happy half birthday to me!

Today, January 26, 2011, is my half birthday! I realized this as I was staring at the time/date on my phone on the bus from Rutherford to campus today. Back in middle school and the beginning of high school, my friends and I used to celebrate my half birthday since I am a July baby. It used to be a HUGE deal to have your locker decorated and get balloons on your birthday while you were in school. So it was obviously completely necessary that I celebrated my half birthday in January. Nowadays, I suppose a half birthday is just another day. Just 6 months closer to being that dreaded age...20! Yikess!

However, Elder Wheatley must've known it was my half birthday this week because I received a fabulous care package from him just a few days ago! Actually the relation of getting a package from him this week and it being my half birthday is nonexistent. But hey, it was the perfect coincidence!

I have sent James many care packages over the years, from a birthday care package when he spent his summer at BYU to a few care packages since he has been in the MTC. I always have jokingly said that he neeeds to send me one back, but really never thought it would actually happen (especially now that he is away on his mission). To my surprise, however, I found a little brown box left on my doorstep on Monday when I came back from class. As I was walking up to 888, I assumed it was going to be my textbooks I ordered online. But no, it was from Elder Wheatley himself! I was shocked. I ran inside and opened it up immediately, so curious to see what was inside!

First of all, let me just say that the boy did an amazing job putting together his very first package he has ever sent! The package included cookies or "bolachas", sweets, pictures from the MTC, postcards, my weekly 4-page letter, and my very own MTC tshirt inside a BYU bookstore bag! I didn't even know they made Missionary Training Center tshirts! I was so soo surprised.

Thank you, James for making my 19 and 1/2 birthday so special!! I miss you.

ZIM ZAM

WELCOME ALPHA PHI BABIES!! 

Last night was Bid Night, and we got the HOTTEST pledge class ever. I am so excited for SPRING 11 (even if it means retiring my time as an aphi baby).

The girls got the cutest maroon pullovers that say Alpha Phi on them, and I have been LOVING seeing them today wearing them on campus! This year, the chapter also got Bid Day shirts (which we have never done before). Sooo exciting!

I am about to go pick up my first buddy, Mia, and take her to the house for her first dinner with her pledge class. So excited for her and the other babies!

Here is to an amazing week and semester with our newest spring 11 ladies! Get ready for the time of your LIVES!!

back to school

Today was the first day of my sophomore second semester. I have one word to describe how I feel about it...wahhh! Is that even a word? Oh well. Basically, it feels like I have been in school since last Saturday since I have been in Blacksburg that long. I guess Recruitment workshops, Open House round, and Philanthropy round don't count for credits. Bummer!

After a very busy weekend at the Alpha Phi house, Recruitment is now halfway over! Bittersweet. I can't wait for this weekend though. Bid Day is gonna be the BEST with all the new aphi babies!! It was really great to have Monday off (MLK day) to just sleep and get ready to go back to school. For dinner, KJ and I even met up with Alexandra and Ta at West End (unexpectedly). It was so fun! We had lots of laughs over a delicious West End meal, I missed that place. The only thing missing was the creme brulee.

Today, I woke up wayyy early for my 12:30 class. I think my internal body clock is a little confused. It is used to waking up at 5am for Recruitment. NOT okay! But it just gave me plenty of time to gather my thoughts, eat a balanced breakfast, and look sharp in my Alpha Phi letters. Around 11:30 I caught the bus to campus, and was 45 minutes early for my Leadership class. Typical! I just sat in the lobby of the building and called my Mommy while I waited for all of my PY lship buddies to arrive.

After that class, I had a 2 hr break until BIT 2406, so Megas and I went to Westy for lunch. We wanted salads, but they were out of lettuce. REALLY?! Such an inconvenience. So I settled for quiche and fruit. Not bad. Then I walked all the way to Surge, literally the farthest walk I have ever made on campus, and sat for 30 minutes outside the classroom. No one knows what I was doing at my classes so early today.

