Look at me, I 'm updating!

Well What do you know? It's only been 8 days since my last post! I'm improving!

So this past weekend was Rachel's birthday. We went to New York on friday morning. We spent Friday (in the rain mostly) going to the American Museum of Natural History. That was pretty cool, it was neat to see where "Night at the Museum" was filmed. It would be even better if I could go back several times and spend each visit on on exhibit- there was soo much stuff in there that would be really cool to just thoroughly read through. After that we walked around and back to our hotel room for a quick break and then ventured out back on the city to navigate the million umbrellas on Times Square. We were searching for a place to eat and it was raining and cold and a ton of people so we just settled on Applebee's. After that, we just head back to the hotel and called i t a night. On Saturday, we went shopping at Bloomingdale's and then we found a cute little market-like thing on the way back from Bloomingdale's and Rachel and I both bought 2 very cute knock-off purses and some earrings. Mom also bought Rache a cute hat and me a very soft scarf. After that we ended up seeing two shows that day: Young Frankenstein and Curtains. Both were really good- David Hyde Pierce was in Curtains and he did an amazing job in it. And then on Sunday morning, we hit the road back to Columbia. It was a very nice and relaxing weekend.

Monday night we went out to dinner to celebrate Rachel's birthday. We went to this new place called On the Border. It's a mexican restaurant that's about to open, so were like their practice. Everything was free except for the booze. It was very yummy! After that we went home and Rachel opened her presents and then off she went to hang out with her friends.

That pretty much sums up my weekend. Last night in an effort of procrastination- I created a photo ablum to put some pictures up for you guys. Right now it's just some random ones from this semester, but hopefully I'll get some up of this summer too. Here's the URL(you can just click on the picture or on my screen name):
by sarahbunga823

Enjoy!

-Bunga

Yes, I'm still alive!

So I figured there are more productive uses of my time besides sitting on the couch watching season three of Grey's Anatomy. My one and only class today was canceled because the professor was sick, so I've been studying all day long. So I thought that it would be a great time to blog (since I haven't done it in forever!)

So things in College Park are, well, busy to put it in one word. Classes have picked up big-time and we're right in the middle of mid-term season which means lots of coffee and late nights. So far, everything's going well, 3 A's 2 B's and an almost B :) Hopefully I can maintain this academic energy for the rest of the semester. It's crazy that I'm already half way through the fall semester already, I'll have to start preparing for finals in just about a month! Yikes!

The weather here has been rather funky too. Today, on October 23 (10 months till my birthday!) it was almost 80 degrees outside, and right now, at almost 11 pm it's still 73. Crazy isn't it? We also haven't had rain in a while too- which has been nice because it hasn't been super muggy.

This weekend is my little Rachel's birthday... number 17 can you believe it? I feel like I just turned 17 myself. It's so weird to think about it. To celebrate the occasion, the Kirkwood clan is going to New York City for the weekend. It's been a while since we've been up there so it will be nice to go up again! Plus, I think we're staying in a hotel not where we usually stay, so it will be neat to see other parts of the city than what we're used to.

Hm... what else... Janet and I have been decorating our apartment for Halloween. We just hung up some pumpkin lights around our window in our living room (which keep falling down and scaring us half to death at night), we have a pumpkin that we're going to carve sometime next week, and we're out to look for some more goodies later!

This past weekend I went home on Friday night and spent the night and slept in my own bed. I love sleeping in my own bed :) On Saturday morning I cut and dyed my hair, it's darker and little bit shorter- with bangs! It's nice to have a change. I'll post a picture up later when I have one taken with my new hair- maybe this weekend in new york. Later that day was the football game- which we were leading until the last quarter and we lost by 1 point. It's always so frusterating because losing in the same stupid ways has become habit now. But basketball season is coming up, so hopefully there is some hope there.

So I think that's it! I just wanted to stop in a let everyone know that I'm alive, ha! I'll post a bit later, hopefully sooner rather than later. Love you all!

Sarahbunga

Yikes, time flies fast!

