Who Mentored You?

There are different days, weeks, and months known for different things, such as World AIDS Day and Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Well, I bet that you did not know that January is National Mentoring Month!

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One of the best things I did in college was join a mentoring program. My junior year I joined one on my schools campus, and quickly became close with Nikki. It wasn't very long before I was officially accepted into the mentoring program and Nikki and I became a mentor/mentee pair. I couldn't have imagined a better mentee. We were very similar in our taste in music and a lot of the things we liked. She helped me when I was ice skating for the first time in many years, and we learned to snowboard together. We also share many of the same mannerisms, and so I feel like she reminds me a lot of myself when I was in my early teens. I even was asked on campus once if she was my younger sister.

It doesn't take a lot to make a difference in someones life. Just a phone call and a few hours together one day a week can really make more of an impact than you might be aware.

So take time this month to thank someone who mentored you. And take someone under your wing and mentor them.

You'll be glad you did. Happy Mentoring Month!

Books and Stuff

Wow... this is the longest amount of time I've gone without updating this little blog since I started it! Anyway, at the end of December I was feeling like I was coming down with a cold. 2 weeks and 2 doctors appointments later, I'm told I have a sinus infection. So not a fun way to start of 2012! Luckily, I've been planning out goals. I've also been reading some of the new books I got for the holidays.

Oh, and to keep this from becoming a blog where I only discuss books, I've started a tumblr account & a blog over there called Monique's Bookshelf. So if you want to know what I thought about a book I've read, or what's on my list, then check that out!

Last week I did try to lay low, I ended up getting up on Thursday and Friday super early to help the family I babysit for get the kids ready for school. I also ended up meeting my friends Carolyn and Steph for coffee. We then ended up at Target since Steph needed to look for a coffee press or something, which turned into just wandering through the store since we didn't really have anywhere to be. I found adorable clearance shoes for $6! I bought them, and although I probably should be trying to save every penny possible, I'm glad I did! I wore them on Saturday with a skirt and tights, and then today with jeans!

On Saturday, my friends Ruth and Mike were having a house warming/blessing/grad/birthday party. It was funny when my mom asked what the occasion was for this party, and I replied "What isn't the occasion?" I got to see a bunch of my friends and have quality time with them, and we ate our fill of delicious food!

Hopefully I will be back with actually decent posts once my sinuses are less congested and I can actually think straight!

eleven

Note: This is a super long post. Feel free to just skim & check out the pictures.

Since my pre-teen years, my favorite number has been 11. Which I guess is partially why I was so looking forward to 2011. And now, with the year coming to a close, I thought I'd take the time to reminisce about the year we are about to leave behind. As much as I sometimes get into a funk about the whole economy/job situation, 2011 has been an okay year.

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My mentoring program had two awesome fundraisers, one duct taping a security guard to a wall (voluntarily) and an Iron Chef competition. They were both fun, and my team won the Iron Chef. Seriously, great great events. I went bobsledding and it was one of the coolest experiences I've ever had in my life. It was awesome.

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In March, I turned 23. It was one of the best birthdays I've ever had. I got a cake made for me at the dining hall, thanks to my mother. Eileen sent me flowers with the most beautiful note, I was in tears. A few of my residents from the building I lived in gave me flowers too. I found out our building won an energy conservation challenge. I really could not have asked for that day to have gone any better.

[caption id="attachment_298" align="alignleft" width="224" caption="Flowers from Eileen!"][/caption]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I competed in my school's Elevator Pitch competition in the non-profit/social advocate category, pitching a mentoring program of course, and won 2nd place! I helped Kayla with her One Day Without Shoes events, and we walked in the rain down Church Street in Burlington. It was a cold but fun day, and got a lot of local press!

[caption id="attachment_303" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Leaving campus at 5AM (and running on little sleep) for a weekend in Maine!"][/caption]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I spent a weekend traveling with DREAM, my mentoring program to Maine where I was able to spend quality time with my mentee, as well as the other kids and mentors. I was impressed with the ability of the mentors, staff, and kids to handle whatever was thrown at us that weekend, including our bus breaking down and a late late night getting home.

