Welcome!

Tonight I am participating in something very exciting through the blog community I am a member of, SITS. Tonight is a Comment Cocktail Hour. Basically, it's a twitter party and we are tweeting out links to those that signed up, then everyone goes and visits that person and leaves a comment.

It is a great way to find some new blogs to read (as if I don't read enough already!) and to make some new blog friends! There are a lot of bloggers participating tonight, so we may not even get to me, but just in case I wanted everyone's first impression of me to be a little more uplifting than my last post!

So, if you're new here welcome!! I'm glad you're here! Here's what my blog is about in a nut shell:
Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman is the chronicle of a college girl wandering her way through her 20's, and blogging all the moments of life including sorority life, a sister with cancer and everything else that comes along. It will make you laugh and it will make you cry, but come along for the ride as this girl looks to find the woman in her and leave behind the girl.

I hope you all will come back and check out more of my site after the cocktail party is over ;) Off to comment on all the blogs.. 

Like It Was Yesterday

You know how there are certain days that stick with you  for the rest of your life? And no matter how long it's been it still feels like it was yesterday? Yeah, me too. For me, it is this day. The day that I found out my sister was sick. The day that changed everything.

I remember when it all started vividly; it was the night before all the craziness began. I was on my way to work and on the phone with my mom. One of the things she told me that stuck with me was that Anna had a doctor's appointment tomorrow to find out why she was having hip pain, and that she and my dad were going. This is unusual, so I was surprised and commented (ironically) "this is serious." I really didn't think it was; that's why I said that. Because my sister was an aches and pains kind of girl; something always hurt. So she was having hip pain? Tomorrow she'll get over it, I thought. But I've never forgotten my mom's answer "well, we're hoping it's not." What? I was confused; how could some little hip pain be something serious? It never, not even once occured me to me that it could be so serious, so life threatening.

The next day is a blur; I was waiting to hear from my mom after the doctors appointment. I remember bits and pieces; I remember that she had a doctor's appointment and the next thing I knew she was in the hospital getting a biopsy. It was hard being so far away, I felt out of the loop and I wanted to be there. I remember my parents were trying not to worry me, so they told me it wasn't serious.

Later that day, I was sitting in my best friend's room checking my facebook when I saw that my aunt had posted on my sister's wall. "I love you," she wrote, "whatever this is you can do it. We'll get through it." "What is she talking about?" I thought. I went to my sister's profile and tons of people had written on her wall. "You can do this," they said. "You are so strong, I know you can fight." Fight? Fight what? At this point, I had no idea that cancer was even a possibility. Tears welled up in my eyes as I read my best friend what people were saying. I called my mom immediately. "Why is everyone telling Anna she can fight and that she'll get through this? What are they talking about?", I asked her through tears. That's when I knew. I knew that this was bad. That it was serious.

It took several days after the biopsy to get an official diagnosis. I went home shortly after that for Thanksgiving break and I remember telling my sister "You probably don't even have Cancer. It's just a scare, you're fine." We both knew I wasn't right, no matter how much we wanted it to be true.

I couldn't sleep for days after the diagnosis. It was cancer. What was going to happen now? Would she die? The thought of that terrified me and broke my heart into a million pieces.

Today, I am telling you this story for many reasons. Because since going home this weekend and being reminded of how hard my sister is fighting, it's been on my mind. Because it is always on my mind. Because I'll never forget. And? Because, today, you can do something to help. 1 Million 4 Anna, the site for my sister is hosting a Twitterthon today with Abolish Cancer. For every new follower of @abolishcancer today, the ad agency that started 1 Million 4 Anna will donate $1 to Children's Hospital where Anna is being treated. Where the nurses close the door and tell Anna "I pray for you everyday." Where they all know to pray at 12:12 for Anna. Where the doctors are doing everything they can to save her life. Please spread the word. We want to give back to the hospital that has done so much for Anna, and we want to create awareness about her story.

I wish that over a year since this story began, our story was one of kicking cancer's butt. But, it is not. Not yet. But, hopefully with the prayers it will become that story.

Got A Secret, Can You Keep It....

"Got a secret, can you keep it? Swear this one you'll save. Better lock it in your pocket, taking this one to the grave"

Yes I just quoted the Pretty Little Liars theme song. I know. It's catchy, what can I say?! Anyway, I do have a secret to share. However, it is not my secret I am sharing. It is some anonymous person who trusted me to post their secret on my blog.