Well hello there! I've finally found time to update in between classes today. It's been a very busy start to the semester. Classes started last wednesday, and between that and working, it's been crazy! Classes seem to be ok, it's goin g to be a lot of work, as usual. They're more interesting than last semester because I'm finally starting to get down to the more concentrated stuff and I'm past all the mandatory classes that have nothing to do with my major. This semester I'm taking : Drug Use and Abuse, Intro to health behaviors, Exercise Physiology, Motor Development, and Motor Control and Learning. In addition i'm taking 2 sports classes: bowling and badminton. On my first day of bowling i bowled the best game i've ever bowled, which means i have to improve off of that score by the end of the class!

The apartment is doing well, it's been great to have my own bathroom and closet (which, by the way is bigger than the bathroom rache and I share at home). The four of us each cook dinner once a night- I made this yummy chicken parmigiana the first night I made dinner, and janet has made baked ziti and stuffed shells. Can you tell we're big on italian food?

On saturday i'm starting a clinic called the Children's Developmental Clinic. Basically, I'm going ot be helping children with physical disabilities improve their motor skills and get them to be more physically active. Which is great, because this is exactly what I want to do in the future! The first 2 weeks are training weeks and then the clinic continues for 9 weeks after that. Should be a great experience!

MD football played villanova last Saturday and beat them 31-13. Woohoo! In a week, we'll play West Virginia, who is a notably better team than we are, so hopefully we can hold our own against them. Lauren goes to WVU so we've both been talking smack to each other =]

Okee dokee, it's about time I head to class. I've got 2 more today and then I'm heading back to the apartment- Janet's making dinner tonight, and it's bound to be scrumptious! And then a night full of reading because I've worked the past 2 nights and haven't had a chance to catch up yet. Hope everyone is doing well, I'll update when I get the chance!!

<3, Bunga

Greetings from College Park!

Hello! So far I am upholding my promise of updating more often (which, given how often I updated before, shouldn't be too hard). Janet and I just moved in to our new apartment yesterday... it went very smoothly. The apartment is larger and smaller than I thought it would be. Our kitchen, bathrooms and closets are all bigger than we had thought, and our living area is smaller. But everything looks great! Janet and I each have our own bathroom and walk-in closet (which is HUGE). I will have pictures up later when we get our decorations up and such. My room is right by the door, so my window has reinforced glass so no one can break though easily. woo! That's always good to have. Janet is living in Columbia for the next 2 days because she has to finish her last week and work, so I have the place to myself for the next couple of days. She'll move in for real on Friday night.

Speaking of Friday night, that's the night that Rachel, Karina and I are going to the OAR concert and Merriweather Post Pavillion. We saw the band perform last year, and they were pretty awesome, so we're going to go see them again this year. Just about everyone that I work with is going as well, so there is going to be some great company.

Karina and I got back last week from a week-long nannying trip in upstate New York. We went with a family that we've babysat before on vacation with 4 other families. They all met in Med School and have been going to the same place on vacation for 10 years now. There was a total of 10 kids, most of which were under that age of 4. Needless to say, it was tough work. But it was also a lot of fun, the kids were so cute! Plus, it paid for books this semester!

The Thursday night that we got back from NY, Karina and I met up with some friends and went to the DC United soccer game vs. LA Galaxy, Beckham's new team. Beckham made his Major League Soccer Debut in the game, playing 20 minutes! He even took off his shirt... twice ;) Yum! Oh yea, and DC United won, 1-0!

I think that's about it for right now...I've got to get ready to go to work. Later!

Bunga

I'm back....! and still broke!

I'm back! After my hiatus from blogging, I'm now ready to start up again. The summer has gone by very very quickly, in 3 weeks I will be moving into the apartment and in just 5 weeks, the fall semester will begin (groan...).

So far this summer I have...
-Worked and worked and worked. Alot.
-Finished (with an A) my summer stat class.
-Seen both sides of the family via Seattle and Alaska Cruise

Yet to do this summer...
-Move in to my new apartment!
-Go to OAR concert
-Go to Kenny Chesney concert
-Begin fall semester (groan...)

