cheers to a new year!

It's 2012. whoa. Isn't that supposed to be really far away? 

This year certainly sneaked up on me. I went to Mass on New Year's Day and realized I had not given any thought to resolutions for this year. 

oops.

So I prayed about it for a while and came up with a list of things I want to do this year.

Which was then edited down to the things I honestly need to do this year.

Then I thought about which things would be possible for me.

 Afterwards, I wrote down how I would accomplish them.

And ended with two rather generic results:

Get healthy and get holy 

And yes, I was a bit more descriptive on paper about my ploys and plans to succeed in said resolutions, but thats the gist of it. 

Every new year I take the pleasure of looking back on everything that took place the year before and readily await the adventures to come.

Happy 2012 :) I'm so excited to see what God has in store this year!

service with a smile!

I absolutely love "doing." - when my schedule is completely packed as pathetically tight as it can be is when I am secretly happiest. I have always enjoyed the weeks and months where my free time is scarce because that is when I am most thankful for my down time.

This quirky habit of filling my schedule makes me feel useful. Not that I don't feel useful, but going out of my usual routine of school and work to do even more than I can handle helps me to develop a mindset that time is not mine.

I have written before about my great appreciation of 'me' time. Well, like many people, I derive from the concept of believing that I am in control of my time which inevitably means I control all my time and decide when I will give it away or keep it to myself. 

This of course, is not true.

Every single bit of our time was given to us by God. Therefore, every bit of our time should be given right back to Him. So why do I fill my schedule? Because the most accomplished feeling is when I'm completely drained when I lay down at night.

By no means am I some precious little work fairy. I will do dirty work, but anyone who knows me can tell you I thoroughly enjoy complaining my butt off about it. Lover of sappy sympathy right here! But I'm working on that, I promise!

My favorite saints are those who didn't do things that were considered 'great' in their own time. I am humbled by the saints who lived their whole lives constantly "doing" - but doing things full of joy that they were giving all their time back to the One who gave it to them.

Bl. Pier Giorgio Frassati gave away all his time and energy even when he was sick and dying. St. Theresa offered every little act as a prayer to God. This is the kind of person I desire to become. No, I'm not living my life in hopes that you'll buy my holy card someday. I just want to be a good example for all those around me.

I'm still working on myself (duh). My trouble is when people say "how are you?" All I want to do is shout "I'M FREAKING EXHAUSTED!" but I can't, because I'm not. If I was exhausted I would not be able to do the work I am constantly striving to do. The day I'm whipped, stripped, and hung on a cross is the day I can say I'm freaking exhausted ;) Until then, I'm just giving my gift of time back to God.

A day of thanks

I am thankful.

I am thankful for my friends. Not just because everyone always says they are thankful for their friends, but because for some reason God decided to bless me with the best of the best. They have been there for me through everything. They always know the right thing to say, but they also know when it is best to not say anything at all. I cannot express how secure I feel knowing that whenever something goes awry, all I have to do is pick up the phone and I'll be reassured everything is going to be alright. 

Lauren, David, Joy-Marie: I'm thankful for you and I love you more than I can express. 

(even if you don't read my blog heehee)

I'm thankful for my youth group at St. Catherine. They have pleasantly surprised me with how incredible they all are. My one worry when we organized the youth group was that no one was going to show up. Well, they certainly proved me wrong. They hold me responsible in how I act and what I say. Even though God is working through me to bring them closer to Him, they have brought me so much closer to Him as well.

I am thankful for priests and religious. Their lives are such a powerful witness of love for Christ. I am utterly in awe of anyone who seriously discerns a religious vocation simply because they are willing to answer such a beautiful calling to give up their lives for God.

I am thankful for those everyday things I take for granted - my health, my body, my senses, being able to open the closet and know I will have something to wear, always having food to eat, access to a car, a good education, a home, my own bed, a reliable cellphone, the ability to walk, being about to sing well, each and every heartbeat...

I am thankful for my family. Even though on a daily basis my siblings drive me absolutely insane, they are still incredibly wonderful. I have always said family brings out one's true self - and I'm reminded of that every time I snap at one of them. But beneath the bickering and shouting, we always manage to show our true love for one another. I have been blessed so abundantly with such a beautiful family. My parents are loving, kind, selfless, forgiving and everything else I want to replicate if I'm called to be a parent someday.

I am thankful for my Faith. Without God, I would be nothing. Without my beliefs, I would be going no where in life. Without my Church, I would have no support system. I would not be the strong, confident, Catholic, young woman I am today without the Faith I have been brought up believing and eventually made my own.

I am so incredibly blessed. For this, I am thankful.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

sunday minus internet

The title of this post stole my introduction.

