Let's Go Sox!

Happy Birthday Belated Birthday Eirbear, Chad, and Zach!

I was so happy I got to catch up with one of my best friends, Erica, on her birthday last week.

She turned 20 at midnight on October 7^th.  Of course, being the dork that I am, I called her right when the digital clock flashed 12:00.

We chatted for about 20 minutes and attempted to fill each other in on everything going on in our busy lives.

I miss her so much!

During high school, I took for granted all the mornings my girls and I would sit in the auditorium before homeroom, sharing the latest boy drama, and generally counting down the days till we were out of there.

Our daily rituals at lunch – everyone getting iced tea (EXCEPT for me!), Erica singing monster ballads, giving Nikki loopies…laughing until we cried.

By senior year, the torture that was high school, was in essence our therapy.

Yes, I’m gonna say it…

If only I knew then what I know now.

I wouldn’t have taken things so seriously!! I would have gone to more football games instead of working…I would have (dare I say it) failed a test. I wouldn’t have been such a suck-up….OK I probably would have been, but still.

That time flew by so fast, and things have changed so much.

Erica’s at Mount Aloysius College, majoring in elementary education.  She’s in the play and holds a spot on the dance team. Miss I’m-Gonna-Be-Single-For ever now has a super-serious boyfriend, Dave.  They’re adorable!

Jody is taking classes at CCACC in J-town.  She’s a waitress at Eat’n Park (she makes the BEST chocolate banana fudge sundaes – especially for her Jessie!)…and most importantly, she’s the mom to a darling 10-month-old Peanut (of course I nickname my best friend’s baby girl a food item), Hailey. 

This summer, the four of us spent a portion of nearly everyday together.  I got to watch Hailey get her first teeth and eat baby food for the first time…

I just feel like I miss so much when I’m away from them.

Thus being why I’m actually excited to go home this weekend!

It’s time to see Jody & Peanut, Erica, and Brianne, and time to take a break from Pitt – however much I do love this place.

But…I still have a Wednesday night and Thirsty Thursday in store before I head back to Johnstown.  = )

Hail to Pitt!

I AM AN AUNT!

Around 10:30 p.m. (Alaska time) on October 8, 2004, my sister-in-law, Krissy, gave birth to a beautiful baby boy.

Lucas Alan Popovich.

And, let me tell you, he is perfect.

7 pounds, 2 ounces

21 inches long

Friday night, around 6:30, I got out of the shower and saw that I had a missed call from my brother Johnny.  I called him back and he answered the phone with a:

“Jessie, guess what?”

Although I was alone in the room, I’m certain the hugest grin appeared on my face.

I could instantly tell how anxious Johnny was.  He was at home, awaiting the dryer for some necessities, and Krissy was at the hospital.  The doctors planned to induce her that night.

I could see my brother pacing back and forth in my mind, the urge to chain smoke almost causing his hands to shake.

“Just keep talking to me, Jessie.  What do I need to get ready?”

I talked him through rounding things up to take to the hospital.  Toothbrush, toothpaste, clothes for Krissy (don’t forget socks and grandma guchies), the baby’s bag, etc.

When I mentioned perhaps taking a hair tie for Krissy, you would have thought I had just presented the cure to some exotic disease.

“I never would have thought of that!  OK, what else?”

We decided on the crosstitch when I told him it may be a little while before the baby was born. 

I had no doubt in my mind of Krissy’s capability and the feigned ease she would go through labor with – this is the girl who got an incredibly detailed tattoo of a Sacred Heart on her upper back and claims all she felt were dull vibrations (and I don’t doubt that was what she perceived).

Johnny, on the other hand, used to gag when I would even suggest to my parents that I was going to get carsick when we were little.

“I just wanna get there already, Jessie!”

“OK, calm down – just think, you’ve had this image in your mind of what your little boy is going to look like, and in just a couple hours you’ll get to see him and hold him in your arms!  Imagine his tiny fingers…”

“And his little toes that look like peas?” This was the Johnny I knew.

We continued for a little bit, and I asked him if he was ready for this.

“Yes.”

Amazing that such a simple answer, stated with such confidence and affirmation, could have such an effect.

Shortly after, we hung up…I don’t think he heard the slight tremor in my voice those last couple minutes.  I let the tears flow a little harder once we were off the phone.

My big brother and best friend in the world, just two years older than me, was going to become a father that night. 

