50 Days?!?

Hey everyone!

I can't believe it's already been almost two weeks since we got back from Mexico. Thankfully, the New England weather is starting to cooperate and I'm not freezing cold like I was right when we got back. The first weekend back at school was great-- I got to see all the friends who didn't come with us over break and we got to celebrate St. Patty's Day! Also, Justin came to Stonehill this weekend so it was great to see him. Justin came on spring break with us but doesn't go to Stonehill and it was definitely weird not seeing him every day like we had over break!

Tomorrow night is 50 Days and I can't believe it's already here. If you don't know, the senior class has 3 big events in the spring: 100 Days, 50 Days and 25 Days til Graduation. Mandi and I missed 100 Days because we went to the John Legend concert that night (oh my God it was AMAZING) so we're really looking forward to 50 Days which is at the Top of the Hub in Boston. It's always fun to get dressed up :)

Just a quick post this week, but be on the lookout for pictures from 50 Days next week!

Epic Spring Break Win.

I do not even know where to begin! Last week's spring break in Cozumel was without a doubt one of the best weeks of my life. I mean come on, 7 college seniors, 1 all-inclusive resort and 7 days of sunshine and laying on the beach? WIN!

Our trip started off with all of us meeting at Chris' grandparent's house in Revere on Saturday for a huge home-cooked Italian dinner. We all left our cars there for the week then headed to his actual house for the night as we had to leave for the airport around 2 am. We decided it was just easier to stay awake, rather than get a few hours of sleep and be all groggy at the airport. So, that's what we did! We got to Logan Airport shortly after 2 for our 5:40 am departure to Atlanta (I, per usual, only slept about 15 minutes on that flight, I can rarely sleep on planes) and had a 3 hour layover there in which we all took turns watching our stuff so we could nap. From Atlanta we were headed to Cozumel! Seeing the gorgeous aqua colored water as we flew over the mainland to our little island was breathtaking and we all started to get SO EXCITED! After landing we grabbed a cab and were headed to our resort. After checking into our rooms, we promptly changed into bathing suits and headed down the beach to the swing bar (this bar on the beach had actual swings at it, and yes, I have pictures!) to celebrate my roommate Mandi's 22nd birthday!

Missing this walk sooooo much right now...

A special drink for the birthday girl!!

All 7 of us on the first day there! Chris, Andy, Jenny, Mandi, Jill, me and Justin

After a few frozen drinks, we headed back for the evening to nap and all ended up falling asleep early as the previous sleepless night finally caught up with us. We intended to celebrate Mandi's birthday the next day buuuuut.... she woke up the next morning with strep throat of all things!

So unfortunately Mand was out of commission for the next couple of days but was able to see a doctor and get some antibiotics. Luckily, she felt pretty good on Wednesday and was able to join us on what was probably the funniest/best adventure of my life. We wanted to go to the other side of the island to surf/boogie board and the good waves weren't on the side that our resort was on. So we rented two Jeeps through our resort, but they were stick-shifts. Only Mandi and Chris knew how to drive a stick, so it ended up being Mandi, Jill, Jenny and I in one car and Chris, Justin and Andy in the other... Chris and Justin had been to our resort before and claimed they knew where they were going and knew how to get to the beach... Yeah... they definitely didn't! We drove around for so long (with Mandi trying to control the ridiculously crappy stick shift) because, in typical boy fashion, they wouldn't ask for directions. Finally they did and we got where we needed to go (since Justin speaks fluent Spanish he finally asked some people and after a few wrong directions we eventually got where we needed to be).

We thought the waves were so pretty... til we tried to surf in them!

I love this picture-- this is Mandi driving us down the coast to where the boogie boarding was. I stuck my camera up in the air since our Jeep was one of those open air ones and caught this cool angle.

Please note Jenny about to fly through the air on the upper left and Justin panting for breath on the bottom right... we all got WORKED.

But it was hilarious, 4 girls in bathing suits in this bright red Jeep trying to work the stick, no clue what the speed limit was driving down the main road in Cozumel getting cat called from all the Mexican men. That's a memory I won't forget anytime soon! The waves were AWESOME on the other side and after attempting to surf in 6 ft waves and subsequently failing, we got our boogie boards and rode the waves til dusk. There was this one moment when we were all kind of finishing up boogie boarding and were standing alone on the gorgeous beach watching the waves crash in, the sky was turning colors in preparation for the sunset and it was just us and the water-- it was the coolest feeling for me, I can't really describe it but it was just one of those feeling like "I can't believe we're doing this! This is my life right now, and I love it" There I was in a foreign country with 6 of my favorite people and we had rented cars to go boogie boarding; it felt incredibly grown up for some reason. One of those "Remember when we...?" moments. We drove back to the resort just as the sun was going down and it was beautiful.

