Time Flies When?

Time flies when you're having fun right? Right, but that's not the whole story, time flies regardless of what you are doing. Here we are July 27th and just yesterday was the first time this summer that Janelle, Aunt Sharon and I swam across the cove, in fact it was Aunt Sharon's first time in the water at all!!

Next week is my last week interning with Senator Dodd's office and then it's just 2 1/2 weeks until I move back into school!! Things have been somewhat stressful and very exhausting at home, but regardless I wouldn't want to spend my summer any other way. This summer I have become incredible close with my family, having spend little to no time with anyone outside of my family and it has been great! This summer has been filled with stress and difficult moments but the closeness I have found with my family is priceless.

If I won a million dollars

Not that it's news to me or probably to any of you either but family is the most important thing in any one's life. Those of us who are lucky enough to have a family like mine, where we can stick together through thick and thin are the luckiest people on earth.

Of course I would love to win a million dollars, wouldn't you? It doesn't matter in life how much money you have but rather how you spend your time, money, and how you share your love. Those who know me know that I would describe myself as motivated and driven to achieve success in my life. Those who are close to me know that my number one goal is to make enough money to fix up my family's lake house.

We spend weekends, holidays, and really as much time as possible at the lake. It's my favorite place to be. Whether it's a rainy day and we watch a movie or play board games or a sunny day that we spend in the lake, laying in the sun, or taking crazy rides on the jet ski, the lake is always GREAT! This is a great place because here I am surrounded by family. I love my friends, but when push comes to shove family is all we have in this world because they will always be there for you.

So to my family, all of you, no matter how crazy we can all be at times, no matter what we are there for each other and because of that I love you all!

So what would you do if you won a million dollars?

summer weather

Today I heard reports of a possible high of 90 degrees!! If it hits 90 today that will be the first time this summer!! It's hard to believe that it has been such a cool summer, wearing warmer clothes every night almost and wrapping up in a blanket, at night when the windows and fan were all on.

Although I love the warm weather and am lucky enough to have a relief from it at the lake, the humidity that often follows it here in New England is not always welcome, especially by my HAIR!!

Looking at the sunshine out the windows here in Hartford, I can't wait to jump into some shorts and head to the lake house tonight!

Fridays :)

It's Friday and I had to get up earlier than I would have liked to go to Hartford for my internship, but I woke up to the smell of homemade breakfast! Mom is home because she has Fridays off and breakfast is always a nice surprise :)

Off to eat breakfast and get ready to hit the road. Watch for more updates throughout the day from Hartford.

Summer is upon us!

Today was the first day that I was hot enough to bring up the air conditioners!! It was incredibly humid out today when I took my Gramma shopping in Manchester for a birthday gift for my Mom, who will be 50 on Monday. After that I met my mom and her friend John in Niantic for lunch before heading back to town to hang out at the lake for a while. Now I am back home after a quick swim at Gramma and Paka's pool listening to the crazy weather outside.

We are having quite the thunderstorm. The lightening is pretty impressive. I am looking forward to less humid air tonight and tomorrow after this storm passes.

Tomorrow I will be interning all day in Hartford (which means there will probably be more updates) and then possibly spending the night at the lake with Janelle.

I am off to watch the news before heading to bed. Good Night :)

Deaming of the BEACH

Anyone who knows me knows that my favorite place in the world is the lake! I love to be at the lake with my family but lately I am craving sand and salt water!

A couple weeks ago, when my cousin Julia was visiting from Idaho we took the 1.5 hour drive over to Misquamicut RI to spend a couple hours at the beach, and since that day I have this terrible craving to go back!!

This is my last week of class and as soon as I write my final paper, due at midnight tomorrow, I will be free from homework and my schedule will be wide open on Tuesdays and Thursdays, what does that mean? That means that as soon as someone else says they want to go along for the ride my purple '95 Jeep Grand Cherokee will be pointing east and heading to the beach, and when the sun starts to fade I will turn back around and spend the night with my favorite people in the world at my favorite place! The Lake!

outrage vs apathy

Working for the Senator, I take a lot of phone calls from constituents who are outraged by this bill or that bill or by something else they heard. Although being yelled at on the phone for 8 hours can be challenging at times it is a nice break from the apathy that I find myself surrounded with at other times.

