’t hate me after your wedding!

Screw it, I’m good at taking photos of kids!

Starting a New Chapter

If someone were to write a book about my life, everything that took place up until now would be the first, and smallest section. It would include cute anecdotes about my childhood and high school and leaving for university and many tales of debauchery from Shippensburg. But that’s pretty much it. There would be mentions of getting through hard times; issues with my brother, run-ins with the police (not my own, I assure you), several deaths in the family and things of that nature. Things that we had to get through as a family, with my mom and dad and Jennifer most of the time.

But here is where the story turns, this is section two. Now I will be depending more on my friends and peers for support than my parents. Now is the time that I will be deciding which friends to take with me into adulthood and which friends will become acquaintances from my youth.

This will be a time of renewal, of replenishment and hopefully, growth. It is also a time of great uncertainty for me. I don’t have a job, I have no idea what I’m going to do about that or where to go or even what to think about it. I haven’t completed my senior thesis and haven’t even truly started it, I don’t yet even have a place to live when I move out on Thursday, and even with all of these things going hard against me, I am comforted with the knowledge that I will be taken care of, that there is a higher power out there that will guide me through these wary times. Now I suppose is the time for me to put my faith in that power and jump off of that cliff, hoping to land safely.

There is a fantastic quote from a television show, “The best way to predict the future is to invent it.” We all invent our futures, we do so with the actions and inactions of today.

Time only will tell if what I’ve invented was right. That will have to be section three.

Farewell, February.

It's been an eventful month, let's review, shall we?

2nd: I didn't get to make it to Punxsutawney this year but I watched it on the news, and darn if that Phil wasn't dead on with his prediction of six more weeks of winter. I made up for my absence in Punxsey by watching Groundhog Day three times, and once with commentary. (Punxsa-SHIPPENSBURG!)

11th: Thought Jenn was gonna have the baby today, Brianna didn't feel like it. WAY too cold I guess. This was my Aunt Nancy's birthday. She would have been 44.

14th: My Mommy's birthday!! She turned [deleted due to paradoxical age gap]. Also, Valentine's Day! I normally dislike V Day, but I saw the monologues and renewed my Feminist flame.

15-16th: TWO FEET OF SNOW

19th: Went mall-walking with Grandparents, mom, and Jenn to try and walk the baby out. Found out more about my grandparent's sex life than I ever, EVER needed to know.

23rd: Jennifer Finally had the baby!! 5 days late, but she's here now! The 23rd was actually Aunt Nancy's due date, she was early, but her granddaughter was late to the party.

28th: Brandon starts his week stay on our couch. he didn't bring a change of clothes, pajamas, a toothbrush, pillow, or anything actually. This should be interesting.

Well, there you have it. Goodbye February, it was fun while it lasted. We got record snowfall for the month, I watched a record amount of West Wing, and I got me a niece. Can not wait for Spring!!! Vernal Equinox, bring it on!

Jenn's Baby

So, Jennifer went into labor again last night (this time it's real). It's been four false alarms but now this seems to be it. They went to the hospital at 6:30pm and her labor had started a bit before that. It's now 6pm the next day and they've decided to give her a c-section. After 24 hours she was still only 6 centimeters dilated, and that was after the balloon-thing that they put up her vag to help with the dilation. They also had to break her water. Damn that kid really does not want to come out. We think it's because she knows it's cold out.

Jenn's really upset about that because she wanted a vaginal birth, but oh well. The important thing is getting Brianna out safely. Einstein hospital only allows 2 people in the delivery room, so it's Dolly and Mike (the dad) and Dolly was really emotional  when I talked to her. I hope she's not making it harder for J!

I'll be doing blog-updates throughout the night so I guess we'll see how it goes!

**UPDATE**

I have a niece! Finally! Brianna Naomi Curcio, 7:14pm, Feb 23, 2010. 7lb 12oz, 19 inches! Mazel Tov Jennifer and Michael!

Yeah, I'm Still in College.

Well, I figured I should do some updates about School, seeing as how we're 5 weeks into the semester already. I have three classes, African American Politics (with the Rev. Dr. Ronnie B. Tucker), 300 Advanced American Government and Public policy (boo it sucks), and um... Oh yeah, macroeconomics.

It's all interesting... at least in African American Politics, advanced american kind of blows, but at least it's not super difficult. I think I'm rocking a solid B right now, after 5 quizzes and one test. I got my first test back for macro and I got a 94% so I'm really excited about that.

I'm still working on my senior thesis. We'll see how that goes.

Good night, and have a pleasant tomorrow.

Yet Another, Hopefully the Last.

Today was the first day of my last semester of Undergrad. I don't really know what I think about that. On one hand I feel like it's finally within reach!! but on the other... what am I supposed to do after this? I have been a student (not always a good one) for about twenty years now. What else is there?

I suppose that remains to be seen....

Yet Another for neice Brianna.

Well, I left all of my yarn in Shippensburg when I came home for the holiday... so... time for a new plan. I bought this great wool-ease yarn by Lion Brand, I've been using a lot of simply Soft lately, but I saw the wool-ease and decided to just go for it. I needed something quick to get ready for the baby shower that is fast approaching.

I got 2 skeins each of raspberry and fisherman, an off-white. My Great-Aunt Carol gave me this fab old houndstooth pattern from a book she got about 40 years ago. I had to cut the pattern in half because of the thickness of the yarn, but Oh! let me tell you. I love it. it's going quickly and it's heavy and thick and warm (good for a winter baby!) but it's still really soft. One thing I never understood is why people make baby blankets out of worsted wool, no parent in their right mind is going to let a baby's soft skin near that blanket. The only problem is that I way underestimated my yarn usage because I am about a third of the way through and already done with my first skeins. So, off to Michaels I go to get 1 more of each.

I'll put up the pattern and pictures and such when it's finished. I didn't exactly follow the pattern (well, that was predictable, right??) but I like how it's turning out. Hopefully Brianna likes it too!!

I'm thinking about Quilts for the twins Jack and Sarah (my mom and Joe's grandbabies). I found a cute pattern that will translate easily to boy's and girl's colors. I missed Christmas and their birthday (they turned two on October 22) but I don't really think it matters. It'll probably take me until their next birthday to finish them anyway!!