Thanksgivingness.....

So the week is almost over and I haven’t even posted about my break! I hope everyone had a fabulous Thanksgiving Break, I know I did! Well, let’s just say it wasn’t your typical thanksgiving, at least for an Illinois-er. I spent all of last week is New York! The flight to NY and back was perfect:

Leaving Chicago Monday afternoon...








Flying so high in the sky!!


I’ll just let my pictures tell the story…

My brother was scared to fly into the big bad city of New York...



But when we neared the city--it was amazing...














Then our adventure began...

Monday night we arrived and had dinner at the little eatery at our hotel. PAN American in Queens (one of the 5 boroughs of NY)--"the most convenient hotel in NY!" was the banner hanging outside. It was sweet because most of the people that stayed there were from around the NY area, or they were foreigners from Norway to Ireland to Minnesota (haha) to Illinois-ers =P.

ANYWAY, the main reason for my trip to NY besides seeing family that I haven't seen in ages?? THE Tour of Light conference held at the United Nations headquarters in New York! Sukyo Mahikari, a spiritual group I am a part of, held the conference. And it was absolutely amazing to meet people from all over the US, not to mention all the youth group members! THAT was exciting. Unfortunately cameras were not allowed in the United Nations headquarters so I have no pictures from this day. Can you imagine some young person like myself in my youth uniform with a whole other group of youth members walking into the United Nations representing something we believe? I felt so honored to have been able to attend such an event! I got to sit in one of the huge conference rooms and have that funny little earpiece w/ the English translator and listen to Odairisama's greeting. If you want any more information about the organization...ask me via email (elota2@uis.edu). So this was an all day event and the main highlight of my week...although there were many others..

So how can one top something like going to a huge conference in the UN?? Nothing really...but it can get kind of close.

Wednesday we rode in style and took a tour through Manhattan. (and the main reason why we had a limo instead of a tour bus for the first half of the trip was because the tour bus we were supposed to take broke down!)



So..onto the first stop on the tour:



Too bad King Kong took the day off...I wouldn't blame him though...it was pretty chilly up there..



the very top of the Empire State Building



a couple of shots that I took when I was up in the observatory:













Our next stop after the Empire State Building everyone's favorite stop: LUNCH!!
So our tour guide, Jay-jay had us eat like a "new yorker" and we had to eat in a deli, cuz that's how new yorkers do it. And MAN, was that an experience...never in my life had I had to order something so quickly in such a tiny cramped space. But what a rush! haha..never knew ordering some pizza would be so crazy.

Then our next stop was right across the street:


The ferry ride was windy/rainy but awesome:
another ferry passing by with the Statue of Liberty coming up...



my brother being a goof...we're getting closer!



A pic my brother took of me...and I wasn't really ready...



We shopped around a little bit in the Statue of liberty store at the foot of the Statue...lots of fun! Then we took the ferry back to Manhattan...and I took a sweet pic of the Miss Liberty at dusk....as we were leaving...



For this next stop I'm just going to post pictures...
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And then we traveled around Times Square..got stuck in Times Square traffic at 7pm..and kind went to the UN, but you could barely see it because it was so dark out. We had a chance to shop around the Rockafeller Center and we finally made our way "home."


Wednesday night was when our relatives picked us up to stay with them in Stanton island. That was a really long drive that I can't really remember cuz I think I fell asleep several times...

Thursday: HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The whole point of us getting the whole week off for break. I felt so blessed to have the opportunity to go on such an amazing vacation...of course there's always the little bickering--but in the end we all still love each other..(insert: awwwwwww). Reflecting this past week I realized how blessed I really was, and that I shouldn't take for granted all the family, friends, and other blessings in my life. I had so much fun taking a commuter ferry from Stanton Island to Manhattan--to see the all famous Macy's Thanksgiving Parade!! 80th Anniversary!!
This is kind of a funny picture of me...i was freeezing, but it felt so good to be out there:



Friday: We had to leave NY...
Brooklyn Bridge


A sweet shot from my window seat:




....and that's it! That's the end of my NY TRIP!!!! It was amazing...wasn't too long or too short..and was just what I needed to unwind....until friday night when I realized I hadn't done any of my homework that was due after the weekend....!! But I still hung out w/ Brian and Kevin friday night..and we watched Borat...THAT was an 'interesting' film...that's all I'll say about that.