I am participating in BlogSecret, hosted by Holly. I love this idea! When I chose to blog using my name, I never considered what that meant. I never thought that there were things that I might not want to put out there using my name. There are some things I just can't say on here because of who might read it. That's where Holly's great idea comes in. I wrote a post, shared my story, but without my name attached to it. It's posted on someone elses blog anonymously, so it's out there, but it's not associated with me. It's the best of both worlds!

So, here is the secret that I have been entrusted to share. Leave your feedback for this person if you want, as they know their secret is being posted here! And, if you want to participate next time, be sure you let Holly know!
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The most beautiful woman in the world
I am doing this entry to try and flush the beautiful woman in the world out of my head.  I came across her while I was on holiday last November. The tragedy for me at least is that as much as she redefines what sexy is and has a equally bright mind she does not live in my local area, nor is she likely to in the foreseeable future. She has the nicest eyes I have ever seen which helped to cast me under her spell. While under her spell time just flew by.  I so fell under her spell that I failed to notice any other women for about two weeks afterward.  A part of me wants or wanted to tell her how amazing she is. But it really would be pointless because I probably won’t see her again.  Oh and the fact we have a couple of things in common only adds to things. I suspect that she is going to be in my dreams for a while yet.

It Changed My Life

Just two and a half years ago, I sat at the computer one day and happened to stumble upon a couple blogs after googling something. One blog lead to another, and then another, and I was quickly enthralled into the blogosphere. The more blogs I read, the more I began to think "I could do this. I could write a blog." And then, one day, I did it; I started a blog.

Little did I know how much would come from a simple desire to journal my transition from high school to college. Blogging was just a small part of what became my love for social media.

Eventually, I started reading about Twitter on some of my new found blog friends' blogs. They talked about "tweeting" with their friends and even following celebs. My curiosity was peaked, so I quickly signed up and started tweeting with the best of them, and never looked back.

When my parents started joining facebook, I realized I was kind of good at explaining social media to people. This realization lead me to write this post about how I should a be a "facebook teacher." I didn't know at the time that this kind of exists. I began to learn about social media marketing, and knew right away I wanted that to be my career. I dove into social media marketing head first to learn all I could; reading blogs, even books on the topic.

This semester at school, my new found love for social media marketing has earned me an amazing internship. I will be doing social media marketing stuff for my University, and it is such an unbelievable experience that would have never come to me if not for the path that has lead me here.

So far, social media has opened so many doors for me; the internship, I participated in 31DBBB this summer to learn more about blogging. I am an active member of countless social media sites and I use at least 2 social media sites a day.

On my social media to do list: I would love to attend Bloggy Boot Camp. Maybe even BlogHer one day. And of course, I would love to get a job in social media marketing after graduation.

Social media has changed my life professionally, personally and hopefully in many other ways yet to come! I have made a ton of friends, learned a lot and gained so much experience! I am truly grateful for the world of social media!



I am linking up at MamaKat's Writer's Workshop (a day late) using the prompt: "How has social media changed you?" 
Also, disclaimer: I was so excited to write this post all week and then when I actually wrote it out, it kind of sucked. But I'm publishing it anyway. Sorry. 

PSF: Not Exactly Roughing It...

If you've been reading here lately or keeping up with me on facebook, you may have heard about the fabulous trip to Colorado my family and I took. If not, pay more attention don't worry I will fill you in!

About a week before Christmas, we found out that we were being an amazing gift; a trip to Colorado. A family who heard of our family and what we've been going through has a house in Beaver Creek. Every year around Christmas time, they pick a family and donate their house to them for a week. This year, they chose us. And let me tell you, this was no average trip! We were living the high life for that week, and it is a trip we will never forget I am sure!

First of all, as if staying in an amazing house and bringing 4 extra people (my sister's friends) with us wasn't enough, we were flown to Colorado on a private plane.Which was really, really amazing!

Definitely a step up from your average flight, don't ya think!? As we were flying in, we could already start to see the beautiful, snowy white mountains!

Once we landed, we drove about 30 minutes (with amazing views the whole way! Everywhere you looked, it was so pretty) to the awesome house we stayed in. Seriously, it was such a beautiful house!

The picture is kind of dark... I don't know why it didn't occur to me to take a picture during actual daylight.

