christmas break

Finally, all of McMansion is on Christmas break. I must say, I wasn't that desperate for Christmas break but it is very  nice to have absolutely nothing to do school wise. Absolutely noooo school work. We have unfortunately neglected our blog at the end of the semester. Everyone was so busy with exams and end of the semester things that no one has posted. I will be sure to update though on everything that has happened. In the mean time, MERRY CHRISTMAS from the McMansion!!!

my thoughts on taylor

i figured since jordan shared her thoughts on taylor, i'd share mine:

SHE IS AWESOME.

the end.

ps - i took these pictures! annaseeswong.com check it out!

taylor swift

Taylor Swift just came to Raleigh on Thursday night.  Anna, Sydney, and I went.  Anna went with some girls from Trinity where she leads Young Life and Sydney and I went together.  It was so great.  Taylor never ceases to amaze me.  I saw her when she did her Fearless tour and I loved seeing her on the Speak Now tour.  I am sure that I will go to a concert on her next tour as well.  She is just so sassy and so cute and exactly what I needed to brighten my day, after turning in my fourteen page rough draft.  She is going to be on 20/20 tomorrow night and I am so excited to watch it!  Anna has had us all watch this preview this week in order to get prepared.  She is so thoughtful and such a good role model.  Love her.

twitter mentions

since i am up so late doing school work, i figured it must be an opportune time to blog. there's nothing like a little school work to light a fire upon my (non-school related) writing!

i'd like to share 3 tweets that have been tweeted at me today because i do believe they sum up my life right now. enjoy!



lasarahcaughtit: just had to give @annacwong a slow clap to get her out of bed #notamorningpersonproblems

jabourjilie: "i have to walk up three flights of stairs everyday to get to my bedroom on the third floor in our house." @annacwong and her #princessprob

derekmurray: "i just emailed my paper to myself with the msg line: sucks to suck." -@annacwong #poli238problemz



does anyone else see the common theme? apparently, i have problems. i knew i wasn't a morning person and that i'm a poli 238 student - but who knew? i'm a princess too!

ps - follow me on twitter: @annacwong

After a Week of Training.... Or Rather Pre-Training

I have officially been training for a week now for this half marathon.  I don't know if we would even technically call it training yet, because it's really pre-training.  Official training begins the first week of December, but that training also includes a 5 mile run.  Ummmm....... we can't run 5 miles yet.  So, that has led to pre-training.  Pre-training has gone surprisingly well.  Now don't get me wrong, that does NOT mean that I love running and that I want to run everyday.  No. No. No.  Running is still not my favorite thing, but I do feel good afterward and feel accomplished.  I ran Sunday last week with Sarah right when we got home from the beach (figured we had to kick start pre-training otherwise it would never happen).  Then Monday and Wednesday Erin, Syd, and I were up at 6:45 to run.  Friday (the worst) Erin and I decided to run to Kenan Stadium and do stadiums.  Um....  Stadiums are not fun for the record.  Erin had a pretty successful day, but I was not feeling the stadiums.  Needless to say, they're over with now.  This morning Erin and I went to Amanda's and ran with her.  Amanda has already run 2 marathons before and is in really good running shape sooo she ran 3 miles before we even got to her house (running with us would not have been a good enough workout for her ha.)  The 3 of us ran this loop in a nearby neighborhood and it was on such a great trail.  Afterward we went back to Amanda's and had cinnamon rolls and coffee.  I would have to say that that was the best part of the entire running experience.  It's looking up though, it's looking up.  We're getting better and better.... sorta.  Tomorrow morning, Erin and I will be up and at 'em before church.  It's time to seize the day with this whole running thing...

The updates shall continue...  Hopefully in a few months from now there will be a blog on how we all finished the half marathon.... Hopefully being the key word.

beach.beach.beach.

This past weekend our bible study went to Sydney's beach house on Oak Island.  It was a much needed and relaxing get away.  All the McMansion girls went, as well as Callie, Melaney, and Amanda.  We cooked every meal nearly and just spent some quality time together.  We did do a craft on Saturday which was so fun.  We cut out pictures from magazines and modgepodged them onto a trashcan and inside the trashcan we wrote a Bible verse.  It was a fun little project.  I'm definitely into ModgePodge now!  I'm really in a crafty mood now these days as well.  Sometime over the weekend as well, many of the girls in the house decided that we want to run the Tobacco Road half marathon in March.  I am definitely in and am ready to get to training (this should be funny)!  There will definitely be blog posts to follow on the running and training experience. 

