Memorial Day (Hampton Style)

Beach, Barbecue, and Buds--Memorial Day celebration Westhampton-style. Not working Memorial Day weekend is a rare occurrence when you grow up where I have. This is the first time since I started working at 14 that I have not worked this weekend and I think I am going to like the change! 

Being that we had the whole day without a drop of work to do, Rachel and I set out for the beach where we met up with a few friends, let our skin sizzle in the sun, and chatted the afternoon away. With our skin successful browned with only the slightest hint of sunburn, we got a bit of gelato and did some people watching in town before realized that unknowingly we had almost completed the entire "Memorial Day weekend in the Hampton's check-list" which includes: sitting for hours at the beach, walking through town, obscuring traffic with poor driving, last minute grocery shopping, and hosting/attending a barbecue with friends. Now aside from the poor driving--which was not an option, as I know how to drive unlike most of the summer crowd--all we had left to complete was the last minute shopping and a barbecue. 

Sending a few texts we quickly acquired a few friends and set out for the store to pick up the necessary ingredients. After wrestling with the charcoal and having a few minutes of fun feeling like pyromaniacs with the lighter fluid, we managed to light our BBQ and the grilling began. While the two of us often cook/bake together BBQing is not a form of food preparation that we normally tackle--always the adventure. We were pleasantly surprised by how good the food tasted. Happy Memorial Day!

                      Our Menu:

• Steak
• Hot Dogs and buns
• Tomato Salad
• Baby Potatoes
• Vegetable Shish Kabobs
• Marshmallows
• Watermelon

A Bit Delayed

I have been a terrible procrastinator the last few days, but I think as a recent college graduate, having overloaded on too much to do into too short of a period of time over the last few years, I think that is excusable. The last 2-week have been busy ones!

After my last posting I left for a week of hiking out west in Bryce Canyon National Park, Zion National Park, Sedona, and the Grand Canyon. Having lived in Michigan for the last few years in a dorm room lacking air conditioning, you would think that I would have realized that there is a reason I like living on the coast so much, well apparently that bit of information slipped my mind in the planning of this trip. Even though it is May and should be relatively cool, I melted most days. Ninety degrees (regardless of it being a "dry heat" as I was so frequently reminded) is not my idea of fun. Aside from the heat it was a very nice week and an area that I will have to visit again (hopefully when I, fingers crossed, drive across country).  

Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah

Sedona, Arizona

Zion National Park, Utah

After returning to the much more bearable weather of New York I was quickly set to work at the winery doing a bit of bottling and on top of that have managed to get myself a job at a local winery, as a bar tender in their tasting room. The last few days have been spent training in my new job, watching as many old House episodes as I can (as I am depressingly behind), trying my best to make up for the past 3 years of sleep deprivation, and catching up with friends from high school. 

This morning, rising bright and early to the sound of my alarm at 6am, which unfortunately happens more mornings than not, I set off to work a farmers market in Greenport for Suhru Wines. Having never before worked a market, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it, as well as how successful I was with sales. I have never thought of myself as much of a salesperson, but apparently that is a skill that I can add to my arsenal.  As the weeks go on I am quickly finding my schedule filling up, which should make for a nice and exciting summer, and as I promise to be more faithful to this blog and more consistent with my postings, hopefully an exciting summer for me will lead to interesting blogs to read. Until next time! (Which hopefully will be sooner than 2 weeks from now.)

Coming Soon!

Expect a post on last weeks trip to Utah & Arizona, as well as news on my new job soon!

Conquering My Fears, One Baby Step at a Time

I have always been a bit of a baby when it comes to blood--I am definitely the squeamish type! I will go snorkelling in the Great Barrier Reef, absailing in the Blue Mountains, skiing in the Rocky's, and white water rafting in Upstate New York but I will also cry and hyperventilate if you try to take a vile of blood, that is I used to . . .

While I have not yet seen the benefits of a college degree (having been a graduate for all of 4 days) but if graduating from MSU has given me anything, it is the ability to get my blood taken--this morning for the first time in my life I got my blood taken without the flooding the doctors office with tears and sending the nurses running. This is a major life accomplishment, and one that I am way more proud of than graduation! I may even consider giving blood now, well we will see . . .

This Spartan has Graduated!

After 3 years of classes, sleep deprivation, and poor nutrition college has finally come to a close and with it, I am turning the page to find out what lies ahead.

The last few days have been hectic to say the least and I am very happy to be finally sitting down for more than ten minutes at a time, although I unfortunately cannot say that my to-do-list has decreased much in length. (It is going to be a very busy summer, and rest of my life I suppose.) My family arrived on Thursday and the whirlwind of graduation activities began. 

Each night I had a dinner planned with some of my close friends, as my parents were eager to meet some of the people with whom I had surrounded myself for the last 3 years. These were all a lot of fun, but tinged with sadness since they were in a way a punctuation to my time spent at MSU. Friday and Saturday were my graduations, which were quite the surreal experience, as even now the reality of graduation has not fully hit me, and I am not looking forward to when it does. Now if all of this, plus getting the most of my last evenings as an undergrad, resulting in very little sleep, wasn't enough, I was voiceless for the entirety of the weekend, and am still only now starting to regain the ability to speak. So squeaking and croaking, I went through my final days in Michigan as an undergrad, saying my "See You Later's" and getting caught up in all of the excitement. 

Now, having unpacked the last box, and settled back into life in NY all I can do is smile thinking of the last 3 years. I am surprised and pleased to see how much I have changed since I first set foot on MSU’s campus. I have made some amazing friends, had some truly crazy times, experienced things I never would have imagined, and made memories that I will never forget. While I have never been one to have a lot of school pride--I can count the number of MSU sports games I have attended on one hand--I know that MSU and the people that I met during my time in Michigan will be a part of me forever. While I stumbled upon Michigan State purely by accident, it was the place I needed to be and I cannot thank everyone that I have met enough for taking the naive girl from Long Island who walked in Emmons Hall in August 2009 with a very twisted view of the Midwest and turning her into the person that I am today.

Thank you MSU! I am and will be a Spartan for life! GO GREEN!