As soon as we got to the house, my sister and her friends literally ran into the house and before I even got inside, they had claimed their bedrooms! The house was just as beautiful inside as out; it was 5 stories and 5 bedrooms! We all kind of ended up on our own floor; my sister and her friends were on the next to last floor, I was above them and my parents were in the huge master bedroom on the top floor.

This was my room.

Clearly, this was taken after I had been living in it a few days!

The room my sister and 2 of her friends stayed in

The room the other 2 girls stayed in. (Sorry crappy iPhone picture)

The living area upstairs on the main floor was beautiful! It had a really nice kitchen, dining room and living room where we spent a lot of time playing games and watching movies!

The kitchen is on the right, dining room on the left and the living room in the middle!

Not only was the house clearly amazing, but the trip itself was also a blast! My mom and I don't ski (hate it. Despise skiing. Tried it once, never again!), so we spent our days walking around town (before the temperature dropped later in the week to single digits, including 0), shopping, etc. We even went and drank Pear Martini's one day! They were so good!

Yum!!!

It was really nice to spend some time with her just the two of us! My dad took my sister and her friends skiing every day, and they (mostly) had a good time! They were even crazy brave enough to face the single digit weather.

Of course, New Years was an experience all in itself, but you read about that already.

The end of the week came way too quickly (we tried to negotiate another day, but it didn't work out) and we were sad to leave the beautiful mountains. We flew home on another amazing private plane as a last part of our high life week!

We are so grateful for this trip that was such a generous gift! It was so nice to completely escape from real life for a week and enjoy some R and R! Great memories were made, a lot of fun was had and the time was definitely well spent!




Hosted by Cecily and Lolli
(I'm accidentally posting this a day late because I forgot yesterday. Ooops!)

You Don't Know What You've Got Until It's Gone

You know that saying "You don't know what you've got until it's gone"? Like, you can't appreciate all the great things in life until they are taken away from you? Well, that has been on my mind the last couple days since it is sort of how I'm feeling since being back to school. However, I'm making a minor adjustment to that famous phrase. (I apologize to whoever made this quote up, but I am making it my own!) If you ask me? You don't know what you've got until its gone... and then you get it back!!!

When I was at home for break, I didn't really think about school and whether or not I missed it. I was just living in the moment, I guess, enjoying my time with my family. When it came time to come back to school Tuesday, I was apprehensive. I was really sad to leave and I wasn't really sure how I felt about coming back.

Even though a lot of me was sad, part of me was looking forward to going back. It had been a whole month since I had seen or (in most cases) talked to my sorority sisters. And I was ready for that to change. Deep down, I knew once I got back that things would be great!

And I was right; As soon as I got back, I didn't see how I had survived without all these people for a whole month!!! Every new person I saw, it was another fantastic reunion. My little sis, my "god daughter", and another one of our sisters picked me up from the shuttle bus. Just a few minutes before, I was thinking about how sad I was about leaving home. But as soon as I saw them, I just instantly became happier! It was so much fun to see them, to catch up with each others' lives and just to spend time with them again! As I got the sorority house, there were more and more sisters to see, and to catch up with, including my best friend. That was the best reunion of all; to finally see my best friend, to sit on her couch just like always, talking the night away!

At one point last night, I was sitting in the basement surrounded by some of my sisters and best friends, and I thought to myself "This is the life." The more and more time I get to spend with my sisters these last couple days, the happier I am to be here. Whether it's staying up late talking about boys, or sitting in a hospital room because one sister has appendicitis (true story), or just watching a movie; no matter what we are doing being back together makes me realize how much I actually missed these people, whether I knew it before or not.

Even though it sucks to say goodbye to my family, even though I was apprehensive about coming back, once I got back I realized how much I love it here. How much I love my sisters and I am so grateful to have them in my life! Which lead me to my conclusion, you don't know what you've got until it's gone.... and then you get it back. I had to be away from my sisters for awhile and then reunite with them in order to remember how great it is to have sisters! When I was at home, I never realized how much I missed sitting around with my sisters, talking and laughing. But that now that I am doing it again? I can't imagine being anywhere else!!

"It's not just letters, parties and good times. It is a feeling that will never leave you as long as you live. It is a responsibility and a duty to yourself and you sisters. It is an eternal love."

Happy New Year?

