Goal Number 57: Join a Gym - Completed!

Actually, my mom bought this gym membership for my sister and I, promising that she would continue to pay for it as long as we used it.

I went last night for an hour and ran on the tredmill, plus did some elyptical. Though I'm confident in my body (free at last from insecurities!), I haven't been feeling healthy. And this will help.

Goal Number 150: Buy my dad a real Christmas gift - Completed!

Usually, I buy my dad something like shirts for Christmas, and I used to give him my school picture every year. Hello, generic and boring, I'm Stephanie. How very nice to meet you here again.

This year, my sister and I (and Ben) got him a digital portable picture frame, which I used to put pictures of my sister and I on it.

He's going to love it.

Weeks Lucky Thirteen and Fourteen: So much to do, so little time!

I depart in a week and six days for my cruise, so I'm going to combine these two weeks into one posting.

Goal Number 87: Act like the rich bitches my sister and I aren't on our cruise.
My sister and I are not at all rich. Or, for that matter, bitches. Our Daddy is not the most extravagent man in the world. He doesn't go 'all out' for ANYTHING except travel. On the trips we've taken to Disney, we rented our own huge house with our own pool and hottub. This time, we have penthouse suite and VIP status, whatever that means. We normally live in the lower class, ahem, but for four days we're going to get a taste of the high life. Mmmmhmmmmm.

Goal Number 4: Swim with dolphins.
Daddy promised. 'Nuff said.

Goal Number 44: Swim in clear blue water.
Please!

Goal Number 61: Do something epic for my birthday.
I asked my friends to clear their scheduals. Now I just have to figure out what's epic enough for me.

Goal Number 62: Spend New Year's with my friends.

New blog!

I've begun a new venture, as they say, since this blog o' mine was beginning to vear off into more rant mode than goal mode, a direction I did not want. So, if you'd like to add my random blog (aka fashion, food, friends, family, adventures, life-as-I-know-it blog), please feel free to do so!

It's Always Sunny in Massachusetts, my new blogbaby.

Week Twelve: Christmastime is upon us!

No, seriously. When did it sneak up on me like this?!

I never completed either of my goals last week. Phooey on me. I can list off a billion excuses for this, but I'll spare you and just chalk it up to my own neglect. Oh well. They'll be done eventually.

Goal Number 6: Sit through a movie marathon with a best girl friend.
Once upon a time, an old friend of mine broke up with her first serious boyfriend. Distraught followed, as it often does with sophomores of high school, and her and her two best friends, me and another girl, sat through a movie marathon together. One all nighter and nine movies later, I can't sit still through one movie, never mind three. Three is my goal.

And, in relation to that...
Goal Number 16: Sit through an entire Lord of the Rings movie.
FML on this one. I fast-forwarded through the entire series on my fourteenth birthday with my cousins. I basically got that a tree walks, battle scenes, walking walking walking, boring boring boring. But I get just short of smacked every time I say I've never officially seen it, so here goes nothing.

Goal Number 18: Host a movie night.
Maybe I can change this one to plan a movie night, since I'm not the one with the giant HDTV in my living room. Oh, Samaaaaaantha!

Goal Number 147: Make a list of 20 movies people are astonished to learn that I've never seen and watch them all.
Topping this list would be The Goonies.

Winter weather means movie time.

Oh, lookie here! An award!

Big thanks to Kathy and Seashell from Two Hands Full of Daisies for this award. They're so good to me!



So, I have to write ten things that make me happy, then tag ten friends? Well, I only have five followers, so you're ALL winners!

Things that make me happy:

1. When my boyfriend treats me well, which is basically all the time.

2. The fact that I'm going on my first cruise ever with my father, sister and grandmother in exactly three weeks. Which, to add, only leaves me three weeks to get ready...

