Today I had the opportunity to attend a conference for all of the Mercy Institutions held at in Pittsburgh, Pa. I went with Dr. Jane Grassadonia, John Porter and Ashley Warfel. We also had the pleasure of attending the conference with Sister Jean Messaros, the Dean of Student Affairs at College Misericordia. She is also a member of our Board of Trustees. It was interesting to talk with her and Dr. G. about their experiences with Student Affairs because it is a field that I want to pursue in the future.

The conference we attended was designed as a basic panel discussion and the topic was how to run future meetings and what our goals were for the Mercy Institutions. We decided that we are going to hold a larger conference in May of 2008 and our main topic will be violence to the self, others and the environment. It will be a three day conference in which each institution will bring 5-10 students. Workshops will be held throughout the weekend for students to become more aware of the issues faced by our society. Each college/university will then come together and develop a plan for their prospective institutions, present it to the conference, and then put it into effect. We will be holding it at Xavier University in Ohio. It was an incredibly productive and interesting meeting. I am so glad that I could be a part of it.

I will be spending the weekend with Becky working on things for Relay For Life and Step Team. Tomorrow we are going to Altoona for supplies and I think we are going to Panera for lunch!! It's one of my favorite restaurants. :o)

Well, Becky and I are going to watch Grey's Anatomy, since both of us missed it last night. I'll catch up with you next week!!

Laura

Posted by Laura Deely at 8:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today I met with my advisor Dr. Lansing and began preparations for next fall. It looks like I am going to be taking Human Biology, Women & Spirituality, Social Psychology, Cognitive Psychology, and Intro to Statistics. I have it planned out so that all of my classes are on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. This will give me Tuesdays and Thursdays to attend meetings and to study. I'm looking forward to taking Women & Spirituality because Dr. Anthony Dragani is teaching the course. I was able to meet him while assisting in the Mercy Presidential Scholarship Interviews. I have heard from a lot of my friends that he is an amazing professor.

We were supposed to begin the softball season this week but the games were postponed. The advantage is that it will give us some extra time to work out and fine-tune several areas of the game.

Well, I'm going to study a bit more for my American History exam this afternoon. I stayed up late and I think it paid off. I remember just about everything...I guess we'll find out soon!!

The Spring Open House is just around the corner. Maybe I'll get to see you soon!!

Laura

Posted by Laura Deely at 12:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Last night I went snowboarding with Bobb, Becky and Ashley. I had never been snowboarding before so this was going to be a very new adventure for me. As it turned out, we were on our own as far as the learning went because of the weather. They were short staffed and no instructors were left. We were misguided as to which slope to go down and it didn't take long to realize that we DEFINITELY went down the wrong one. We found ourselves on an advanced/intermediate slope. After we spent an hour falling down the thing, we finally made it to the bottom. I fell a lot!!! I didn't get hurt until Ashley found herself coming down the hill, out of control and unable to turn or stop, and headed straight for me. She crashed into my knee full force and I flipped head over heals into the snow. I thought I was done for. That didn't stop me though. By the end of the night it came naturally to me. It is definitely my new sport.

Today, Becky, Ashley, Bobb, Dannie and I are participating in the first annual Mount Aloysius College Iron Chef competition. We named our team Hot Skill-It. We plan on dressing up in all of our St. Patrick's Day attire and whipping out some creativity for the competition. Several of our other friends are participating as well, so today should be pretty exciting. Our celebrity judges are Sue Brugh, Larry Brugh, and our very own Frank Crouse!

Well, I think it's about time that I get ready...but only if I can get up from my chair. Haha, I can barely move after snowboarding last night. :o)

Laura

Posted by Laura Deely at 11:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Is there any better way to spend Spring Break other than with your friends at the beach? I don't think so!! :o) I just got back from Myrtle Beach, SC with the Softball Team. We traveled down to South Carolina for the Snowbird Softball Tournament and some relaxing fun in the sun. The trip down was a bit trying but I managed to sleep most of the way. The weather was absolutely beautiful to say the least!! As soon as we arrived at the hotel, it took us a whole of 10 seconds to make our way down to the ocean. :o) I forgot how much I love the beach. We spent a good 2 hours looking for seashells and watching the sun set.