When I envisioned my first New Years Eve as a 21 year old, I envisioned big plans. Parties. Bars. Alcohol (because I can partake in that now!), and most importantly friends (because what's a good party without people to enjoy it with?)  Well, plans changed drastically slightly when our family was invited to go on this amazing trip to Colorado (more on that later). Amazing as this trip was (and it was amazing, did I mention that!?), I went to Colorado sans any friends. Instead, I went with my family and four of my sister's friends (who are great, but not exactly who I envisioned spending new years with).

Anyway, as a result of being in Colorado sans friends, I figured New Years plans were out of the question. You know, other than maybe toasting at midnight with my parents and then going to bed. Except, my sister and her friends had other plans and for some reason they wanted me to come. Begged me to come. Obviously, I said no right away, and named off all the reasons I just couldn't possibly go. "I don't have anything to wear." "You just want me to go because I'm 21." " I don't know anyone there." Eventually, though, after all my excuses were shut down and I had a couple glasses of wine at dinner I decided I had nothing better to do, might as well go out with them. Plus, at least when people asked me where I rung in the new year, I could say "The Ritz" as opposed to "At home with my parents" or "in bed" (which could have easily been the truth if I had stayed in). So off we went to a party at the Ritz Carlton because obviously that is where the party is at. And, oh boy, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. (Well, really, I did but I tried to be optimistic and think it would be better than I assumed.)

Me and my "friends" for the evening!

Anyway, I put on my party hat and went in to the Ritz to see what was in store for me. As soon as we got there, my sister and her friends were running off to the bathroom and all of the sudden, for what would be the theme of the night, I had no idea where they were. The rest of the night was spent what I came to call "making rounds; I would occasionally get up from my super exciting activity of sitting in the lobby drinking the night away my few glasses of champagne to walk into the party to check on the girls to make sure they were A) still there B)Not doing anything I wouldn't do inappropriate.

The real fun came around 1 AM when I tried to round everyone up because my mom (driver for the night, lucky her) was on her way to pick us up. Have you ever tried to round up 5 17/18 year old girls who are in party mode?! Let me tell you, it is no easy feat. I went into the party room and I found 4 out of 5 of the girls. The one missing? My sister, of course. "Where's Anna?", I quizzed. No one knew.  Awesome. This is where I turned into, what a friend described as "Mother Hen"; I went into overprotective, older sister/ mother mode. I told the girls I found not to move and went to search for my sister who I found with a boy, of course. "Let's go," I told her, "Say goodnight." Yeah, as if it could be that easy! She informed me she needed to talk to this guy for awhile, and my protests failed. The guy was no help; he promised me he would take care of her. At this point, I was stressed out trying to round everyone up, I was tired, and frustrated with the way my New Years was turning out and I snapped back at the "Oh, yeah, I can trust you." Oops. A little harsh I think. To prove his trustworthiness, he promised me I could punch him where it hurts if he didn't bring my sister back in 5 minutes. What do you say to that!!?

Anyway, she goes down the hall to talk to this guy and I'm trying (unsuccessfully) to watch them without them knowing I'm watching them. Because, you know, what if he tried to run away with my sister!? Once I was confident that he wasn't trying to run away with her (ok, well after I got caught spying on them) I went back to check on the other girls. And what do you know? Another one is M.IA. When I asked where she was the answer was "she ran off with some guy." Fantastic. So I send the other one's to go hang out with Anna and her new found lover, who by the way, did declare his love for my sister in the exact words "I love Anna." Thank you so much for sharing. Now please back away from my sister, thank you. Finally, by some miracle thanks to my great rounding-up skills, all 5 of them are together. I did have to double check a few times, even counting off "1, 2, 3, 4... there's only 4 of you? Who's missing? Oh you're right behind me. Great, we have everyone." Seriously, I felt like a mother counting off all my children. (Thus the "mother hen" reference.)

So, if my New Years Eve has any indication of what my 2011 will be like, let's just say I'm not looking forward to it. Just like I had big plans for New Years Eve, I have big plans for this year (what they are, I'm not sure, but they are big plans, trust me). I definitely do not plan on spending my year chasing around partiers, but hey, you never know. One thing I can say, is that New Years Eve was definitely an adventure, and I'd be up for some adventure in 2011... why not!? If I can handle crazy teenagers, I can handle anything! Bring it on 2011...

I am linking up at Mama Kat's Losin' It for Writer's Workshop today. I used the prompt "If the way you spent your New Year’s Eve is any indication of how the rest of the year will go, how would you say your future is looking right about now?"