3. Mindless television, like iCarly and Family Guy.

4. My family, my friends, and my boyfriend's family, especially when everyone is getting along.

5. The fact that I'm getting a better hold on my life. I haven't ever felt this positive about my future before.

6. My new iPod.

7. Living in such a beautiful place, close to the beach and the mountains.

8. Snowboarding.

9. My two dogs and two cats, Chloe, Oliver, Floyd and FiFi.

10. Happy dreams. :)

Thank you again!

Week Eleven: A funeral and goals this week.

My family is huge. I have aunts, uncles, cousins (of the first, second, third and fourth varieties), grandparents, great-grandparents, great-other-relatives, so forth and so on that I see on a semi-regular basis. We all, with one or two exceptions, live in New England, centralized, naturally, on Cape Cod and Nantucket.

I'm famous for saying 'my cousin once did', my friends stopping me to ask me this cousin's name and my connection to him or her. Example:
Me: "Oh my God, this one time, my cousin and I--"
Samantha: "Which cousin?"
Me: "Hayley. The one that's closest to me in age and lives in Vermont and is my mom's mom's sister's daughter?"
You get the picture.

Anyway, with a family so large, there is always something going on. For example, my Aunt Karen (aunt by association, that is. She's so close to our family she's like my mother's sister) called my mother the other day in tears because my cousin, Ryan, failed at life once again. "Oh, Stacey, it's just awful! Ryan had a friend over when he wasn't supposed to and I kicked him out!" Now, my remedy for this is that you just send the boy to military school, or juvi, and be done with him.

My point is, that there's always some sort of thing going on. This week, it's a funeral.

Now, some of you may remember last month, an aunt of mine died of swine flu, ahem, H1N1. I wasn't close to her, as she ran away from the family a long time ago, but I am close to her daughter. However, this time, it's a little more serious.

Ready? Because I'm only going to say this once.

My mom's dad's brother's wife passed away yesterday from pneumonia, and I remember her so very well because she always came over here from the island to celebrate events with us like birthdays and weddings and Christenings, her daughter, Danielle, and my mom are very close and Joanne, my aunt that just died, loved me and loved to talk to me about my life and really seemed to care, not just in that 'I'm curious' sort of way, but a real way.

Long story short, I will be attending her funeral. It really sucks, especially for my Uncle Danny. They were married forever, your typical old island couple, and they were best friends. She was too young. I assume she was about sixty.

That turned out longer than I had planned... Side note, though, I'm thinking about starting an entirely separate journal for these random thoughts and going-ons in my life. Anyone opposed?

Anyway, goals for this week are!

Goal Number 150: Buy my dad a real Christmas gift.
I have gifts.com to thank for making this goal easier. Seriously, I'll leave a link at the bottom of my post today. You plug in what the occasion is, your budget, the giftee's age, personality and relation to the gifter, and the website magically shows you pictures and gives you links to pages and pages of potential gift items. Some of the gifts are unusual, perfect for those who have everything and claim they don't want anything else. Like my dad.

Goal Number 93: Convince Mom to kick Rob out so I can move into his room.
Long story short: Mom sublets rooms in our house to make a little extra money. She and my father have since before they got divorced. Daddy doesn't do it anymore since he makes enough money to support himself, but Mama still does. However, this renter, Rob, is "a total creeper" as my friends put it. Although, good news! He sent my mom a text the other day saying that his need in the room may change, as he is hoping to move in with his girlfriend next month. HELLO BASICALLY-MY-OWN-STUDIO. Okay. It's a room. But it's twice as big as my bedroom with a kitchenette, a double bed, and a private entrance. Plus, cable hookup. Some decorating/deorderizing will be in order, but it's workable.

PS: Don't feel bad for me about losing my aunt. I've lost a lot of people in my life and been to way too many funerals for someone my age, but death is just a part of life. I've accepted that. I mean, it's tragic and it sucks, but it is what it is.

PPS: I've solved your gift-giving qualms. You can thank me later.

Hey! You! Yeah, you in front of the computer!

Go check out (clever title goes here) right now. Jenni's blog is a great read.

Do it or sparkly vampires will get you. Or, if that's what you want, they will get you.
It's a win-win...