I was wondering Shira, did that fish come with such rosey lips or did you have to add that yourself? Either way that fish sure is sexy!
I am glad to hear Shira’s packing is going so well…I hope you are saving room for me in a suitcase!
Things here in Chi-town are alright…school is becoming pretty much all consuming…it’s less then 3 months till I take my boards (the first of 3 national exams i take that says i am really qualified to be a doctor)..I take it on June 7th…but that date might change if I decide i don’t want to study that long…so between now and then I won’t be up to much fun except trying to keep up with the rest of this year and studying for that…BLAH!!! this means that I will desperately need stories from you girls who have exciting lives! (at least more exciting then a med student). so PLEASE POST STORIES OFTEN!

I do have one exciting thing happening in may..i am going to see U2!! they are also going to be on tour in the fall..there will be shows in NYC..i suggest you ladies look into tickets (go on sale this week)

Does anyone know what in the world Dawn is up to? I am beginning to think my idea of her going to Guam wasn’t that far off ! Did you girls get together for Jen’s bday? Do you have any plans for your bday nicole? Have you heard from any schools yet francis? Hope you are all doing well…and having more fun then me! miss you all tons!

Today is International Women’s Day.

Cleaning out twenty years of junk is so much fun. That’s what I’ve been doing in my spare time lately. I’ve lived in three bedrooms in this house during my life, and still have stuff in every single one! Hellow! I finally worked my through two of them and consolidated all that paraphernalia into my current bedroom. The goal is to fit it all in one big tupperware box. (And a couple of bookshelves– I have so many books!)

You wouldn’t believe the memoribilia I’ve saved. Yesterday I found a note from my eighth grade social studies teacher thanking me for a pair of earings I gave her for Christmas! Whyyyy??!? Why did I save that?!?! (And why did I give my teacher a pair of earrings for Christmas…?)

So our new motifa was inspired by the purging-of-junk that I’ve been overwhelmed by of late. Water, change, movement, tides, nature constantly recycling and renewing itself…

And also of those fishbowl drinks we used to get at the sports bar in Bingo. You know those blue drinks they serve in fishbowls and you stick six straws in to share with your friends? I know we only partook of those tasty libations a few times, but, symbolically college was like a giant fishbowl…that we filled with blue alcohol, stuck straws in, and drank out of together…

Sort of.

Anyways, I’m not sure how much internet access I’ll have in Italia (leaving March 15) so this is a perfect opportunity for some of you out there to bone up on and utilize your HTML skills. We want to keep R.A.T.W. fresh! (like the water in our fishbowl)!!

Can you all email me your current addresses (snail mail) so I can send you stuff? Hot.

Happy Valentine’s Day to all my lovely ladies! I cant believe its been 2 years since Shira and Caitlin’s amazing parties. Just think……….those parties and evening hang outs were like 2nd nature to us. It was so great to have Shira here last weekend. I dont think I have laughed like that in a while. Unfortunately, the famous laugh didnt come out too much! 🙁 It must be hidden in her deep sub-conscious and is waiting for a Caribbean reunion to come out in FULL EFFECT!! Speaking of hot and sunny reunions……..tell me when and where! On another note, Ms. Caitlin Larabee turned the big 24! We celebrated with some of her work friends, a night of drinks at her place, and then dancing at the Copa Cabana. I have to say, she definately looked H-O-T! It was a pretty tame night, except when some really short guy ask me to dance and then magically having his head ended up in my crotch. I guess he just felt the need to bob up and down. Thankfully I was able to get out of there quite quickly. Now, I have been spending V-day sick and listening to my own deep and sexy voice. If I cant spend the evening with a tall dark handsome Jewish rich hottie – I might as well find another way to entertain myself! 🙂

Happy Valentine’s Day! XOXOXOXOXOXOXO

Happy Lovey Dovey Day, Ladies. Just got back from my session with Jake (I don’t know why I put his name in quotation marks last time, he is a real person). And I have to say, it was not at all romantic, but I wasn’t really expecting to be.

News Update for the singles out there: According to The History Channel, there are 118 single men (i.e., never married, widowed or divorced) who are in their 20s for every 100 single women of the same ages. That’s a promising statistic, no?!

However, there are only 33 single men (i.e., never married, widowed or divorced) age 65 and over for every 100 single women of the same ages. In other words, we better get married before we turn sixty-five because it’s slim pickings from there on out.

Was it really only two years ago that we celebrated this holiday together?

Happy Birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Caaaaaiiiitttllliin…happy birthday to you. I hope you find $150 and it makes your birthday celebration extra special! Happy Happy Day!

Hello Ladies! I am sooooo jealous you guys got together this past weekend! I am sorry I didn’t pick up my phone. I was studying all night about random diseases of the GI and lungs….exciting I know 🙂 It sounds like you ladies had a lot of fun that night…you have to share your experience so that I can feel like I was there too! I really wish we talked more so that perhaps we could have pushed it back a weekend and then I could have flown there, and we could have done Caitlin’s bday right! Communication is key!

So to answer Shira’s question about v-day plans…Me and Sam have plans to go to a french restaurant and get crepes (chocolate for dessert of course!) and probably go to a movie or something…I haven’t actually done anything off of this campus for about a month, so seeing real people will be such a treat! I have my last final tomorrow (i had 7 total! ugh!) and then I have a week off…so sam took the week off and we are going to do some of the amazing things one could do in chicago (hint…that is a “come visit Caitlin in Chicago plug!”)