The rest of the weekend, I got to spend time with friends in their hometown and just enjoy the rest of my 'break'! It was good to see old friends and finish up all my homework. Sunday was a blast moving back into the dorms and getting a feel for the old room again.

And then I realized I had a ton of homework to do....

thankfully I was able to finish it all by the time it was due ;)! Note to self: stop being a procrastinator.

And that's my break! Fantastic huh? Sorry it took so long to post.

Also, today is November 30th, the last day for a certain individual to work for UIS--and I would just like to take a moment to wish well to a Mrs. Donna Tucker. And a CONGRATULATIONS on YOUR RETIREMENT!!! It's well deserved, and for the short time we worked together--all the random lunch conversations, we became friends over the year! You really went out with a bang! 3 parties in one week, you must be someone special!! I wish you all the best in any future endeavors you may have, and may you bring a smile (like you did with all of us in SUITE 525 in the PAC) to any person you meet!!!


And with this, goodnight. :)!

So...it's been a long time...

Of COURSE I'll start my latest blog with a picture slideshow:

Warning: Not reading the entirety of the blog may cause an individual to spazz frequently until the whole blog has been read. :)




Yes Yes...yes it has been a long time since I've bloggd.. And why is that? It's because at UIS I pretty much don't have time to do the things I need to do, like blog! I can't believe how quickly time is passing by! To all you freshman reading this (and anyone else new to college in general) DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME! Enjoy it while you can. And when I say enjoy, by no means am I endorsing you all to throw your homework away and dance all night...(although dancing is quite fun..and I encourage you all to dance when can, even if you're in your room all by yourself..it's very freeing...and yes I dance in my room by myself.)

Back to my blog...ENJOY COLLEGE. Meet new people. Stay in contact with all the ones you do meet, but just spread yourself out a little bit :)! I can't tell you how crazy it is to think that a simple smile to someone passing you by out on the quad or in the food emporium can lead to a new friendship! It's pretty sweet =P. Plus, if you grumble all your days away, what are you left with at the end of the semester? You'll be left this heavy feeling of regret for not enjoying the "happier" times at college. You'll realize that even though you had to stay up all of sunday night to finish that essay due at 10am the next morning, you and your roommate were able to sit and talk about your fun weekend. (However, it does get a bit tiring having to write an essay every sunday night...I encourse you all to get that time management thing down..because I still haven't! Oops =P!)

So, what have I, Liz, the seemingly uninvolved blogger, been up to? Since, let's say...the last weekend in October?

Well, my pictures tell it all! Of course that last weekend of October was Halloween! ooo spookiness! :) But not all of it was spooky =P.

I went to the fall music showcase that friday on the 27th, and listened to the choir belt some funky Africa geography piece, heard some crazy tune by the "celluba" group (a quartet of 2 cellos and 2 tubas..that's the name they came up for themselves!) And saw some friends sing and play their hearts out!! To everyone involved in that showcase, fantastic job! It was a fun night and I got a good laugh trying to take some pics of you all! :)

An old friend of mine came up from Carbondale to visit all of us UIS folk (he used to go to LLCC but pretty much was a UISer.) After the fall music concert we all hung out at our friend's apartment and then had some coldstone in downtown springfield! Although it was the night everyone was watching the Cardinals game..we were a little delayed waiting for the results for the world series..so we had like 30 mins or so to make it to downtown and get some ice cream. But we definately made it! After ice cream, had some fun times rendevouzing around the city...it's so beautiful (and creepy!) walking around late at night, since the streets are so empty.

Saturday--I vaguely remember what happened during the day, but I'm pretty sure I did alot of homework (haha, I probably tried to block it from my memory) and lots of laundry. and then the YAY SATURDAY NIGHT! Our friend Lincoln, and a close group of us went out to Red Lobster for a dinner celebration...which almost turned into a nightmare! Never in my life have I waited so long to be seated at a table. There were not available tables for 7 people...and we pretty much waited a good 2 hours (or close to it!) But hey, when in you're in the presence of good company, good food, and great conversation...maybe that 'little' wait was worth it, huh? Yeah, in retrospect I can easily laugh and be positive about it..but I think we were about ready to walk on over to Cici's pizza..but thank goodness we stayed...I love seafood and don't get it enough. So that was a fun adventure..then we had a movie night at one of the guys' apartments with a nice big group of us and watched the Amityville Horror-not a good movie to watch when you're friends know that you're terrified of movies like that and they randomly "jump" you! And you scream like a little kid and everyone just kind of stares at you for a good 5 seconds or so and then burst into laughter...

yeah, it's not fun being that person. =P

So anyway, Sunday, lincoln had to leave for carbondale--so we all just hung out in our dorm room and took pictures, listened to music, and had some crazy brownies that Brian's mom made--haha. Man, it was some good times with an old friend :).