Other highlights of the week include karaoke night, Italian dinner night, playing in the inflatable water trampolines and slides in the ocean, swimming til dark, adventuring on the beach at night and just hanging out by the pool with some of my favorite people. And of course... my birthday!

Dressed up for karaoke!

J-Bean rocking out ; )

Then Jilly caught me up there!

I spent the day lounging at the pool and the swing bar then watched the last sunset of the week from a lounge chair on the beach (hello, perfection) and I daresay the sunset that day was the best one yet! Then we all got ready and went into downtown Cozumel for dinner at Carlos & Charlie's and drinks and dancing at Senor Frogs! The night was SO MUCH FUN and the waiters (and my friends, for that matter) made my birthday VERY memorable. Let's just say the wait staff at Senor Frogs knows how to treat a birthday girl ;)

Chris, Mandi, me and Justin at the swing bar for my birthday!

The most gorgeous sunset ever-- note the boat sailing past. Take me back!

A VERY excited birthday girl! That was the menu at Carlos & Charlie's, so cool

All of us with the famous "Yard" drinks at Senor Frogs

A bit scared as to what the waiters have in store for me! Luckily they were very nice : )

We were all so sad to fly home the next day but got back to Boston without a hitch. Both flights were a bit delayed and despite the massive overload of people trying to get through customs in Atlanta, everything went according to plan. Because our plane didn't land til after midnight, we didn't get back to Stonehill til about 2 am, which was the only downside.

Andy got a bit tired at the end of a looooong day!

All in all, it was an incredible vacation and one I'll always remember. Thanks to the best friends in the world for coming and making my birthday so special :) I love you all!

Let's go back?!

48 hours and counting...

In less than 48 hours from now, you can picture me and 6 of my best friends lounging casually in flip flops and shorts, drinking margaritas on the Mexican beach! I know, I know, you hate me (unless you're going away for Spring Break too), but let me tell you I NEED this vacation. My two awful weeks are FINALLY over, all my midterms are taken, papers written and books read. My vacation is beginning quite nicely as I sit here in Mandi's kitchen watching her prepare us delicious enchiladas (to get in the Mexican state of mind) from scratch, I might add for dinner tonight. Tomorrow I'll drive up to Newton and spend the day with Jill while Mandi's at work and then all 7 of us will reconvene at Chris' house Saturday night since we need to leave for the airport around 2am on Sunday morning (um, ew... I don't think we're planning on going to bed).

I am SO excited for this. If you've been following my blog from the beginning, you know that we booked this vacation back in October. I can't believe it's finally here! Some of our friends are going to Punta Cana in the Domincan Republic and they left last night. Ironically, Mandi and I went to Punta Cana last year for spring break with our friend Erin. It was sooo beautiful there and we celebrated Mandi's 21st in beach style :) That was her birthday present from her family and I was more than happy to be invited along!

Since nothing has been going on in my life worthy of taking pictures (I don't think you'd care to see the 32 page study guide I had for my 7 chapter juvenile delinquency midterm) here are pics from last year's spring break in Punta!

The view of gorgeous Punta Cana from the airplane-- I WAS SO EXCITED!!

Mandi, Erin and me on our beach! The beach we went to had bean bag couches and chairs (you can see one in the background) and those were so clutch all week!

Our apartemente! The balcony with the towels drying on it was ours.

Hahaha one of my favorite pictures from the vacation-- we were very saddened to find out that life does not always in fact take Visa. The Octopus Bar in Punta Cana did not accept our Visa cards. We were less than pleased because that got in the way of pina colada time.

Another great memory-- the website of the apartment boasted "24 hour security and a gated community"... ummm yeah, this chain was the closest thing to a "gated community" we could find. As for 24 hour security, it was more like daytime Spanish-speaking man hanging out by said chain.

Fishie love <><

And then we had a photo shoot on the beach in dresses. Because we can. Erin Kazaz is too cute for words in this picture.

LOVE THIS PHOTO.

This is another all-time great Fishie photo :)

Erin and I at the Hard Rock Cafe celebrating Mandi's 21st!

I can only hope that this year's spring break will be as great as last year's... and I'm sure it will!