CALLIE!!!

group adventure to the beach! our kind photographer wanted us to cheer for UNC! go heels!

hello mr. fish skeleton :)

jess and me :)

love arts & crafts

P.S.- let's never grow up where we can't run away to the beach all together!

I Can't Feel My Legs

While at the beach with our bible study, somewhere Erin got the idea to convince us all to run the in Tobacco Road Half-Marathon in March. Being my hardheaded self, I refused. As the weekend progressed, more and more of my housemates agreed to run with Erin...then I gave in. I haven't paid for the race yet because I have to see how "get in shape November" turns out. Do I need all of November to get in shape and be able to run 5 miles by December? Yes. Does "get in shape November" mean "so sweets November"? Yes, sadly.

Today was day 1 of pre-training. I cannot believe we woke up and ran close to 2 miles at 6:50am. I know this whole process will be the hardest thing I have ever done. Thank goodness for good friends to run alongside me.

This morning I'm thankful for:
Jesus
Great friends like Jordan and Erin
And the fact I didn't collapse this morning


syd.


fact: the primary reason I want to run in a half-marathon is for the 13.1 sticker. it'll make me look so BA.

pancakes galore

First week of November means that we get to have another Pancake night at our house.  This has really turned into one of my favorite things at the McMansion, while the spontaneous dance parties are fun, pancakes is really a great time with so many friends coming over!  I love how full our house feels and how it actually starts to feel small when that many people come over.  Since the holiday season is beginning we had pumpkin chocolate chip pancakes.  They were a huge hit I would venture to say!  Some nice boys asked if we were starting a restaurant anytime soon, while I wish I could say yes, we aren't sadly.  This pancake night was a little smaller than the previous ones, but that was awesome because people hung out longer and we just had a great night of being with friends. 

some of the wonderful cooks!

dancing in kitchen... tradition.

Anna and friends :)

Baby Ayers, Kyle, and Maribel!

Elaine, Erin, and Maribel!

If you have never come to pancakes at our house, please come sometime!  It's always the first Thursday of every month at 9:30.  The pancake evening in December will include a canned food drive!  I'm really excited for that!!!

Erin's Bucket List

Senior year is quickly approaching and, lets face it, my life is pretty lame. My days are pretty much the same: I wake up, shower, go to class, go to work, go to the library, and go to bed. I have come up with a bucket list of things that I want to do in order for my college experience to be not so lame. I am open to your thoughts and suggestions so please share!! Check my blog every now and then as I document the things that I cross off my list - http://erinelizabethc.blogspot.com/.


1. Climb to the top of Kenan Stadium
2. Eat at every restaurant on Franklin Street
3. Rush Franklin when we win the National Championship!!
4. Pull an all-nighter/Watch the sun rise in Davis
5. Play an intermural sport
6. Go to one of every sporting event
7. Win trivia on Franklin St.
8. Go to every bar on Franklin St.
9. Paint up for a game and get on TV
10. Tar Heel 10-miler
11. Camping at Jordan Lake
12. Go see what Duke is all about
13. Krispy-Kreme challenge
14. Sing karaoke
15. Run a marathon
16. Warrior dash
17. Learn how to play poker
18. Get a massage (a real one)
19. Learn to drive a stick
20. Lose the 15 pounds I gained in college
21. Go square dancing
22. Get a tattoo
23. Go to the flash mob at the UL
24. Throw a dart on a map and go where it lands
25. Mardi Gras in New Orleans
26. New Year’s Eve in Times Square
27. Kentucky Derby
28. Go streaking on the Quad
29. Ben and Jerry’s challenge
30. Wine tasting
31. Beer festival
32. Go to a movie at the Varsity Theatre
33. Go to the Morehead planetarium
34. Eat dinner on the top of Global Ed. Center while the sun sets
35. Autumn leaves festival in Mt. Airy
36. Midnight premier of a movie
37. Cliff jumping at rock quarry
38. Rope swing into the ENO River
39. Get a kvetch in the paper
40. Get in to grad school!!!

heeloween

Halloween in Chapel Hill is a big.... a really big deal. Which makes it a very fun night and holiday.  Especially with all of your best friends.  My friends Abby, Kristyn, and Kelly were all here for Halloween and I was so excited for them to see Chapel Hill and to also see Heeloween.  Our house along with my friends from out of town were all Pacman characters!  We got a lot of compliments actually and had many random people taking pictures of us on Franklin.  Here are some photos from the evening :)

us and the Words with Friends :)

group shot!

the D's were Mayans! they got spray tans! here's seth and harrison

fall breaking.

