So long, New York City!

Ahh, New York City. The love of my life.

Looking back I still can't believe I actually picked up and moved here almost 7 years ago.

Even though starting out I didn't have anything but a mattress and my laptop, I loved that little studio apartment on 87th and Columbus. My parents certainly didn't understand the appeal...it was old and small and had bars on the windows. But it was on a tree-lined brownstone street, less than a block from Central Park! For me, it was the best of times.

New York was a mixed bag of tough and wonderful. From living there and working there these past few years I learned everything. I saw success and hardship, made great friends, inhaled the arts, fell in love, fought with many-a-cab drivers, and walked around in big sunglasses with my head down like a celebrity (or dare I say like a true New Yorker?). I loved every minute of it and my life will never be the same because of it.

Like Sinatra said, if you can make it there you'll make it anywhere. So here's to new beginnings.

And to the lovely people I met in the city, I'll leave you with one of my favorite lines from another fellow New Yorker...

"What am I supposed to do, canoodle with celebrities at a nightclub, with a lemon-drop Midori in my hand? It's not the same as being in a bar that smells like urine with all your really smart New York friends." --Lady GaGa

xoxo much love

maria

a true modern-day holly golightly

Redeeming Myself

Can I just say that I am laughing out loud right now over my last blog post. Obviously I was in a state of unconscious procrastination during the spring semester. To think I still aced organic is mind-boggling, especially with The Bachelor saga on my brain. Don't worry - I haven't completely checked out of the franchise. I can't wait to see who Ali chooses in two weeks...

On to bigger things, I'm on an extended vaca in my home state of West by God Virginia. So far I've been here 4 days and I'm already starting to go batty. Apparently I like to operate in extreme situations - WV, NY, WV...then back to NYC in September. I will say though, living in WV again is growing on me. At least I know that when I permanently leave NY in a few months I will, in fact, be ready to go.

I've become an insomniac lately, so maybe I will post on a regular basis. But don't hold your breath.

On the Wings of Love

I know what you're thinking...UGH, The Bachelor?

Trust me. I know.

I will attempt to redeem myself by saying I've never - NEVER - watched this television program before. I couldn't tell you the names or stories of any past bachelor- or bachelorettes, except for maybe seeing 'Trista and Ryan' on the cover of a gossip magazine a few years ago.

However, being a student again has made my life a non-stop study session, and part of my down-time is spent watching television. My brother always used to call me a 'slug', and I've finally been able to come to terms with it because boy was he right. Don't get me wrong, I'm a go-getter, busy and active most of the time. But when I need to veg out - I VEG OUT. Television gives me about an hour a day of total think-free entertainment. I generally stick to HBO (True Blood), crime dramas (Numb3rs, Criminal Minds), comedy (The Office, Community, Modern Family) or educational programming (anything on NatGeo, Animal Planet, Discovery, or History Channels). Oh, and I forgot about my guiltiest pleasure: Gossip Girl.

Occasionally I will stumble upon a show, usually because nothing else is on, and get hooked. It happened over the summer with 'America's Got Talent'. We watched that damn show every week. Luckily we have , so a 2-hour finale is really only a little over an hour. This is what happened with The Bachelor. It was completely on a whim that I decided to watch it.

It was the first episode of the new season of The Bachelor. It was so cheesy I couldn't NOT watch it. Then I started counting how many of the girls wore the very BCBG dresses I toiled over for the past 2 years. Then it reminded me of when I was little, and for some reason I would always watch the Miss America pageant with my Dad and he would make a game out of it. We would bet on who would do the best, who would win, who was the underdog, who would get the boot, etc. For a few years it was our little tradition. I started judging and analyzing all the girls on The Bachelor, and whether or not they would make a connection with Jake, the thirty-something pilot whom apparently was dumped by the previous 'Bachelorette'.

And so it went, every week Dyer and I spent Monday nights watching this ridiculous show.

Monday is the big finale and it is down to Tenley or Vienna.

I won't get into individual evaluations of all the girls that appeared on the show. What got me writing this blog post is the complete polarity of the final two girls.

Tenley is the obvious pick. She's beautiful, sweet, clean, natural, normal. From a woman's perspective, everything a guy could ask for. The only issue with Tenley is that she was previously married, and her ex cheated on her and left her for another woman, leaving Tenley deeply scarred (and rightfully so). She says she's ready for love, ready to get married, blah blah, but apparently her divorce was final only a few months before taping began. This is worrisome, considering the whole point of the bachelor is to end with him being engaged. Tenley is a little emotional, but I think between his two options she's the lesser of two evils. She definitely matches Jake with cheese-factor.

Then there's Vienna. This girl is neither smart nor attractive. She is a bleach blonde with bad roots and too much makeup, used to work at Hooters, and apparently posed nude for some pin-up calendar produced in her own community. Vienna has also been married and it ended after 1 month or something like that. On top of everything, she's only 23 years old. This girl should have been eliminated weeks ago. But, despite my opinion, Jake thinks she is great. Of course he does, because men like trashy women. Ew.

Who will Jake pick? I honestly can't wait to watch it, I'm not sure if its because I genuinely care or I can't wait until its over. I think, more than anything, I'm hoping my hypothesis of 'men just like trashy women' will be dis-proven. 'Cause I'm telling ya, people, young Vienna doesn't have anything else going for her other than those trashy, wannabe stripper looks.

I just hope I get enough studying done so I can watch it Monday night, otherwise it will be spoiled by the morning papers I see on my commute to school Tuesday.

Go team Tenley.

Procrastination 101

After the advice of many friends and colleagues, I've finally exhausted all of my standard go-to resources for procrastination - facebook, twitter, celebrity gossip websites, researching future travel destinations, etc - and began my blog.

I've been inspired today by two things. First, some friends of mine are taking a cross country road trip and they asked me where in West Virginia they should visit. Boy, did they ask the right person! Most people, especially my New York friends, know me as Miss West Virginia (not the pageant winner, although that experience in my teens could possibly be the subject of my next blog). So like any good West-Virginian I gracefully obliged. At some point I will most certainly blog about my experiences in my home state, but for now I will say that thinking about all the beauty they could enjoy in Appalachia made me really miss the place.

As much as I despise the place sometimes - with narrow-minded, religious extremist conservatives abound - I love it for what it is. Beauty. History. Nature. Family. It will always welcome me home. And while I don't know what's to come of this beautiful place, it will always hold a special place in my heart.

The second dose of inspiration made me finally post this damn blog. Thank you, my fellow alliteration- and cat-loving partner, my long lost friend Dallas. I read your blog often. Somehow those dog cupcakes got my brain in motion and my fingers typing.

So there you go. Now I'm going to finish my Organic Chemistry homework. Promise.