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I was able to go home right before graduation and finals to spend time with my friend Ruth for her Easter birthday. I graduated college in May. It was a beautiful ceremony (albeit in a stuffy building). I got to spend time during Senior Week with friends, attending a Red Sox baseball game, taking a cruise around Lake Champlain. I attended a dinner for the Senior Class and the Trustees of the school, where our Senior Class Gift committee announced that we had over 50% participation, beating prior years and our goal. I got to see the girl I mentored for the past two years "graduate" 8th grade. It meant so much for me to be able to be there for her. When she saw me there, she was so excited, and you could tell it meant a lot to her too.

I ran/walked 3.1 miles as part of a relay team in the Vermont City Marathon, on behalf of Outright Vermont, a great organization that works with LGBTQA youth in Vermont. I had a wonderful graduation party with many family and friends there to spend time with me.

[caption id="attachment_305" align="alignleft" width="225" caption="My mom and I at Ruth's wedding."][/caption]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was glad to be able to be the maid of honor not just once, but twice this year. In June, I was in my friend Ruth's outdoor Maine wedding. And in July, I was in Eileen's wedding. They were both beautiful days with memories I will cherish for a long long time.

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I adopted Charlie, and got to go visit my friend Natasha when I did. I had a wonderful visit and Charlie was amazing on the 5+ hour car ride to Maine... he barely meowed at all!

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I got to go to a concert with a friend, and a concert with my family. My mom and I did laughter yoga, and my dad got my copy of "Design Sponge" signed while he was on a business trip. I started Cool & Pretty Things & this blog.

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I got my first tattoo! It's the tree of life, with hearts for leaves... and the red and turquoise hearts are for my grandparents. My mom and sister got the same design, and the same day we went, my two cousins went and got red cars (for Richard "Red" Carr).

All the while, I met new friends, became closer with some, reconnected with some old ones, and have so many friends now that I consider family. I couldn't be more grateful to have them in my life. For Mike and Ruth's family to become my "Aunts" and Moms... same with Natasha's family. The kids that Ruth and I both babysit, we call "our" kids we love them so much.... it's really made this year so much better.

This year was not without some trials and tribulations. I had some major airport problems getting home from an out of state interview. I got waitlisted or denied from all 6 grad schools I applied to. I found out that my grandfather had passed away the day before my graduation (and since I went straight to the out of state interview, it was a few days before I was told of the news). I've spent a good 3-4 months of this year unemployed, and have been dealing with a lot of migraines lately. We found out that our roof of our house was underbuilt and had a huge deal with getting the entire roof replaced.

[caption id="attachment_302" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Roof Construction"][/caption]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And I'm ending the year with a sinus infection. But, what can you do!

There are definitely way more positive things that have happened this year than the negatives. And really, most of those bad things that happened aren't the worst thing in the world. I'm grateful to have a roof over my head, food to eat, clothing and shoes. And books, computers, and to be alive.

If you made it through that then I am SO thrilled! And you should let me know so I can send you some baked goods or something. Like really. Also, I will never ever write another post that long.

Credit to the picture of Charlie goes to Natasha, picture of Eileen and I, is Eileen's.

Lovely Package Exchange 2011

Being broke probably should have deterred me from joining Oh Hello Friend's Lovely Package Exchange but it didn't, and I'm glad! I got paired up with Jasmine and it was awesome! We emailed back and forth a bunch of times so by the end of the exchange it felt like I had known her forever! She was super creative and her packaging was beautiful. I kind of didn't want to unwrap everything it was so pretty!

 

 



WOW!

 

 

 

 



Awesome notebook with kitties!

 

 

 

 

 



Armwarmers (Since I hate the cold), and yarn since I mentioned I wanted to learn to knit!

 

 



A seriously cute little bowl for Charlie!

 

 

 



Also, treats for Charlie, and he just had a ton of fun playing with all the packaging materials!

 

 

 

 



Beautiful note and fun clip!

 

 

 

 



Beautiful box with stickers, a wonderful little tiny box with a Mother Theresa quote.

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

I got her a cool little Maine souvenir, a book of Sudoku, a Tumbler (mug) with some tea, notebooks, lip balm and a headwrap.