This vacation has been awesome and totally relaxing... which has been great considering I have done nothing but work and go to class up until the beginning of July. The cruise was amazing and everything I expected and more... I just wish they had fed us more! Totally not serious, if they had fed us any more I probably would have burst! The sights and scenes of Alaska were all gorgeous, and the fishing and dog sledding and everything else was so much fun. I'm definitely hooked on cruising now! And to unwind there has been no better place than to be at the Kirkwood house. Being able to sit and relax has been great! And of course, the food isn't too bad either ;)

Hopefully there will be another post about the vacation, but if not, I'll at least continue to blog (hopefully on a regular basis...)!


-bunga


p.s. i'm hoping to download all of the pictures that I have, and hopefully every one else's onto a photo album via webshots or something like that. stay tuned!

Woo!

So for all of those who haven't heard yet... I was awarded the Emma Powers "Employee of the Year" Award for Dining Services! Woohoo! It turns out that there are over 500 students employed by dining services and to be the employee of the year out of all them is pretty darn cool! There is a big ceremony where I will be receiving a plaque and a 500 dollar scholarship. =] I'm pretty excited, I'll send pictures when I get them, but the banquet isn't until Early May.

Hm... what else is going on... I'm starting to see the light at the end of the school tunnel.. only around 20 days of school left and then finals! Sweet deal! But then I'll be taking a class at the community college and hopefully interning at a physical therapy practice AND working at mulligan's. Sounds like a busy summer is ahead of me! It'll be nice to be in Steilacoom and on the cruise for three weeks where I won't have to worry about anything! I can't wait!

The weather here has been crazy... it was about 80 degrees for most of the week last week and then I woke up on Saturday morning to about an inch of snow on the ground! What weather! It's supposed to get warm again this week and hopefully it stays!

Other than that, nothing else is really going on, busy as usual!

-Bunga

My how time flies

Woo! We have finally settled our housing for next year! Our original plan to live in the South Campus Commons was foiled last night when we received and e-mail saying they were all full. So instead, we decided to lease an off-campus apartment which is actually less expensive and a little bit bigger I think. We'll be living at the Courtyards, which is conveniently close to both work and my classes. With this apartment complex rent includes all utilities, washer/drier, cable tv, ac, 2 seperate beds with their own bathrooms, an on-site pool, game room and fitness center. Here's our layout! Oh, and guess who are neighbors are? None other than Chris and Brian! The foursome are now only one wall apart! We've decided that we're going to do a once-a-week dinner thing we're we make a nice dinner and eat it together. It's crazy how grown-up I feel! Ha! I wrote a check for a security deposit today and signed a lease, it's crazy! We're all very excited and want to move in as soon as we can, which turns out, is around August 15. Janet and I have already started thinking about how we want to decorate our place!

In other stuff, I've organized a team for Relay for Life at UMD, on April 14, I think it is. So far, I've got about 8 people from work who are going to come and hopefully raise money. I'm looking forward to it, it'll be a lot of fun!

I still haven't heard back about the Emma Powers Award, but hopefully I should hear soon. I'll let you guys know if I hear anything!

That's about it, school, work and this housing thing has been pretty much dominating my life right now, but it's all very exciting!

-Bunga

80 degrees and sunny

I'm on spring break! Woohoo! Because I don't have classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays and because my classes (myself included) have begged our professors not to hold class on Friday, my Spring Break officially started this afternoon at 4 oclock. Not to mention that the weather was GORGEOUS today. It reached 81 degrees and was sunny for a good portion of the day. I actually broke a sweat walking to my classes. It's nice to have the spring weather back, but unfortunately, it's supposed to dip down into the 40's this weekend. =[

Some more exciting news... I was nominated by one of my managers at work for the Emma Powers award, which is the highest recognition that can be received by a student employee in dining services. It goes to the student who... well, I'll just copy and past what the website said about the last recipient:
"2006 Emma Powers Student Employee of the Year Award: Phillip Vogel, Student Supervisor from Good Tidings was awarded the highest honor we can give a student employee. $500 Terrapin Express and an engraved plaque were presented at the May Awards Banquet. This award is presented to the student recognized as having made the most significant positive contributions to Dining Services and the campus community."
So that's pretty cool. My interview is tomorrow with the big-wigs of dining services, so I hope everything goes well. It feels so awesome to even be nominated. I mean, to think that my superiors think that I'm the most influential student employee in dining services, and at 19, is unreal. Wish me luck!