I looked up at a picture of the two of us as children, standing on the beach at sunset.  His arm is around me, and you can see tiny footprints on the sand around us. The frame that holds the picture simply states:

“When you see only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you.”

Thanks for carrying me, big brother.

Now it’s time to carry someone else.

Back at Pitt ‘n loving it.

After a summer of lingerie and liquor (working at Victoria’s Secret and the Johnstown Brewing Company), I was a little more eager to get back and a lot less traumatized this time when Dad slowed the car a little to allow me to tuck and roll out, grabbing what belongings I could on the way.

There to greet me were two of my girls: Pammy and Lauren.  Our new home loomed behind them, brand-new Pennsylvania Hall. I wanted to get inside and see if the kidney I had sold in order to pay to live there had been worth it.

Not a disappointment.

Who needs vital organs when 4 girls have 2 bathrooms, 2 bedrooms, and a majestic view of the Cathedral through floor-to-ceiling windows in the living room?

Exactly.

Our junk was quickly filling the immaculate suite to capacity.  Then, to top things off, Natasha rolled in several hours later, 6 housing carts in tow.  Mind you, these carts remained in our suite for the next several weeks until Natasha removed them after I made numerous references to taking her life in her sleep.

Sophomore year rocks my world.

We have a ton of friends that live in our hall – it’s like Tower B Part II…but we’ve also made so many more.  Our neighbors in Suite 620 – Matt the Manwhore, Frank the Freak, and Alex the Ass Assaulter.  The guys that live below us in Suite 521 – Chad, Tom, Jim, and Matt – their adorable neighbors Nicole and Kaitlyn, and Hilarie and Tiffini and so many more…anyway, you get the point.  I have friends!

It’s already been an eventful year.

Jody bought me a fish to put on our coffee table in the living room. I was so excited! We went to Wal-Mart and picked out fluorescent rocks and a castle to put in his little bowl. He traveled back to Pitt with me and dad even stopped along the way to get him some fresh spring water.

The roomies and I reached the general consensus of naming him Fishmaster Flex.  And so Fishmaster Flex thrived…

For a whole TWO days.

I had arrived home from a long day of classes and work to find that Flex’s somewhat grungy bowl was now sparkling clean.  Awww.  Someone cleaned his bowl and put new water in it.

Until the terror struck me.

Had they used the spring water?

I ran through the suite, questioning all present.  Lauren didn’t do it.  Natasha didn’t do it.  Pam was at class.

Well, guys, unless it was the Clean-Fishbowl Fairy – WHO DID IT?

Pam arrived home and I promptly asked her about the incident.  She smiled and said, “Yeah, I just cleaned his bowl and filled it back up in the sink.”

I knew, even before I stepped into the living room the following morning, that Fishmaster Flex was dead.  Despite our emergency lifesaving efforts the night before of emptying his bowl and filling it with spring water…Flex had perished at some point during the night.

My fear was confirmed when I walked into the living room that morning and saw him floating.  I insisted that he remain there until all were present for a proper burial that evening.

Pam was made to scoop him out with a spoon and place him gently into the toilet. We then hummed “Amazing Grace” as he was pulled down into the currents, eventually destined to reach his final resting place in the ocean.

R.I.P Fishmaster Flex.

Now, as a constant reminder, his empty fishbowl sits on the coffee table, complete with fluorescent rocks and a hot pink post-it that simply states:

HERE LIES THE SPIRIT OF FISHMASTER FLEX

(soon to be replaced)

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The first week we were here, about six of us decided a trip to Wal-Mart was in order to get some necessities.  So we hopped on the 28X and got off at Robinson Town Centre.

At the wrong stop.

So, in order to get to Wal-Mart, we had to run through huge intersections and walk single file on a median separating the four-lane highway.

If carrying a VCR, TV stand, and countless bags of “necessities” while negotiating with a major highway isn’t fun, then I don’t know what is.

I laughed so hard tears were streaming down my face the entire trip.

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But, back to our gorgeous suite.  Through Lauren’s connections with her mom working at the university, in addition to the fact that our suite is simply the BEST in PA Hall, our room was chosen to be featured in a photoshoot/virtual tour to be posted on the Housing website.

Lauren and Pam were photographed in their room, Natasha in ours, and Britt, Nat, and I were in the living room.  And I was definitely photographed playing Mariokart, sitting on the floor. It was a ton of fun. They brought in fake plants and additional lighting. Outstanding.

I’ll let you know when it’s posted.