Many of my classmates don't follow anything political. This isn't to say that all classmates are apathetic, many are very active in current events, but it is often frustrating to be with people who don't know what I am talking about when I mention something that I read in the newspaper that day.

It is a nice relief to hear from people who follow the news and are concerned about the policies coming out of Washington, even if they don't always have all the facts.

Crazy Weekend

This past weekend was absolutely crazy!! Friday I was at my internship at Senator Dodd's office and I got a call from my mom that she was on her way to pick up my Grandfather, known affectionately as Paka, to take him to the hospital. He is doing much better now, his kidneys are working again and the narcotics that made him very confused and disoriented are now working their way out of his system. He is out of the critical care unit and we expect him home in the next few days.

Despite the scary events with Paka, we did manage to have some good parts of the weekend. Saturday was my cousin Janelle's graduation party which was a great success!! We had a great time celebrating her achievements! I can't believe she is starting college! It's soo exciting!! I am so happy to be so close to her. She is truly my best friend! Saturday night we went to Mohegan Sun to watch a basketball game and have dinner.

Sunday after going to the hospital in the morning we spent some time relaxing at the lake after such a long exhausting couple of days.

Today I am interning until 5 pm and then I am going to visit Paka before having dinner with Mom and Gramma at bingo. Wish me luck!!

Memo from the intern desk

I am sitting here organizing one of the two intern desks in Senator Dodd's office in between phone calls. A lot of people are calling to register their opinions about the Cap and Trade Legislation and the Health care reform. I need to do more research before I can establish my own opinion about those issues. Guess I will do some more reading in the news now until the phone rings again.

What do you do when you are at work or interning and it's slow? Apparently I just blog and read the news....I also spend some time on facebook so go write on my wall!!

Summer Stress

Here we are getting pretty deep into July and last night I had to shut the window because it was so cold out!! Usually by this time every year mom and I have already had our annual argument about who is going to carry the extremely heavy window unit air condition from her room down the hall to mine and then struggle for an hour while we try to install it, but not this year! Last night I was so cold sitting in the living room watching television before bed that we argued about who got to use which blanket!!

I can't believe how fast the summer is passing! It seems like I have spent most of the season stressed out about one thing or another and haven't had much time to enjoy it. Between homework, family, roommates, internships, and a whole pile of other things that all seem to be adding to the twitch my eye seems to have developed.

I am so ready for some relaxing summer days at the lake!

updates

Well it's been a while since my last post-- Since May I have finished my internship with the CT General Assembly, been taking online courses through Quinnipiac, traveled to Boise Idaho, then from there drove to Wyoming and Montana to see Yellowstone National Park, then drove back to Boise to spend time with my cousins that live there. Then a week after returning home my cousin from Boise came to spend a week here in CT. Now that she has returned to Idaho I am finishing up my last online course, and am into my second week as an inter for US Senator Christopher Dodd's district office in Hartford.

I am very excited about this internship and love it so far!! Right now I answer the phones and take messages for people in the office and help with constituent casework. My internship is only about 6 weeks long but I am sure that I will learn a great deal just from being there that short time. On my first day, July 1st, the Senator was in the office but I just saw him walk by, and didn't have a chance to introduce myself to him.

Outside of interning and homework (which will be over next week!!! Can't wait!!) I spend as much time as possible with my family at the lake!! Janelle Schmittberger my cousin just graduated from Hale-Ray high school in Moodus, CT and that was a very exciting and stressful time for our family. No family is perfect but what is great about mine is that no matter how much stress we all have or who makes mistakes we are all there for each other and we stick together to work it out.

Well I am off to do some homework before I head out to the lake to see my little cousins, Alyssa (10) Evan (6) and Lily (4) and their beautiful mom Aunt Nicole, then to do a little shopping and have dinner with mom, Teri.