Come to think of it, this past weekend has been pretty good. Last weekend was Shamrock Fest, which is an event that's held annually in DC by a local rock station. It has different Irish bands, some of the big ones being Flogging Molly, Carbon Leaf, and the Kelly Bell Band. They also have rides and carnival type games and stuff so it was a lot of fun. Some of my friends from UMBC came down to College Park and we took the metro down to DC. Here's a pic! (Because by now you've probably figured out I love showing off pictures =] ) It's not exactly the best picture of me, the person who was taking the picture was in a hurry because his train was coming, so there wasn't much time to prep myself!

For Spring Break, I'm going home to Columbia for the week, but as for this weekend, I'm going to West Virginia with my friend Christina (the blonde in the picture) and my other friend Cara from high school. Lauren is very excited to have us, she just got a single dorm room this semester and is very excited to show it off!

Tomorrow the Terps play in the first round of the NCAA tournament. They should be able to make through the first 2 rounds without problem, but their trip will probably end when most likely, they will face Florida in the sweet 16. Hey Grandpa! I have WSU going until the sweet 16 as well.. you'll be very pleased to hear that I said "Go Cougs" today at work, defending WSU in their projected upset against them by Oral roberts. =]

And I think that's about it for me. All in all, it has been a very lovely week. It's now time for me to go to bed and get some beauty sleep! Love you all.

-Bunga

It's been a while!

I'm back! It's been a busy couple of weeks lately. Between work and school, I've had almost no spare time! This is what's been going for the past couple weeks:

-Work has gotten busy with the continuing success of our basketball team, which has earned itself a bid to the NCAA tournament to play with the big dogs. Game days are a huge money maker for the restaurant and require large amounts of staff and lots and lots of time.

-School is starting to get busy... exams are popping up here and there, along with presentations. I missed a few days of classes because of a bacterial infection of some sort. I had a sore throat for a couple days straight without any improvement so I went to the doctor and they ruled out mono and strep, which was relieving, but she prescribed me penicillin for my throat. Soon after that I developed an ear infection and went back to the doctor and she gave me more medicine because apparently penicillin isn't good for ear infections. As of right now, I have the slightest sore throat, but all in all, I'm feeling tons better, which is good, because it makes everything so much easier.

- The weather had been gorgeous the past couple of days! I spent my free time this morning painting my toe nails so that I could break out my flip flops for the first time this year. Today it reached about 65 degrees and it was sunny, the window in our room was open all day long, too bad I was cooped up inside doing work! Hopefully this weather continues, I would love for an early spring!

-That's about it, nothing too exciting. My friend Lauren from high school is coming home for the weekend from West Virginia University, so I think we're going to go out with another one of our friends, Christina. I'm not quite sure what we're doing yet, but I'm excited for the three of us to hang out again together. Here's a picture, not the best of us, but this is when I went up to WVU to visit Lauren.

So that's about it! Hopefully the next post will be sooner rather than later!

-Bunga

Girls just wanna have fun

Today has been a busy one. Maryland Men's basketball team played their rival, Duke today, and we won! woo! That being said, it was a mad house at work today, Mulligan's is a hot spot when it comes to the basketball games. We usually have most of the staff on hand to deal with the crowd. Today I waited tables, which I haven't done in a while, since I've been doing mostly managerial stuff. It was a nice change. Plus, I made some extra tip money, and that's always good =]

This weekend has a been a good one, I'm not looking forward to the upcoming week. On Saturday I worked at 730 am and left work about 3ish and went to get my hair cut. I tried to get a picture of it with Rachel, but you can't really see the cut. It's not totally different, but they added layers, bangs and they thinned it, which is so nice. It takes less time to blowdry and style now, which is good for someone who likes her sleep. =]

That night Rachel and I went on a shopping spree and spent wayy to much money. I hadn't gone shopping in a while, so I bought a whole bunch of shirts and jewelry. There's nothing like holding bags of newly bought clothes and jewelry!

This next week will be rather boring, with the exception of the birthday of one of my friends. Tomorrow night we're having a suprise birthday dinner for her in Bethesda to celebrate her turning 20. I can't believe my friends (myself included) are turning 20 this year! Not to mention my rommate will be 21 in September. When did I get old?!