And in case you were wondering, I finally broke down and kinda just asked Sam point blank if he was going to propose before june, and he (sadly) said prob not…He went to a diamond expo last weekend, and keeps looking for rings…but he tells me that he wants to do it when i am not stressed about school and thus why he is waiting till june…but maybe he is just trying to throw me off 😉

Miss you all tons and I really think you all should come visit me …Happy Birthday Caitlin!!

Ladies, let’s not get stagnant! What are you all doing for Valentine’s Day? Pictures and stories of our mini-reunion in NYC coming in a few days…

In a few months (okay, maybe more like six) when we’re all settled and stable(r), we need to make plans for a MANDATORY (mandatory in a good way because of course we all WANT to do this…) Caribbean reunion. Let’s make a pact.

Besides a long-awaited-for meeting with my hot personal trainer “Jake”, I will be working this Valentine’s Day, which is fine with me. The “chef” at our restaurant wants to make chocolate covered strawberries for V-Day. Are you KIDDING ME?!?!?! Gross. Strawberries are not EVEN CLOSE to being in season right now! And how incredibly BORING!! Hellow. We can do SO much better. Please, someone save me from this mediocore establishment!!! (I’ll be saving myself in a few weeks, I wonder if I can get them to fire me early if I refuse to dip their nasty strawberries in run-of-the-mill chocolate…?)

HI EVERYONE!…I’m just kidding. I did not, as Caitlin suggested, sail my parent’s boat to Guam. I tried, but the water was frozen. No, really, i’ve been extremely busy/lazy. I’m sorry I haven’t written in so long. I’ll try not to make this too long but I have a lot to catch you guys up on.

I’m still working in Barnes and Noble. I’m the music manager now….higher pay, more responsibility. I’m in charge of people :-D. It’s a little stressful sometimes but now that i’m getting used to it, it’s calming down a lot. I still love my job even if it pays crappy :).

The big news though is that I’ve moved into an apartment and out of my parents house. No, I didn’t move in with Tom although some days I wish I would have. Things with him are going great it’s just that together we are not finacially able to get an apartment, so he’s still in staten island and i’m still in long island :(. We actually celebrated our four year anniversary a couple weeks ago. Can you believe it? Anyway, I moved in with my friend Dianne. It’s about 15 minutes away from my parent’s house. It’s great so far but I’m still getting home sick every once in a while.

What else… for a while my hair kept getting blonder and blonder but recently I decided to make it brown which I love even if my mom doesn’t :). So now my hair is brown.

I’m glad you guys are all doing so well. Caitlin, i totally forgot you were going to be in february’s Glamour and picked it up randomly to read (i never read it) and there you were!!! And you looked gorgeous!!! Not that you don’t normally :). Shira, I hope that we get to see each other for at least a couple hours. I’m so excited that you’re moving to Italy though. Nicole, congratulations on your six months anniversary :), I’m so happy for you. Caitlin, You waited this long…what’s another few months :). I’m happy to hear a engagement is in the works though :). Frances…frances :). I’m sorry i’ve been a poop lately but very soon you guys have to come out to my apartment. I hope you had fun on saturday :). Dawn!! I don’t know if you’ll read this but I’m glad that you sill love CA. Have you been getting all the rain my sister has? Tell Tyler I said hi :).

Oh…one more thing. Otto and Lilly…my cute little firebelly newts…they’re STILL alive. Can you believe it. They’re so cute too. Watch me get dressed (a little pervie). The other day though, I was sad for some reason (don’t remember) and I was crying and the whole time they just sat there, still, and watched me. The minute i stopped crying they went about playing around with each other. It was adorable. I”m sure you all care so much about my newts :). Ok, that’s it. I hope it wasnt’ too long. I will try and write more frequently from now on. I miss you alllllllll…

I have not, in fact, been trapped in the library, but I have been busy busy busy. I’m working two jobs at the moment, the one for EMS and also as a peak-time teller at a bank. The jobs are great, although there are not too many hours on the EMS front, so something is going to have to change in the near future.
School started last week, I’m taking three courses this semester, which is a full load for a grad student at Springfield. The classes seem great, although a lot more work! (a far cry from the children’s lit class I took last semester where my books were bought thru scholastic rather than the school store.)
my apologizes to Caitlin, because I think I stole her ring for christmas! my ring is not THE ring (I will say it again in case anyone misinterprets, I am NOT engaged), but it is absolutely beautiful none the less. Josh bought me a white-gold ring with a saphire in the middle and two small diamonds on the sides. it is gorgeous and something I would totally have picked out for myself, but it scared the crap out of me when I first got it. we had been together for a little over 5 months, I bought him a book he wanted, a frisbee that lights up, and something to help his back when he screws it up, NOT ring caliber gifts!! he said that it was not meant to be scary, and to think of it as a 6-month gift a little early, and he did keep to his word and not go overboard for that occasion. things with him are going really great. I was feeling a little funny for a bit, but I had also screwed up my prescription, so I couldn’t really trust my moods. That’s all now back on track and I am VERY happy. we went to Boston shortly after the new year to see the art deco exhibit that he really wanted to see before it left the MFA and we had a great time in the city. things have been more than fantastic since then.
so, enough cheezeyness from me. Where are the other 5? Dawn-the-girl? Jen? Caitlin L? Jess? Laura? I miss my girls! and as much of a slacker as I have been, I have at least been checking in, so I know what Shira, Caitlin K, and Frances are up to; congrats to you all in your endeavors! as soon as I’m on top of my finances, I will be attempting to coordinate a reunion, any ideas on location? I’ve never been to Chicago… and of course, I can’t wait to go visit Italy, er, I mean, Shira. 🙂 Hope all is well!! xoxoxo