We stayed in an ocean front hotel and had a gorgeous view of the pier and shore. I roomed with my best friends Kayla, Amanda, and Casey. We enjoyed trying out what Myrtle Beach had to offer, especially a restaurant called East of Chicago. It was a pizza buffet that offered various types of pizza...even dessert pizza!! My favorites had to be the vanilla crunch pizza and the brownie pizza. The restaurant was also like a Chuckie Cheese. It had an arcade attached to it. Can you imagine 15 girls ranging from the ages of 18-22 running around an arcade like 6 year olds?? Let me just tell you that it was a great time.

As far as the games went, we performed much better than any of us could have imagined. We even surprised our coaches. We pulled off a big win against Gordon College from Boston. This tournament was our first time out on a real field because ours is still drying out from the winter weather. It felt good to be back out there!!

Aside from a minor sunburn, the trip was awesome and I can't wait to go back. We are planning to stay for a whole week next year!!!

Hope to see you on campus soon!

Laura

Posted by Laura Deely at 7:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yesterday MAC was closed due to the weather. It was the perfect day to hold a Winter Carnival. Snow was everywhere, but it was surprisingly warm outside. Becky, Dannie, and I decided to enter ourselves in the Snow Sculpture contest being held by the Student Government Association. We were out in the snow from 1pm-8:30pm. We built a replica of the Mountie Logo. It turned out better than I could have imagined. Since we still had time left over, we also built a green sea serpent...more like a snow serpent.

Our friends Liz and Katie built a giant birthday cake and Owen made a sculpture of a penquin with a baby penguin in its feet. Everybody enjoyed the day off and took advantage of the hills around campus to go sled riding. It was also a great opportunity to pull the hot chocolate back out!!

Well, I'm off to softball practice. This is our last one before out trip to Myrtle Beach.

See you after Spring Break!!!

Laura

Posted by Laura Deely at 3:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This weekend proved to be amazing all around!!! During our trip to Altoona to buy supplies for the Semi-Formal event in April, we made a detour trip to the mall to meet up with my parents. They had been working for "Relay at the Mall" all day raising money for our Altoona Relay For Life team. My Dad had called me to inform me that he would be cashing in on a bet he had made during our trip to Florida with the BG Cheerleaders. My Dad was going to get his ear pierced!!!!!!

While we were in Florida, my Dad made an innocent promise t the cheerleaders that if they placed in the top ten, he would make his pretend pirate earring real. Well we all know that the cheerleaders placed 9th and last I knew, 9th means the top ten. :o) It was an interesting site to see 7 college girls crowding around my Dad waiting and watching for the piercing. He didn't even flinch. He looked at my Mom and said, "I thought you said it was going to hurt!" In all honesty, he looks good with an earring!! Don't tell anyone, but I think he's really starting to like it and all of the attention. Haha!!

After we were finished shopping, we ordered a couple of pizzas from Vito's in Cresson and decided to hang out in Becky, Bobb, and Ashley's room for the night. I made nobakes for everybody and Bobb made Puppy Chow(Chex mix, peanut butter, chocolate, and powdered sugar). We watched Nanny McPhee and Stomp the Yard. I ended up falling asleep on the floor while Becky and I were watching Jumanji.

Sunday night I watched the movie Barnyard, which has become my new favorite animated movie, with Kayla, Ebony, Becky, Ashley, and Bobb. It was hilarious!! We also watched a few movies that I had made myself about this school year. I made a movie for the Soccer team, Powderpuff Football team, and the Step team. Everybody loved them.

I had a blast spending time with my friends this weekend at MAC. We are going to have to do it again after Spring Break.

Laura

Posted by Laura Deely at 7:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Things have been picking up and I've been getting back to the busy side of life(it's definitely the more dominating side haha). This week I had a dentist appointment. No cavities!! :o) I also attended a Team Captain event for Relay For Life with Sue Brugh, Chris Trexler, and John Porter. I am learning a lot from attending these seminars and I have a very positive outlook in my future with Relay.

Softball practice is continuing to go very well. We will be leaving next week for the Snowbird Tournament in Myrtle Beach, SC. The baseball team will also be leaving for a tournament being held in Florida. Spring Break is looking very good this year!! :o) As far as sports go, I had my last physical therapy session yesterday. My therapist said I am as good as new and that my neck should not give me anymore problems. I have to be extra careful during the softball season though with my right shoulder because it was also causing some problems.

This weekend I am going shopping with the Semi-Formal Committee to purchase materials and supplies for the dance in April. We are looking to do a Masquerade Theme. We are also planning a couple of movie/game nights for over the weekend.

I am going to head to dinner so I will catch up next week!! Hope to see you soon!

Laura

Posted by Laura Deely at 4:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)