The rest of sunday: some homework here and there and then.....PARTY NIGHT! haha, oh yes, by party night, I mean, dressing up like some crazies for Halloween and going to the Monster Bash! I think the best part of the night was the dressing up and putting on crazy make-up and just dancing around. They had it in the PAC in conference room c/d I think. Even though we got there a little late and left (to get some food) and then came back--only a couple of hours to dance! it was still pretty fun! good food over there too. :) Sigh, I wish I could dress up and put on crazy make-up like that all the time. =P

Monday Night: I think I did some homework...but the night we had all been waiting for..yes...it was the HAUNTED TRAIL!!!

Fantastic job to the EastSide R.A.s for a great job! You scared the bejeezuz out of me!

Even though my cool group of four people: Brian, Christie, and Grace were all clinging to each other, I was still terrified. Of course Brian wasn't scared, Grace was JUST as scared..or even more so scared than I was, and poor Christie kept getting left behind and getting smacked by trees!

First of all, getting out to those words is already pretty scary, but then having to walk through it w/ just one tiny little glow stick and hearing rustling in the bushes..of course you have to be scared. The first person that came out and screamed at us made me so scared that I kicked my shoe off!! And it pretty funny, cuz it was like we called a time out or something so we could find it. And I'm pretty sure one of those guys helping us out was Jeremy. haha! Chad scared the crap out of me the most though...we saw him laying on the ground..and I was really too afraid to look..and and he jumped up right in our faces and we ran screaming.

Oh, and just a note to my group: THanks for telling me that Chad was right behind me afterwards!!! PSH. All the sudden I hear breathing..and he's like right there! That was some good scary stuff. Everyone did a really good job of being creepy and stealth..and we lucked out on the chainsaw guy..cuz we ran right by him cuz his chainsaw wasn't working just then! Lucky! Anyway, it was a good night, and Jorgie (my roommate--and 05-06 UIS blogger) tried to go back later on that night w/ Christie, but they had just finished. So it was kind of disappointing cuz we ran all the way over there..and at the stroke of midnight they finished...

:) But it was fantastic!

So that pretty much sums up October.

November so far? (I can't believe I'm writing this and it's already the 13th...)

The spirit team got to perform for the first men's basketball game of the season on Nov. 1st! We won, big time, all I can remember is me feeling extremely nervous, and wanting to be out in the crowd...but I'm glad I wasn't! Our teams have been doing pretty well this season, both girls and guys! :) Keep the UIS BLue spirit up guys!!

The first weekend of November had been planned for a girls weekend out w/ my roommate and suitemates! Unfortunately one of them couldn't go, but Taylor, our lovely host and suitemate, was so kind to open her home to us (Geneseo, IL! ) Oh what fun we had there...never have I watched so many movies in one weekend and met cool parents..and oh goodness was the food good =P! Of course we watched scary movies, and Jorgie and I are pretty horrible w/ flicks like that. But we also saw The Mighty, good movie, I'll just throw that movie suggestion out there. Hot tubbin in the middle of fall was fantastic--but so horribly cold when we had to run from the tub to back up the deck and inside the house! =P But a very sweet weekend to run away from homework.

BUT, since I didn't get much homework done over that weekend...it felt like I was behind in homework for a couple of days. And I realized that I should start doing my homework as soon as I get it, so as to not worry about it later like I did that one week.

Classes have been crazy this month. It feels as if I've been reading/writing all the time now. Not that I didn't before, but it just seems so intense. I felt like I was constantly studying for quizzes/tests and looking for quotes and making citations for a paper that due in a couple of days.

I'm ready for a break! Thank goodness it's Thanksgiving! ;) I'll have something to be thankful about =P!

Anyway, it's getting late...to be continued....


Next time on liZ's blog: more late night rendevouzing??!? the watching of Home Alone and Home Alone III, killer plants, the little princess, Bible study, CSF crazies, and card game extraveganzas!!! =P




:) It's gonna be a good month :)