By the time fall break comes around, there is nothing better than 2 days away from class and a chance to just relax.  This fall break all of us decided to leave the McMansion and take off for some time.  I headed to Wisconsin and Chicago to visit Timber Wolf intern friends, Anna headed to Nashville with Sallie and Callie, Sarah headed to Atlanta to visit her brother, Elaine went on a camping trip, and the others all headed home.  I would venture to say that we all had amazing breaks and they brought us all back to Chapel Hill energized and ready to kick through the rest of the semester. Here are some pictures showing a few of my adventures in Chicago :)

meet Karlie!

love all these girls and this city :)

THE BEAN.

sushi and rob = greatest.

After this fall break I have been reminded and have learned:

1. I LOVE my intern friends!!!
2. the Lord is constantly blessing me with relationships
3. Chicago is just so great.... SO great!

McMansion Oven Hates Southern Belles.... RUDE.

Everyone knows that a good southern belle should be able to bake and should always have fresh baked goods in the home. Well tonight we're hosting a prayer night at the McMansion to pray for Rockbridge this weekend and we're also having a little worship (I'm really excited about this time and about Rockbridge!!!) Anyways, in my attempts to be a good southern belle I decided to bake chocolate chip and funfetti cookies for tonight when people come over. AND THE STUPID OVEN DECIDED TO BURN MY COOKIES. ALL OF THEM. Just the bottom though, the tops are still raw essentially and bottoms are burnt to a crisp. And if there is one thing, no one should ever want to see, that would be an angry southern belle. HUMPH. Stupid oven. I don't like you either.

So everyone knows that terrifying moment when you open your computer in class and you can't remember if you turned your music off or not? Well today, I KNEW. But it was too late. As soon as I opened my computer in my smallish, serious, strategic management class, my stomach dropped. It was about to happen, and there was nothing I could do it.

 

My professor was soon interrupted by Steve Miller's, "Joker".  On my computer, you have to log in to be able to adjust anything.  So I quickly shut my computer.  The song kept playing.  I turned red.  I opened my computer.  I tried to log in.  I was frazzled.  It took me 3 tries.  Steve Miller sang about the gangster of love.  I finally got logged on and silenced my computer.

The song played for around 10 seconds.  That sounds short.  It isn’t.

Fratmusic.com, today you got the best of me.  Damn your sing along playlist. 

 

Professor Roach didn’t sing along. 

Try to not be jealous of my life.

-Sarah

Jumping Cars

Much to my dismay, my car battery died today. My car, Fonda, has never failed me and today was they day that she decided to let me down.  I was picking up the kids I babysit from dance and when I went to start my car again it wouldn't start.... All I heard was "click", "click."  If you can imagine, I was not pleased.  The kids thought that it was the funniest thing in the world..... me, not so much.  I instinctively just call my mom so that she can tell me what to do.  My mom explains that my battery was just dead and that my car needs to be jumped.  Well that's just great, because I hadn't let my lights on or anything.  Stupid.  But I start going through my contacts of who to call first.  Of course, my initial reaction was the call Paige.  She's my best friend, she's reliable, she knows it all..... well.... She didn't have any cables (me neither).  So then I went through some other contacts and finally got to Sarah, who answered AND had cables.  Now please don't think that Sarah was a last resort, I was just trying to call boys first who I thought might know how to jump a car or older people such as Amanda, who I figured could be resourceful.  BUT NO FEAR, SARAH CAME THROUGH!  Sarah, like any good friend, watched a YouTube video on how to jump a car, downloaded some instructions on her phone, and called Thomas to get some advice, and she was well on her way to rescue, me, Max, and Olivia at the Chapel Hill Ballet School.  After connecting red to red and black to black, and starting my ignition we successfully got my car up and running again!  We were grindin', that's for sure.  (That was T-Mo's initial advice to me.... just grind.)  After wards, I took my car to the nice man at the full service BP station where he checked my battery and suggested that I get a new one before winter hits.  He was so nice to not make me get a new one right there... So I highly suggest the BP station at Eastgate. 

