i love being an odd duck!

So it's my friend's 21st birthday today. Most people would take this opportunity to focus on the grown up part of this occasion...aka drinking. BUT i'm not most people i am emily and i am a SUPER goob, and so is my friend (YAY)

So my friend ashlei loves animals, rainbows, laughing, and more than anything i think, she is super in love with vampires! twilight, trueblood! sooo i decided at 815 when i woke up that all of these things need to be combined into a most epic cake! hahaha

step one: Mix the cake and then separate into 6 bowls!

step two: add the colors into one pan...making it then actually possible to "taste the rainbow" (once cooked that is!)

step three: DECORATE! i went with a family of vampire ponies eating a lion theme! hahaha

step four: laugh!!

music and snow

The weather this year has been a bit funky, Dec 3rd was 63 degrees here at school and then it's snowed Dec 5! Usually I am a hater of snow but I was pleasantly surprised how happy I was when it snowed the other day and the fact that there is still snow on the ground. one of my favorite parts of winter is the ice on the trees. It is so breathtakingly beautiful so here are a couple pictures from the other day.

These photos were taking outside my house in Amherst a couple of days ago in the morning. There are a couple more on my flickr. Not much else to say about them expect I can't wait to take a new set of winter photos! In other news I am done with school this week!! So excited for break! Not only do I get to send time with my lovely family but I have also planned a two week trip to Park City Utah to see my friend Hannah.

Because there is only a couple of days left music has really been getting me through all the craziness. So I though I could share some tunes which either calm me down when I feel overwhelmed or pump me up when I need an energy boost

Art vs Science , Lady Gaga, The Weepies, The Fashion, Say Anything, Ingrid Michaelson,

Lisa Mitchell , anything from Glee, and oodles more!!

Alrighty time for homework and studying! Peace. Love. & Hula Hoops

sorry i vanished!

I know one really reads this but hot dang I am bad at updating my blog for my imaginary readers! haha. So yeah, Halloween was fun and because I'm the only one who takes photos there are no pictures of me in my super awesome costume...guess it means I'll have to wear it again hahaha. In November news I sadly missed out on Thanksgiving with my own family (sad news) because my dance team danced at a Celtics game (AWESOME NEWS!) Thanksfully my best friend/captain Micki and her family took me in for the holiday. I had a very good time! Here is a photo of my whole team!

Anywho this is an awful post but I promise to make future ones better!!!

Peace. Love. & Hula Hoops!

SAY WHAT!?

HALLOWEEN is in TWO days!!!Crazy insane! I am just too excited for this Halloween but it could be because I am super in LOVE with my costume!! So are you wondering what I'm going to be? Well, keep guessing because I'm not telling you!....just yet. haha

MONSTER!!!!! This is a picture of an ugly doll. I think they are super cute and not ugly at all! Well anywho I thought this photo went along with the Halloween theme. Alright It's time to tell you who I'm being because I just can't keep it a secret for a second longer! I am being Rachel Berry from the tv show Glee no joke this is my FAVORITE show...EVER! It involves singing, dancing, and lots of laughs! The talent on this show is flippin amazing insane. Anyway I'm going as Rachel Berry, one of the main characters who has an incredible voice. I decided to be her because now I get to be a dork all night and sing my little heart out..plus she's Jewish like me! hahaha! I also like this costume idea because it's cute and fun, I pretty much knew I was going as her the day after I saw the second show! Plus there is a definite lack in cool brunettes to pretend to be on Halloween, so I am oober pumped that my dark brown hair is perfect for this get up! ok I'm off people!

Peac. Love. & Hula Hoops

ps I'm also going to a say anything concert this friday! this weekend is so jam packed of magical goodness!!!

Peaceful

The last couple of days have been very stressful. So, I have turned to my photos for pictures that remind me of relaxing places. It may sound odd but I find cemeteries very relaxing and beautiful. Here are a couple of photos from a cemetery...