After that class, which seems like it is going to be the hardest class of my life, I went home for a little. I checked the mailbox, and got two things: Comcast bill and letter from Elder Wheatley! YAY! I walked inside 888 and read my letter, then scurried off to West End (AGAIN) to meet Ta and Morgirl for dinner. We all got salads! They must have miraculously gotten a lettuce shipment sometime between 2 and 5 today. But it was delicious! I settled for rasberry lemon cheesecake for dessert since there was still no creme brulee to be found. After dinner, I had my first SAA meeting of the semester. It was fun to see all of my fav most spirited Hokies and talk about the new adjustments to SAA!

Wow, hard to believe I did all of that in one day. I can't even believe it! I suppose my days have always been like this during the semester, but it just seems like a lot coming from winter break. Looks like I am going to have a very eventful week, month, and semester ahead of me! We will see what Spring 2011 has in store. I can hardly wait...

ready or not, here I come

New year, new semester, new adventures. As winter break comes to a screeching halt, I am opening my agenda (literally) to many new and exciting activities. I head back to Blacksburg on Saturday to take on polish week to prepare for Sorority Recruitment. I can't wait to spend every waking moment at the Alpha Phi house, and to get the best new phi babies in the world!

Of course, I also have new classes and new textbooks to look forward to following the first weekend of recruitment. Only 12 credits this semester though, YES! On top of that, I have many new positions and extracurriculars at VT which I can't wait to dive into. Relay For Life meetings on Tuesdays, SAA meetings every other Tuesday, Orientation Leader class on Wednesday nights, Leadership Team meetings and 2013 Marketing tasks, Alpha Phi Chapter meetings on Sundays, plus a new addition to our Alpha Phi family to care for. Looks like this semester is going to be one for the books. I just hope I can keep up with it all!

This is fair warning to all my blogfrogs that Alpha Phi is about to take over my life for the next few weeks. I hope to write a quick blog or two when I get a chance. But give the girl a break! I do what I can, and I love what I do. Oh, and I love you all too!

Much love,
CAT

deebz+stean=nova love

I can't believe it! Deebz's 2.5 week visit to NOVA is over. I woke up at 8:30am this morning to take her back to Dulles airport with Erin and Fish. Feels like just yesterday we were going to pick her up from the same airport amidst the snow and flight delays. I wish there was going to be snow resulting in more flight delays today, but unfortunately we have very clear skies. Have a safe flight back to sunny Florida Deebz!

Let's look back at just some of the adventures we had while DB was visiting her NOVA loves:

On The Border for dinner with Grace, Steph, and Shanley. Followed by RTC to see "Little Fockers" (great movie by the way), and taking pictures by the RTC Christmas tree.

Making muddy buddies and other treats with Sara and Yost. Always lots of laughs when we are all gathered in the kitchen together!

VT Alpha Phi and USF ADPi photo shoot and Christmas present exchange. You rep that NOVA shirt Deebz!

Otani's dinner with Deebz's fav girls was sort of the last hurrah! From fried rice, to lo mein, to shrimp, to chicken, to sherbet for dessert. I'd say it was a very successful dinner and evening (with Deebz and I finishing off every last bit of our meals). Hehe, this is why I love my Deebz!

Although these four adventures are the only ones I have pictures of, that doesn't mean they were our only notable encounters. There were countless more along the way. Mall trips, noodles runs, cinnamon rolls, ben and jerry's, redbox, homemade dinners, late night chats and snacks, and of course, baking galore (just to name a few!).