That's about it. I should get back to reading and preparing for a quiz tomorrow (eewwww...)

-Bunga

It's the weekend!

It's been a long week, I'm happy that it's finally Friday! This week was pretty normal with school and work. Wednesday night I went home and did my overflowing amounts of laundry and slept in my own bed =] It was a much needed break from the college park atmosphere. Thursday afternoon Mom, Rache and I went to go see "Because I Said So", because Rachel had a half day and I don't have classes on Thursdays. It was a cute movie, I liked it. I plan on going back home this weekend, tomorrow actually, to go shopping with Rachel and to sleep in on Sunday. I don't have to be at work until 1 on Sunday, which is a rarity, so I'm certainly going to take advantage of it.

Unfortunately this week also brought a break-up. I broke the news on Monday to Billy. It was time that I just moved on, he represented everything about high school and I felt like I wasn't going anywhere. It was just time. Now I can set my sights on a 3rd year buisness major who comes from old money =] hey, I can dream!

Other than that, nothing much out of the ordinary is going on. I look forward to relaxing tonight and having a movie night with the gang. I don't know how much you guys know about them, so I'll go ahead and tell you guys a little about them (plus, I'm really bored).
Janet is an anthropology and history double major. She's a fellow army brat like myself, we were actually in the same first grade class back in Ft. Huachuca. Her boyfriend, Brian (on the right) is a computer engineering major and he graduated from my rival high school with Chris. Chris has been my friend since middle school and he is an electrical (i think) engineering major. The four of us are really close and we do just about everything together.

Well that's it for me, maybe I'll think of something more exciting for my next post.

-Bunga

Windy at the Golf Course

Today has been a busy day at work... I set up for a retreat going on in our banquet room at the clubhouse and then I'm filling in as bartender today until 4 because I had forgotten to schedule one for this afternoon.. oops! Oh well, it'll be some extra moulah! =]

Yesterday Janet and I put in our application for lease for the South Campus Commons, which are our on-campus appartment complexes. They are very nice! Here is the floor plan for our future (hopefully) appartment:

It's two bedroom and two bathroom and includes all utilities, including washer and dryer and the appartment is fully furnished. It's a tad bit expensive, but it's nothing that a few extra hours at Mulligan's won't fix. We don't find out until March 13 whether or not we've been granted a lease, but we're keeping our fingers crossed.

Tomorrow is the super bowl, looking forward to having the gang over at the house to watch the game and pig out of junk food. Super Bowl sunday is one of those days where calories just don't count. Or at least that's what I tell myself. :-D

Ok, off to do more work. I guess I should actually get this bar in shape if I expect to make any tips!

-Bunga

My first!

Well, I figured that since I am hardly ever at my house in Columbia anymore, that I would create a blog similiar to the Kirkwood grandparents and create a blog to inform family of my latest happenings!

I was taking a break from reading my latest story for my Greek and Roman mythology book about Prometheus stealing fire from the gods to give to man and getting punished for it, when I found an ample way to procrastinate! Hopefully I will remember to update this and give you guys of an idea of what is going on in my busy busy life! Who knows, maybe this will become a family craze!

Today was spent at work because I configured my classes this semester so that I don't have classes on Tuesdays or Thursdays. I spend these days now working at Mulligan's and bringing in the moolah. Today is Thursday, which means that most of today at work was spent trying to make up the student schedule at work, an almost impossible task. Eventually it did get completed though, after a long couple of hours and lots of Diet Pepsis. =]

Tonight I will be working on lots of school work for class tomorrow, but of course, taking an hour break to watch Grey's Anatomy that comes on in about 10 minutes. I highly recommend watching it, It's a great show!

Tomorrow will mark the beginning of a long-awaited weekend and of course, the Super Bowl! The gang and I will be heading up to the house to watch the game on Dad's big screen in our basement as we did last year. Chris of course has asked for his own personal jar of french onion dip to keep him happy. I am rooting for the Bears, because I would rather Seattle have lost to the super bowl team than to any other team.

It is now Grey's anatomy time, I will update again soon!

-Sarahbunga