merry CHRISTmas.

its Christmas double deuce for me, but i still feel like a kid. waking up with the sun to open gifts and drinking hot cocoa by the fire with Nat King Cole Christmas playing in the background are just a few of our flaherty Christmas traditions. its a day when its ok to stay in our pj's until we absolutely have to change for the big family dinner, and when throwing away wrapping paper is the only work to be done (except for all the cooking mothers, aunts, grandmothers, etc). and even though it is fifty degrees outside with no signs of snowing--ever--on this particular Christmas day, it is still m a g i c a l.

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so as we all revert back to our childhood on this day, let us remember the child whose birth we celebrate. and if i may resort to the corny, yet truthful cliche- Jesus is the reason for the season! merry CHRISTmas to you.

*check out some more of the Christmas family portraits I took by clicking on "the more professional side" link -->*

the day the music died.

so about a month ago, i was victim to one of those rare catastrophes that you hear about and cringe over, but never consider could actually happen to you. as a macintosh owner and advocate, i always felt safe that my machine would never let me down. it has always been a champ, dutifully and efficiently performing all of my requested tasks. as a college student, graphic design major, writer, social butterfly, and creative enthusiast, i RELY on this device in order to accomplish most things related to these areas of my life. however, approximately one month ago, apple FAILED me...no, fail is not a strong enough word; brought me to my knees in desperation is more like it.

when i tried to turn on my computer one day and a question mark appeared instead of the usual apple in the middle of my screen, i knew something was horribly wrong. i panicked. and two days later i was informed that my hard drive had crashed and all the data was unretrievable. ouch. thank goodness i had just bought an external hard drive to back up my files...oh wait, i hadn't gotten around to doing that just yet. how excruciatingly ironic. so yes, papers, art projects, programs, photos, and basically my life, all disappeared into a black hole that took the form of a 2"x 2" metal block called my hard drive. the mac repair man was very comforting when he said he had never seen anything like this before and i believe his words were "the chances of this happening to anyone are almost unheard of. that really sucks." he was sweet.

but of all the things i lost that day, the most painful was by far my itunes library. i had worked countless hours organizing and updating it- it was immaculate and beautiful. my pride and joy. people commonly came to me looking to burn some music, because let's face it, i have exceptional taste and a wide variety to select from.

alas, as i sit here and glare at my now desolate 50-song library, i am wondering if there is even any point to trying to rebuild it. i suppose i will attempt it, though i suspect there to be many years of toiling and struggling to bring it back to its once glorious state.

donations accepted.

dueling banjos.

don't worry, this is not a post about the disturbing movie that mocks the hillbilly nature of eastern kentucky, although i recently saw deliverance and will never be the same....no, instead this post is about my recently new found love- bluegrass music. in the last year i have overcome my hatred for country music and have embraced it, especially a good banjo and fiddle tune. some of my favorites include nickel creek, chris thile, allison krauss and old crow medicine show (who puts on a GREAT show- go see them live).

i think that everyone needs to set aside any prejudgements on the matter and check out some quality music. here is a little taste, it is one of my favorite old crow songs...enjoy :).

champs.

i have a lot of responsibilities in life. as a college student, my life is duty-ridden with all kinds of important schtuff. with all of these life-altering decisions and responsibilities i currently have as a college senior, one of them always remains at the top of the list: intramurals. i am the intramural chair of my sorority and we are currently in the lead, with four championships under our belt. yes, we lay claim to the punt/pass/kick, and badminton championships, but the two most recent victories are no doubt ones for the record books.

flag football is by far my favorite intramural sport (water polo is a close second), and i was pumped that we had been doing well all season. so let me paint the picture for you: we made it to the final game of the flag football tournament, which was no big shocker. however, we were to play the dreaded softball team, who only plays one intramural sport because it is a guaranteed victory for them every year. and it has been that way for the last seven years. needless to say, we went into the game fully aware of our fate and just happy to know that we would at least be getting second place points. we got to play in the actual stadium, under the lights and all, which was AWESOME and one of my smaller dreams fulfilled. as cool as that was, it did not even compare to what went down on that field that night. the first play of the game, i found myself intercepting a long pass and going in for the touchdown...what just happened??--my exact thoughts as i stood in the endzone, post touchdown score. we were in the lead, WHOA. before i knew it, we had a few more touchdowns and not only beat the softball team, but MERCY-RULED them. they were pissed. and i must say that i felt bad for doing this to them...but my excitement far outweighed my guilt. it was GLORIOUS. possibly the climax of my college career.

As if that were not enough, we also faced the feat of playing in the championship soccer game later in the week. we were playing another sorority team that had previously beat us in a shoot-out, without even having two of their best players present. we were extremely nervous about this game, but half of our sisters ended up showing up to support us and that helped to motivate us. long story short, we beat them 3-1, ending the week in two monumental victories. celebration ensued.

we are one step away from reclaiming the intramural cup for the year and i feel satisfied in my efforts as the intramural chair, although it has mostly been the intensity, talent and passion of my girls that has carried us through to this point.

i am pumped to see what next semester holds for us...water polo here we come!