On Sunday I was completely stranded. I had pulled the lazy college student "I'll just do my homework on Sunday and spend the rest of the weekend having fun."

That would've worked except for the fact that on Sunday the internet was down...

...and all my homework was online. 

My logical solution: take on an art project!

Whenever I get frustrated, I tend to either run, play piano, bake, or do something artistic. 

So if you ever see me doing any of the above, I'd suggest you step away ;)

I think having some sort of therapeutic hobby can save anyone from blowing a gasket....so here's the result of MaryC being frustrated over the fact that none of her homework was turned in on time. Enjoy!

This was actually pretty simple (but time-absorbing). I peeled around 50 crayons, hot-glued them to a foam board, then melted them with a hair-dryer and two kitchen lighters. Took me all afternoon, but the end result came out just right.

Days without access to the wonderful world wide web are good for me. Way too much of my time is sucked away by mindless internet goofing off. So whenever I have a day like this, I'm always reminded that life can go along just dandy without the internet constantly having to be available to me. (well...aside from needing to do homework, but we'll ignore that part)

Point of this story? MaryC did not explode with frustration thanks to her love of crayons and pyromanic behavior :)

busy busy busy...

Oh well hello there. Its been a while since we've spoken, hasn't it? I take full blame and sincerely apologize for that. As much as I'd like to tell you I've been off busily doing incredible things, I'll admit to the fact that I've just felt like I've had nothing to post about.

Over the summer I mentioned to someone that I'm going into my sophomore year of college. She told me that if I could survive this year, I'll survive college. Well, I laughed to myself thinking about how I had breezed through my freshman year...

turns out she was right.

The excitement of "being in college" from freshman year is gone. The encouragement of "woohoo! I'm halfway there!" isn't going to appear until next summer. So its a rut that I think the majority of sophomores tend to fall into. But as many little miniature mental breakdowns as my sophomore year has caused, I've managed to keep busy enough to inspire myself to 'keep on truckin' along.'

God's been taking care of me lately. By "taking care of me", you could also say "challenging" me. Aside from helping with Young Adult Group and organizing the St. Lawrence Girls Retreat, He decided that its about time I step into my future ministry.

On October 5th, after weeks of prayers and planning, St. Catherine Church launched her very own youth ministry program...with MaryC. as the youth minister :) 

Everything fell into place so smoothly. The teenagers really enjoyed themselves. I'm so looking forward to what God has in His plan for our new group!

So as ordinary as I claim my life has been, God has been doing extraordinary things. But I'm thankful for the ordinary. If there was no ordinary, we wouldn't appreciate the extraordinary. This is why as crazy and crammed as this sophomore year of mine has been thus far, I'm absolutely loving life. 

did I really just say that?

In a crazy family, its pretty much a given that you're going to say some crazy things. So for your entertainment, I've been compiling a list of my favorite "wow, I actually had to say that" quotes over the last few weeks...enjoy!

“could you please refrain from screaming at your siblings while you’re holding the baby?”

“please stop stealing my salad.”

“don’t worry sweetie, someday you’ll grow up and have friends who you go hang out with.”

“no you’re not allowed to stick those balls in my pants”

“take that roach out of your mouth!”

“I don’t care that no one’s in here, you have to have clothes on when you’re on your computer”

“darling...you’re not allowed to wear my underwear....”

“please stop trying to eat ants. they don’t taste good. believe me, I know.”

“I know its a hard reality, but you can’t eat all of the popsicles.”

“Um...where’d your clothes go?”

“no, I did not eat popcorn or clip my toenails in your bed”

“honey, just because you’re mad at her doesn’t mean you can draw pictures of her dying”

“if you don’t shut up I’ll throw a bra at you”

“can anyone explain why there’s tortilla chip crumbs on my bathroom floor?”

So there you have it...and I'm sure you have so many questions but I think I'll keep the stories behind these quiet and let you use your imagination ;) 

as out of control as we are, I certainly truly love my family.

those indoor days

It has been raining for 3 days straight. Thank you tropical storm Lee...

So because of labor day, #2 has been looking forward to enjoying a nice relaxing 3 day weekend. But I didn't expect relaxing to consist of sitting indoors listening to the waterfall outside and counting the tree limbs in the yard.

When I'm spoiled with long weekends, I tend to actually take advantage of having a whole saturday/sunday to enjoy myself then take the monday to get homework and such finished...well, due to the weather, my homework has been done and my room has been clean since saturday.

The downpour outside hasn't been all bad. I've been home 99% of this weekend which has made up for time away at school since the semester started. So spending time with my fantastic family is always a win at the end of the day. 

ps. I know the pics have nothing to do with this post. I'm just looking forward to the 11th!