The one of the stone woman is my favorite. All of them remind me how peaceful everything can be. I do not find cemeteries very sad, they are place to remember. Anyway I have to finish my homework, this post was mostly for me to blow off some steam.

peace. love. & hula hoops.

three day weekend = yummy treats

This past weekend was a long weekend due to Christopher Columbus day, usually I'd say "THANKS CHRIS" but in reality we all know he sucks. Most people went home for the long weekend but i stuck around and hung out with my best friend Micki!

Friday after a horrible stressful week we rented three movies and made brownie sundaes (side note the movie rental place is the COOLEST PLACE EVER!)! We rented Ghosts of Girlfriends Past, Taken and I Love You Man. Taken was AWESOME!

So here is a photo of Micki's sundae because it looked far more professional than mine...which looked like a 5yr old made it hahaha. Also do not worry folks whip cream was added to this sundae after the photo!! Anyway it was a great night and much needed after the week we had both had!

The next day we hit up the mall and Halloween store for some shopping. It was very fun and we tried on some hilarious outfits and shoes while shopping...good time had by all! Then we met up later (wore some of our new clothes!) and went to the House of Teriyaki! It was super awesome and the food was so delicious!

I got salmon sushi platter! It was super fabulous and came with salad and soup! Micki got a chicken dish with rice that was equally delightful! We also made sure we used chopsticks! haha! Then we went out and got a drink and pretty much just went out on the town and felt very grown up! The next morning we made ourselves a nice breakfast which included BACON! I love bacon I think is it soo yummy!! Look how pretty it is!!

Then our last food adventure was nachos!!! Micki made this super secret super AWESOME nachos and we watched Beerfest, a movie my sister would say is an example of she doesn't know how we're related hahaha. I will admit I do like some awful movies haha!!

And yesterday for my day off from school I did homework and went to a corn maze with my friend Jeff! It was super fun and neither of us had ever been to the corn maze around here...we also sunk out of the maze and visited this super cool grave yard...which sounds creepier than it is! over all it was a FABULOUS weekend and I'm so happy about all the food I ate and mini adventures I went on!!

Peace Love and Hula Hoops!

its the final countdown

Ok lies, this is not the final countdown...BUT this is still a countdown to my absolute favoritist

holiday EVER!!! (yes I know favoritist is not a real word) That holiday happens to HALLOWEEN!!!! I mean how could you not love it!? Here are a list of things that makes it SUPREME

1) you get to dress up 2) eat candy 3) carve pumpkins 4) watch scary movies 5)haunted houses 6)awesome parties 7)looking at other peoples cool costumes and sooo much more!!

So you may be wondering where the count down stands....24 days! Well I don't want everyone to know who I am going to be just yet (even though I've already told a number of people because I'm oober excited about it!!). So I decided to share some past Halloween costumes I've worn.

This is me two years ago as the famous Betty Boop! Growing up I always love Betty Boop cartoons! I absolutely loved this costume but sadly only about five people knew who I was and only a handful more knew who I was talking about when I had to tell them.People my age are a bunch of nit-wits jeez! haha

This is me last Halloween. Those of you who know me well know I love love LOVE the 80s!! So I went as an 80s pop star!! This was a super fun costume and on the plus side everyone knew what I was!

Anywho I'm off to dance but I'm super excited for Halloween! What is everyone else being??

peace. love. and hula hoops!

Me Pop!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!!!!

As you can see today is my fathers birthday! I've been told he had a very relaxing day and got to enjoy many delightful and edible treats! Eating is the best part about birthdays! Well, in my opinion anyway. But seriously, think about it, everyone seems to want to feed you on your birthday and that is totally supreme!

Anywho speaking of birthdays here is a photo of my pop taken on my birthday

Now you all know where I get my dashing good looks! In all seriousness I do get some of my best traits from my dad. Everyone know I've inherited his love for travel and adventure! But I also received a whole list of fun things...so here it goes:

Sense of adventure (worth writing twice!), people skills, humor, wittiness, love of music, confidence, drive, dance moves, style, love of people and soo much much more!

Every year I realize how much like my dad I really am and that's not a bad thing at all because he is a great man who has accomplished so much in his life already and he still has more things to go! But I want to thank him (and my mom) for doing a great job in raising my bother, my sister and I!