But for future reference, MCMANSION GIRLS CAN JUMP A CAR. And we are resourceful.  Thank you, Sarah!

Bama Bama Bama Woooooo

this past weekend jordan and i made a pretty extensive road trip down to a place neither of us had ever been before; auburn, alabama. the reason for the trip was to visit our sweet friend abby that jordan and i worked with this summer while at Timber Wolf Lake. my friend mollie who I did summerstaff with last year, lives next door to abby so I got to see her as well!

abby was a great host. we arrived a little after the normal hours of dinner and were welcomed with hugs and a delicious dinner! friday night was very chill, we met what seemed to be all of auburn younglife (well not really), hung out, listened to luke play the guitar and went to bed fairly early. The next day marked one of the most exhausting saturdays i have had in a while. so you see, auburn does not mess around with tailgating and football. we had so much fun at one of abby's roommates' mom's tailgate with all of our new friends. it is common to go into the game 2 hours early in addition to tailgating for three hours beforehand. after all was said and done, we had been outside for about 9 solid hours. that goes to show "go big or go home", but we loved every minute of it. oh and did i mention they sold boiled peanuts at the game. whaaaaaa? (disclaimer: boiled peanuts are my kryptonite)

the next day we went to church at cornerstone. the great message was about being gracious and giving beyond our abilities. afterward, jordan and i ate lunch and headed off to watch abby and kristyn play in their club soccer match. i took lots of pictures because i don't quite understand soccer so it gave me something to do. after the game, abby, jordan and i headed to atlanta to see another intern friend (sushi) and my great-grandparents. oh and i can't forget to mention we stopped and ate at the varsity. duh. overall it was a stellar weekend with some really great people.

here are a few pictures to document the trip:

sweet friends

can't wait to be reunited with kristyn and abby halloween weekend!

new friends!

precious mollie

auburn football

abby and her defenders

kristyn playing some offense (or so i think)

intern friends sushi, jordan and abby

Weekend Maddness

This weekend was full of back to back events and things going on... that's kind of what I like best.  It was a great weekend though, and everyone in McMansion seemed to enjoy it.  Friday, Anna, Sydney, Rachael (Syd's sister), and I went to the Tyler Hilton and Gloriana concert.  It was at the Fair Grounds and it was so great.  I love Tyler Hilton from One Tree Hill and Gloriana is just fantastic and reminds me of the first time I saw Taylor Swift in concert (one of the best days of my life).  We also go to met Grace from the Secret Life, because she is dating Tyler Hilton.  Sydney and Anna took pictures with her.  Saturday morning, Anna, Jen, Sydney, Sarah and I worked at BMW Performance at the charity event for the Lineberger Cancer Society.  Tyler Hansbrough was there signing autographs and taking pictures.  Anna was the professional photographer and I was the person making sure everyone followed all the rules.  It was so great to say that I hung out with Tyler Hansbrough all morning and we raised over $1,500!!!  Pictures with famous people is turning into the norm.  Saturday, was also the football game against UVA... Carolina won!!!!!  Then that night, most of the girls in the house had our first bonfire at the house, and I had friends from East come over and watch My Best Friend's Wedding.  I adore that movie and those girls.  As if that wasn't enough for the jam packed weekend, Sunday night, Sydney and I went and saw Drew and Ellie in concert.... They absolutely killed it!!! So amazing. We may go to too many concerts seeing as we saw Hillsong earlier this semester and are seeing Taylor Swift in November.  I'll put a few of Anna's pictures to highlight the weekend!! 