I'm already missin' my BFF dearly, but I know she will be back for some more action-packed NOVA fun in the summertime! Until then, Deebz and Stean....signing out.

holiday hoopla

Another family-filled Christmas has come and gone. From midnight mass at SJN, to cinnamon rolls on Christmas morning, to Santa's stocking stuffers and surprises under the tree. It was a beautiful holiday at the Terminello house!

sibs before midnight mass

woke up to a white xmas!

the stockings were hung by the chimney with care

christmas morning!

busy baking

traditional snowball cookies on xmas day

Next up...New Year's. For the past 5+ years, Liss has come to visit me in NOVA after Christmas. Not only have we brought in the new year together for so many years, but we have had visits full of countless other traditions as well. This year is the first year without a visit from my Glen Ellyn BFF. I hate breaking traditions...I am suuuch a traditionalist I have come to realize.

Here are some funny photo memories from the past few "Liss and Dean's Rockin' New Year's"...

HAPPY 2008!

last year of easy bake oven

photo keychains were the craft of 08

HAPPY 2009!

"mikey take our pic!"

i-de-clare-WAR



craft of 09.....?

 

crab legs for nye dinner



happy new year!



HAPPY 2010!



baking some funfetti

just another night at the wheatley's



last nye together



craft of 2010=best yet!



As far as bringing in the new year of 2011 goes, I still don't know what is in store. We will just have to wait and see. I miss you Liss. HAPPY NEW YEAR ALL!



fab4's christmas extravaganza

Every year, the fab4 hosts an annual secret santa gift exchange. Some years we include others, but for the past two years it has just been the 4 of us. Last year, we went to Reston Town Center, had Clyde's for dinner, and exchanged secret santa gifts at the restaurant. After, we took pictures by the Christmas tree and other trees in RTC.

This year, however, we elaborated on our Christmas festivities a little. First, we went to Julia's house to take pictures by her Christmas tree and other decorations.

While we were there we called ahead to PF Changs (where we were having dinner), and they informed us that it was going to be about an hour and a 45 minute wait. We didn't believe them, so we headed to Fairfax Corner. Sure enough, we waited in the front of PF Changs for about an hour and a half to be seated. Since this was the first time the fab4 had been together since Thanksgiving, we had lots to talk about so the wait didn't seem too bad. Except for the fact that we were all STARVING.

At about 7:50 we finally were seated. We quickly looked over the menu and decided on the the 3 dishes we wanted to split. Chicken Lo Mein, Crispy Honey Shrimp, and Mandarin Chicken. YUM! To keep our minds off of just how hungry we were, we decided to do secret santa while we were waiting. This year was great because we had NO IDEA who any of each other had. Last year there were a few cheaters in the group (Katie and Julia). As it turned out, this year I had Kelsey, and Katie had me! I got the softest teddy bear from Brookstone holding a Dooney and Bourke wallet/key ring. It was perf. Thanks again KZ!

Pretty shortly after we opened presents and guessed who our secret santa was, the food came. We ate in aboutttt 2 minutes. Funny how you wait 2 hours to eat and then spend only 2 minutes eating. At any rate, we can all admit that the food was delish, the gifts were adorable, and the company was the best of all!

After dinner we were planning on going outside and taking outdoor pictures in front of the Fairfax Corner Christmas tree for tradition sake. However, we were all in skirts and dresses and the weather was FREEZING with the gusty winds, so we nixed that idea real quick. We ran to the car, Katie and Julia in flats and Kelsey and I in heels (struggling). So typical.

Finally we made it to the car, which was parked in probably the farthest place possible from PF Changs...convenient. We all just couldn't wait to throw on some sweats and bake, bake, bake!

This year, we were baking Christmas cookies for the homeless. We made Christmas trees, snowflakes, wreaths, candy canes, stockings, etc! Soooo many sugar cookies.

Clearly the sugar got to us and resulted in endless laughter and craziness. KZ and I are to blame for that mayhem. We had snuck just a little too much cookie dough, and had a few laugh attacks (to say the least) that resulted in tears for KZ and rolling on the floor laughter for me. Times like these are the ones I live for though. I don't think any of us laugh like that with ANYONE else. I love my best friends!

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM THE FAB4!!!!