Love you dad and happy birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!! <3

peace love hula hoops and birthday fun!

bloop bloop bloop

Lately I've been doing LOTS and LOTS of crafting because sadly I cannot get into the homework flow. I've made about 10 bracelets/ anklets, a ton of origami boxes and such, weaved boxes out of newspaper and doodled some things. OH and taken some photoz.....


This is a picture I took of myself... not doing work haha. Has that ever happened to you? You know you have work you could be doing but no matter how hard you try you just can't motivate yourself to do it?

I get like that often, but I also prefer crafting to reading things that bore me to tears! But don't worry family I do get my work done it just takes me forever and a day. But speaking of curing boredom I'm off to have ladies night with some girls here at UMass!!

peace love and hula hoops

feeling a bit country

Ok I never feel a bit country BUT this weekend was my friends Kevin's surprise 21 country themed birthday party and hot dang it was loads of fun! I know i often complain about UMass but being with my friends reminds me how much I truly love this place!!

This picture is a group of some of my favorite ladies from UMass! I am so lucky to have met all of them!! soooo from the left Katie, Micki, Erin, Me and Sherri!!!

The country theme was fun except for all the terrible country music but I have to jet!! later gators!!

peace. love and hula hoops!!!

Why hey there Ingrid Michaelson!

(Above some neat-o burrito graffiti from Boston!)
Howdy folks! So this weekend I went to Boston to visit my lovely sister April and her boyfriend Eric. It was really fun and I got to meet a lot of their new friends. Everyone was really nice and I had a blast BUT I have to admit the coolest part about the trip was when April and I went to the Ingrid Michaelson concert!!

We went to the Paradise Rock Club. Just like the last time we went to that venue we stood for a pretty long time and the air conditioning was RIDICULOUS! Sorry to side track but I need to explain this air conditioner! It was like being outside in early stages of winter with the wind blowing!! Seriously it was blowing so hard our hair was blowing!! Crazy!!

Anywho back to the point! Ingrid's opening act was Greg Holden and he was just adorable....and he wears flannel!!!! He has amazing talent and I really enjoyed his songs! The girls near us were...parden the language but ragging psycho hoez beasts!! They were awful and kept harrasing him while he played about how cold it was. They were indeed awful people BUT good old Mr. Holden handled them well and kept playing his lovely music!


Then came Ingrid Michaelson! As expected she was completely fabulous!! I can honestly say enjoy all of her songs! She is very funny and quirky. She seems like the kind of person you could instantly be best friends with!! Well after her amazing performance April and I got our tickets signed (well in April's cause her found ticket hahaha)!!! and then we got to meet her and Greg Holden! They are both super cute and very nice...April and I were obviously starstuck and completely goofy!


It was an incredible concert and an amazing trip! I had so much fun and it still feels so unreal that I got to meet Ingrid Michaelson!!!! Although it may sounds lame I told her to her face she was the bees knees, but in my defense she totally is!!!


(Above)This is a poster Ingrid signed for me..notice it's already up on my wall hahaha!
(Below) So April and I are either super adorable or super dorky but we got the same shirt! hahahahaha
well I'm off and sorry this is a lame post but I keep getting side tracked!! But there are more picture of the concert on my flickr. Also my sister wrote about the concert in her bloooooog. Alright toodles poodles!

Peace Love & Hula Hoops

new school year new adventures

I'll admit, I really dislike odd numbers so I was very nervous about 2009. Despite all my worrying of the dreaded 2009 but to my surprise it's been absolutely SUPREME!! I've been to Las Vegas, Florida, Warped Tour and Alaska<3!!

I've been back at school for almost a full week and I already have my first adventure of the new year. I'm heading too Boston, Friday, to visit my lovely sister April. I haven't visited Boston in awhile and I'm excited to see April as well as cruise the city! Plus, April and I are going to see Ingrid Michaelson in concert!!! I love seeing concerts with April!!!

Speaking of April, she and Eric came and visited us cool kids at UMass (me and Will).