 

 

 

 

I loved being a part of this fun exchange, and although it was my first time, I definitely want to do it again next year! I LOVED all of the items I got, and opening each one was SO fun! Jasmine liked her items too, and I gained a new friend. What an awesome time!

What I Wore: On Christmas Eve

shirt: I'm actually not sure where I got it! | skirt: Maurices | tights: Target ($5) | necklace: Maid of Honor gift from Ruth | watch: American Eagle Outfitters | bracelet: MoH gift from Eileen | shoes (not shown): Movember TOMS

Went to see family and go to church, and needed to look like I actually put some thought into my outfit. This is what I ended up with.

A-Z of Me

Found this through someone else's blog and thought it was cool. So here's an A-Z of me!

A.  Age: 23

B.  Best Friend: Eileen. And my mom.

C.  Chore That You Hate: Loading the dishwasher. Unloading it is fine. Emptying the trash is fine… there is something about dirty dishes that freak me out.

D.  Dogs: only Abby, our family pooch!

E.  Essential Start To Your Day: Sadly… it’s checking email and reading blogs on my google reader.

F.  Favorite Color:  Pink or yellow!

G.  Gold or Silver: Silver.

H.  Height:  5'3" (I’m a shortie!)

I.  Instruments You Play:  I played violin in 4^th grade, and I attempted to learn guitar.

J.  Job Title:  being awesome. :)

K.  Kids:  None. I have kids in my family and kids I babysit who I’m content with for now.

L.  Live:  Maine. The way life should be.

M.  Mother's Name:  Pam. But I call her mom. Or Mommy!

N.  Nicknames:  Mo, MoMo, Memo.

O.  Overnight Hospital Stays:  Yep. Jaw surgery required like a 5 night stay.

P.  Pet Peeve:  Most things dealing with driving. But when people say something and I don’t hear it, and I ask them to repeat it, and they say never mind. If it was important enough to say the first time, it’s important enough to repeat! Also when people use the word retard/retarded to talk about someone or something being stupid.

Q.  Quote From A Movie: "If you take sexual advantage of her, you're going to burn in a very special level of hell. A level they reserve for child molesters and people who talk at the theater." – Firefly (Which I guess is technically a TV show… but close enough.)

R.  Right or Left Handed:  Right

S.  Siblings:  Younger sister

T.  Time You Wake Up:  Anywhere between 8-11AM, depending on what I’m doing that day and when I went to bed the night before.

U.  Ultimate Vacation:  I’ve been to Hawaii, I wouldn’t mind going there again. I’d love to go to Australia, Moracco, Bora Bora, or the United Arab Emirates.

V.  Vegetable You Hate: Brussel sprouts? I’m not a huge veggie hater.

W.  What Makes You Run Late:  Going anywhere with my family, oversleeping, dog not cooperating.

X.  X-Rays You've Had: Arm, wrist, feet, chest, collarbone, jaw.

Y.  Yummy Food You Make: Eggnog pound cake, honey mustard salmon.

Z.  Zoo Animal:  Ostrich, seal, sea otter.

Why I Embrace the Face

Through For the Love of Blogs I found a Post called Embrace the Face. Started by this lovely gal, it's basically a chance for you to chat about those features of your face that you love and hate.

I know everyone has things about them that they love, and most people have things they hate. I'll be honest, I'm one of them! I hated my name when I was younger, and I hated my hair... Since then I've grown to love both my name and my hair!



So I'm putting myself out there. I'm gonna chat about what I love and hate about my face. Maybe it will help me embrace the features I'm not as thrilled with.

I love my blue eyes. I love that generally my eyebrows behave themselves. I adore my crazy freckles. I like that I generally don't get acne (though that wasn't always the case). I love my nose piercing and I'm glad that I did it.

I don't love that I always look like I have dark under eye circles.... people must think I never sleep. I don't like the little bump on my nose, thanks to a dangerous tennis ball in middle school. Sometimes I look like I have a double chin.

I rarely wear makeup, except for special occasions. It really comes out of laziness of putting makeup on. Though sometimes I think that having a tiny bit of makeup on wouldn't hurt every once in a while.

So there you have it. I random picture of me, with what I like and don't love about my face. Go link up with FLOB or These Hazel Eyes, for a chance to win some cool stuff, and just feel good about getting it out there!