Jen's Experience with Syd's Cooking

Now I'm sure many of you are reading this charming little story and thinking "Aw, poor Squidney, didn't get to enjoy her salty snack before bed." Boo hoo. After her disappointing attempt at popping corn, Squids returned to her bedroom on the third floor. I retired to my room at approximately 12:07, only to notice the smell of burning had wafted into my room. Being a generally easy going girl, I closed my eyes hoping my nose would become accustomed to the unpleasant smell. Forty minutes later and no less smoky (burnt popcorn just wont quit), I had an ingenious idea: air freshener!!! Of course, I could not turn on my light- I'm kind of a princess when it comes to my sleeping conditions and I didn't want to trick my brain. But I was able to find my Febreeze, all without leaving the comforts of my bed. Just a few spritz and I would be sound asleep, dreaming of lavender fields. But alas, I failed to consider the powerful effects of my oscillating fan. AIR FRESHENER IN THE EYES!!! BLINDING!!!! No choice but to cry it out.

On the plus side, I discovered my first line of defense should any creeper dare to intrude.

Cooking fail.

sooo as you all know, there was a little fire in the kitchen last night. well here is story number 1... i was frying bacon for our brinner and when it was time to take them out of the frying pan i covered a plate with paper towel (to soak up the grease) then i sat it next to the pan. i failed to remember we have a gas stove top that actually has a flame. if you are wondering, yes our house is ancient. well, before i knew it, the paper towel was on FIRE. all i could do was say "ummm ummm" instead of the normal "help." then i proceeded to run over to the sink and pour water on top of our plate of bacon.

and now on to story number 2... tonight i was hungry and wanted to make popcorn on the stove top. my friend jillian taught me how to go about doing this this summer. i successfully made it last week so i was confident in trying it again tonight. i suppose i put too many kernels in the pot which resulted in the popcorn not being able to rise to the top of the pot. this all resulted in burnt popcorn, an atrocious smell in the downstairs kitchen and my housemates telling me i have lost my cooking privileges. :(

i have now had both cooking fails since living in the mcmansion..well not to mention elaine's brownies. accomplishment? yes.

Brinner

Brinner: noun - a meal eaten at a normal dinner time consisting of breakfast foods.

Tonight we had our weekly family dinner at the McMansion, and we decided to have breakfast for dinner. It was quite the adventure. Syd caught something on fire, which was a first (but I'm sure not the last) at the McMansion.

We made 100x more grits than we needed. I guess we'll be eating them for a while. We're open for suggestions as to meals including grits - so far we have shrimp and grits and breakfast... So, please help!

I decided to honor 9/11 I should make a grooveshark playlist with all 9/11, war, or patriotic songs. Good decision? Maybe... But, if anyone ever needs a playlist that will make you cry, let this girl know. We shed a few at dinner...

Beat Rutgers!

It's game day in Chapel Hill, which means dresses, tailgating and some good ole football!

Pancakes at McMansion

So as a house, we have decided to host a monthly pancake night at the McMansion.  We decided that we had to get started right away, otherwise it would never actually happen.  So Thursday was our first pancake night at our house.  It was so much fun and we had almost 50 people over!  We put bets on how many people would come, and Syd won.  For some reason, I imagined that there would be far less and guessed 33.  But needless to say, it was really great and we loved having that many people over.  Once everyone left, our kitchen looked like a tornado had come through and poured pancake batter everywhere, but that's okay, we got it all cleaned up and the kitchen looked like new.  We also had a special guest at pancake night, Cameron's bunny, he would have made 51.  I can't wait for the next one and having so many people over again, but mostly I can't wait because I get to wear my apron!!!  Lastly, the number one rule to pancake night = dance parties in the kitchen.... at all times.

Project McNasty to McMansion

after a summer of subletters and busy schedules and summer madness, the mcmansion had turned into mcnasty.  it was in major need of a deep cleaning and in a major need of a slight revamping.  with eight girls and one night, a house can go from dingy to sparkling in no time.  today was our first day of class, therefore, with the homework being light and not that necessary; it seemed like the best night for cleaning.  the project list included scrubbing the kitchen tile with a toothbrush, repainting the bathroom, cleaning the utility closet, sweeping down all the cobwebs, and everything else that you can think of.  while cleaning isn’t usually fun, when all of us are together, madness is sure to ensue.  i love the mcmansion now.  it feels like home, and while we still have some bug friends with us, we are slowly but surely killing all of those.  now, we would love to welcome you to the mcmansion at any time.