(Pictures of April when she came and visited me at school! She can be such a goob!!!hahaha)
They brought us out to eat, for a walk and then we dropped off Will and the dream team brought me sneaker shopping. It was a really wonderful day and I enjoyed spending the majority of the day with them! Alright well back to homework and lame things but don't worry people I am planning new adventures!!! I have so many places to go, so many things to see and take pictures of and so many strangers to MEET!!!!

ok later gators!!! Peace. Love and Hula Hoops!!!!

Alaska<3!!!!

(Views from out my car window....awesome right!?!?!?!?!)


I went to Alaska folks and hot dang it was one of the coolest experiences in my life!! so here is the tale of Alaska but I warn you know this will be kind of a long!!!

My best friend (Hannah Banana) and I decided to visit Alaska, not only had neither one of us been to Alaska before but Hannah's Uncle and Aunt offered us place to stay, good company and a car to bomb around in! So it was off to Alaska with us! On August 22 we left MA, three flights and 14 hours later we were in Anchorage AK!!!! We stayed with Hannah's Uncle Peter and Aunt Pam and on the first day in Anchorage we actually left and went to Big Lake to stay in their lake house, where Banana and I went JET SKIING!!!!!!!!


(Above Talkeetna downtown area. Below Seward port)

I also went to Talkeetna (North of Anchorage), Seward and Portage (both South of Anchorage). I also went and saw not one but TWO glaciers!!! one I saw from across a massive lake (Portage Glacier) and the other was Exit Glacier which we walked pretty close too! We went to the Alaska Native Heritage Center in Anchorage and the Alaska Sea Life Center in Seward. We also went to the Alaska State Fair twice because it was sooo much fun!!!!!!!!

(Exit Glacier)
(Hannah and her Uncle Peter at SteelFab)

We did lots of other things like visited Hannah's uncle's work (SteelFab) pan for gold, visit downtown Anchorage, took hikes, went to the zoo, saw reindeer, ate reindeer went on a hand tram and even bar hopped! There is so much more to tell but those stories are best told in person. Alaska was an amazing trip and I truly hope I go back again sometime soon because I just LOVED it there<3!!! It was absolutely beautiful and Hannah's family was soo fun and nice, I loved being able to hang out and spend time with them!!!

The whole Macksey Gang. From the Left...Peter, Pam, Hannah and Rylan!!!! YAY ADVENTURE IN ALASKA!!! I guess it's time to plan my next adventure!!!!!!!!! later kids!!

Peace Love and Hula Hoops<3

Pictures of Art

So the other day I took some time out of my busy busy busy schedual to see some art at two of the local museums. Mass MoCA and The Clark Art. Both museums old amazing pieces but hold very different collections of art. The Clark holds "classic" art while MoCa is a modern art museums.

Anywho I took some pictures of the art work at MoCA...




The first painting is named "Apathy" and was painted by Sean Landers. I really enjoyed his work! The second one is a a video but I sadly cannot recall the name or who it was by BUT I do remember that it had amazing sountrack....cello pieces composed by Bach! In the video the guy is playing an imaginary cello. The last photo is just a hallway blue from an excibit. I took a bunch more photos but these three were some of my favorites!!!

Well I absolutly love going to the museums and recomend everyone make some time to go and see something at their local museums or even local shows at coffee shops and such. Well stay classy folks.

Peace Love and Hula Hoops!

Oh yes, ALASKA!! Well here is the scoop kids! I'm off to Alaska August 22 and I'm there till the 29. I'm going with my best friend Hannah (we went to Vegas together too!) and we're staying in Anchorage Alaska with her uncle and his family. I'm so very excited to go and it should be such a grand adventure!!! I plan to take OODLES of photos. Promise! ok for realz I'm off!

I'm Published!!!

So as promised I am here to tell y'all about how I got my photo PUBLISHED! My picture was published in the book below (Best of College Photography 2009)!! This is so flippin' exciting!

Ok, so to start at the beginning and end at the end. For those of you who don't remember or for those who've never read this blog before I mentioned in an earlier blog post that I had not only entered a photo contest but also managed to make it as a finalist!!

After the exciting news that I was actually a finalist, out of the 3000+ people who entered I was totally on cloud 9!! I was so caught up on my cloud I forgot I ordered the book! So just a couple of days ago I finally received the book with my photo in it! YAY!!!!


