Family Fun :)

This past weekend was my cousin Rachel's bridal shower. She is the first of my cousins to get married on my dad side, so it was pretty exciting. The shower was at my aunt's house and most of my girl cousins and aunts all came, along with some of Rachel's friends. It was really great seeing everyone because I haven't seen much of my extended family all summer. My grandma was there as well, who I hadn't seen in awhile, so it was just really great catching up with everyone and celebrating Rachel's marriage.

Then, on Monday, I went to Balboa Island in Newport Beach to go see my cousin's sail for their yacht club. It was extremely windy that day, so there was a lot of capsizing. Everyone survived though, and all of my cousins sailed really well. After the sailing, we all went down to my cousins' house that they are renting on the island for the summer to have pizza and hang out. I always loves spending time with my cousins, especially since I missed seeing them a lot during the year at school.

This coming week I am finally flying to Massachusetts to visits friends from Stonehill. I have been looking forward to this for so long and I couldn't be more excited! I am going there, Connecticut and even Pennsylvania too!! I can't wait!

Oh, what a knight!

Wow! Last night was amazing! One of my dad's best friends, Brian, got inducted into a group called "The Knights of St. Gregory." People who are inducted into this group are honored for their service and their dedication to the Catholic community. It was a really big deal for Brian, so he threw a pretty extravagant party at his house in celebration. My sister Christine and I went to the party with my dad because my mom was out of town. We were so lucky to get to go. It was absolutely amazing! The party was at Brian's house in Beverly Hills. I have been there before, and it is a very impressive house, but what we saw when we arrived was more than impressive. Brian had themed the whole party around the knights. Servers were dressed as knights, flags waved from the house, and there were trumpet players to announce dinner. The whole dinner was set up beautifully! There were suits of armor at the end of the table, and the decor on the table was all gold. There were royal flags waving everywhere, and a live band played behind us while we ate our 6 course meal. It was amazing! The people there were really great too. A lot of priests from Brian's childhood came out to support him.

Probably the funniest part of the party was the end. My sister and I wanted to take pictures with the suits of armor. When we walked over there, everyone thought it was so cute that we were so excited by the decor, and we kind of became like entertainment for the party. We were having a blast. Then we were talking about how great all the decorations were, and the party planner heard us and immediately told us we could take it all home. We took home roses that were brought in from Ecuador. They were absolutely beautiful. We also really wanted the flags. They were on these really long posts, so my sister and I were barely able to balance as we walked down the street to our car with huge vases of roses and 10 foot flag poles. They just barely fit in the car, but it was definitely worth it! That was definitely a (k)night to remember!

The Getty!

The last couple weeks, I have still been working a lot. It pretty much takes over my life, so its a good thing I like it! Though, it doesn't make for anything too exciting or blog worthy. However, this week, I did get a chance to go to my favorite museum in Los Angeles, The Getty Center. I went with my friend Caitlyn. I haven't seen her at all yet this summer, so it was a really great thing to do together! The Getty is beautiful museum. It has lots of great artwork. They have a few Monet paintings there which are definitely my favorite to look at. But, the best part about the Getty, I think, is the outdoors. Outside, the Getty has beautiful gardens and spectacular views of Los Angeles. It is up in the hills, so the views are breathtaking. The building itself is also very interesting looking. The Getty is definitely my favorite place to go in LA. I hadn't been in so long, I almost forgot how much I loved it. It was so great to get back there!

For the next few weeks, I will be continue to be working a lot, but I do have something really great to look forward to! I just booked tickets to go back and visit some friends on the east coast at the end of July! I cannot wait for the trip! It will be really nice just to have a break from work, but of course, it will be most exciting to see my friends! I will be back east for 2 weeks! I am going to Connecticut and Massachusetts to see some people. And then, I am also going to Pennsylvania to stay with my future roommate, Tara. I am so excited for the trip! We are all counting down the days!

Summertime!

Summer back in California has been crazy busy! I am working A LOT! My family owns a golf course, and I have been working there since I was 13. For the last few summers, I have been on the maintenance crew. I mow the fairways every day. My work day starts at 5:30 in the morning and finishes at 3 in the afternoon. It is extremely exhausting working those hours 5 days a week, but I really like it too! I have known all the people at the course for so long, it is kind of like my second home. But that rigorous work schedule doesn't leave much time for other fun. A lot of days, all I want to do is come home and sleep. But, I have still been able to enjoy myself some too! It has been really nice getting back to seeing all of my old friends again! Reuniting and catching up is so much fun! It is great to hear how well everyone has been doing.

This past week was my 19th birthday. I had to work, so I didn't do anything big. I went to the beach for a little bit after work, and then went out to dinner with my family. Then we came home, opened gifts, and ate my favorite mint chocolate chip ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins and watched the Lakers win. It was very simple, but I liked it! I also got a couple packages from friends from back at school, so that was really exciting! I never get anything in the mail, so it was pretty exciting!

Back to California

Freshman year is finally coming to an end. The past couple weeks have been full of studying, packing, and taking finals. It is crazy to think that almost a whole year has passed since I first arrived on campus back in August. My finals went pretty well for me. I had a pretty big paper for my Mediated Communications class that took a lot of time, but once it was finished, I was pretty happy with it. Other than that, I had finals in German, Philosophy, Religion, and Psychology. German was definitely the hardest, but I still think I did okay (at least, I hope I did!). Studying obviously takes up A LOT of time. My friend Tara and I pretty much lived in the atrium in the science center the last couple weeks. We love studying in there because we can talk to each other, unlike the library, and the Dunkin Donuts is right there. Caffeine is a must for finals week! But, if finals aren't stressful enough, we also had to pack up our entire lives and ship them back home! Packing was definitely an experience. I had to pack up some clothes and stuff early and send it home in a package back to California so that I wouldn't have as much to take with me on the plane. However, I am not the best at parting with my things. I wanted to keep everything with me. But, my roommate Lauren helped me out a lot, convincing me I didn't need to keep every single cardigan I own with me for the last week of school. Because we did it together, packing actually ended up being fun and somewhat of a stress reliever from finals.

My flight back home is tomorrow. I seriously cannot believe this day is here. Going home is very bittersweet. I, of course, want to see all my friends and family back at home. And I've got to admit, I am happy to be escaping this humidity. However, I am going to miss Stonehill so much. Freshman year here was definitely the best year of my life! My friends here are not just friends, they are my family. Living 3000 miles away from them for the next 4 months is going to be really hard. But, I have my great memories that I can look back on all summer. Freshman year will definitely be one to remember, but I also cannot wait to start off Sophomore year and make many, new and wonderful memories!