AHH looks that's my name! This is so very exciting! And as a bonus or some sort of awesome fate my photo is on an even page (222! Ugh I hate off numbers, is that strange?) Also my photograph is in the middle of a page which I find fitting because I always feel a little more comfortable being sandwiched! I am such a silly middle child.

Anywho I just wanted to share my awesome-o news! It really is nice to know people enjoy my photography because, jee-wiz, I just love taking pictures!!

Alrighty it's time for me to beat feet. But wait! one more fun fact...I'm going to ALASKA!!!!!!! Ok I'm outtie, Peace Love and Hula Hoops!!

wow i've gotten bad at this

With three jobs I am finding it very hard to find time to bliggity-blog. But now that I have a few moments to spare I will give it a try...

Here are three photos from the fourth of July. I love the fourth in North Adams because the firework show is wonderful. Now for those of you have been to the NA fireworks might think I'm a crazy but seriously believe it is awesome! We live in a valley so when they set off the fireworks there is an amazing echo!! Well besides the echo I really do enjoy the lights. Well I'm off to work enjoy the photos!




I tried to pick three photos that were different and I hope you enjoy them! For more pictures of mine you can always check out my flickr! Peace Love and HulaHoops

ps My photo was in BOOK! I promise that at some point I will explain more and have photos!!!

it's been awhile

wow it's been awhile. since i last posted a couple things have happened. number one i turned 21!

(my birthday dinner party [left to right and back to front] andrew, zack, trevor, jake, hannah, me and ashlei)

(me at my birthday party with my friends [left to right] amanda, hannah, molly, amanda s, me, ashley and elle)
my birthday was awesome! filled with friends, giggles and awesome 90's nickelodeon fun!!! ALSO i had a baby dino playing a toy piano ice cream cake (which was gluten free i might add!!!)

(my dino cake!!!!)

hmm what else oh yes DINSEY WORLD!!!!!! jealous? dinsey was oober fun! my friend micki and her mom lynn brought me. they were the BEST tour guides ever! it was an amazing experience. i hope to go back again and think everyone should give dinsey a try because it really is magical.

(picture above the castle at magic kingdom during "extra magica hours" sooo magical!)
so i don't make this post too long i promise to talk about both these things at a later date and in differnt posts. later gators and as always peace love and hula hoops!

birds are singing and i have too many jobs

howdy kids. today work was cancelled because my partner in crime has a headache which means i have none of my gardening tools or a ride to work. but no worries because i have three jobs this summer and work 7 days a week so the day off is welcome!

my first job i've had for 3 summers. i work at a private estate in williamstown ma fixing up this families 52 gardens! because they are never around ashlei and i often forget that the garen doesn't actually belong to us haha. but the entire estate is like a pardise (now including a brand spanking new waterfall!!!) i absolutley love working at the garden because it's outside and just
beautiful! i work there 5 days a week which is one of the reasons it feels so much like my own.


i took this picture at the garden last year. a lot of people enjoy this picture and i have even recieved an original painting from an artist friend in exchange for a copy of this picture which was the coolest experince!!! silly enough this picture was not actually taken in any of the 52
gardens we work on but in the valley of flowers in the woods where we dump our cart of dead flowers and weeds.

my second job is at a local townies bar called the pitchers mound. it's a very silly job because no one including myself would have ever guessed i would end up working in a bar as a bartender. i actually enjoy the job because it has made me a little more confident because there is a job where people give you a lot of grief sometimes. the bar is kind of a dive but people who come in are usually very nice and we have some great early evening dance parties!

this is a picture of some of my friends and myself at the mound (i was working). from the left it's trevor, ashlei (i work with her at the garden), myself and hannah (she is another bartender at the mound).

and lastly there is my job at green river farms in williamstown. it's new job and i'm really enjoying myself. the women who i work with and who is training me is the sweetest woman. i really enjoy the work i do there and the green house is absolutly incediable!!
i took this picture at green rive farms the other day while on break. anywho i am off to read my book on the beautiful day off!! took look at more summer photos feel free to check out my flickr! i actually have some pretty neat flower picture up!! peace love and hula hoops!!