What I'm Thankful For

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, Doc Chris has requested we show what we are thankful for. And as much as I'd like to say I'm thankful for everything, I'm sure he wouldn't appreciate that shortcut.

I'm Thankful For:

My Family

I realize that I don't have any recent photographs of me with my family but here is one from what I'm assuming is circa 1992. It's myself, my brother, and our parents. 

My Friends, both from home & from college

One of my best friends TJ and I at a concert last summer.

My roommates, 2 of which I've known for almost 10 years.

My friends TJ and Bobby. Bobby has been abroad all semester. I really miss everyone I know who went abroad for either the Fall or full year. I'm looking forward to those who went in the Fall to return but I know that means some people I've grown closer with are going to leave come Spring time. Junior year is definitely a bit different than the previous two years.

Three of my closest friends from home, I've known these girls anywhere from 7-10 years. We've been through a lot and I love them to death.

A group of friends from home that we call P-Day.

The Evergreens

A group of Evergreens bowling after the first Summer Orientation, as a break. As a first time Evergreen, a lot of Returners stepped up in helping us newbies get through the chaotic schedule of orientations.

A photo of us after wrap up during summer orientation, we all got a bit emotional in true Evergreen fashion.

A nice photograph of a few of Evergreen girls before we had our party.

The string ceremony. I can't really describe how amazing this moment was for me, and for everyone else I'm sure.

I've met some of the most genuine and most compassionate people that I had ever met in my 20 years of life after I joined the Evergreens. I really appreciate all of them. It was one of the best decisions I've made here at Loyola.

WLOY/Music

A polaroid of myself and my two friends from the station. Christa is abroad and WLOY is definitely missing her.

I'm thankful for my job on Campus at WLOY (Loyola's radio station). I'm not only thankful for the consistent income of money, albeit kind of small, but also the close friendship I've made with the staff.

My Education

Reppin.

My ability to travel

Paris, France with one of my best friends Alex...who also happens to be one of my roommates.

I've been lucky enough to travel all throughout Italy, France, and Spain and as well as traveling to the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico for a missions trip during my senior year of high school. I understand that being able to freely travel is a privilege, not a right, and many people aren't able to experience the beauty of seeing and living in different cultures.

Art

A photograph by one of my favorite fashion/portrait photographers Richard Avedon. As a photography major, I'm thankful for the presence of art in my life and in the world in general. And the ability that I have to follow my passion as a career path.

I'm a fan of Modern Art...and really all art. I love The MoMa and just being able to walk around museums and check out the different artwork. This is a piece by Mark Rothko.

Animals

I mean, I just love animals. They're cute.

Love

I think everyone is, or at least should be, thankful for love. To be able to love and be loved in return is probably one of the best qualities we possess as humans.

Reflection

So last week we all used the Google+ hangout feature to have class. If I'm being honest, I found it slightly complicated since there were about 10 different computers and at least 3 of them had 2 people or more. It was a lot of competing for sound and a bit convoluted. I can understand why Doc Chris would want to use it and test it out but I feel like it was a better idea in theory that it actually was in practice. I went to Katherine Winslow's room since we are floormates and that way we eliminated an extra computer. So that was good. I think that if we had class through Facebook it would probably be a little bit more cleaner and well organized, especially since everything we decided on would then already be written down. Overall though, I think it went alright and we landed upon going to Panera for our next class. Pretty cool.

Week Nine Reflection: Field Trip For Cupcakes

So class was pretty awesome this week. We left campus to "go on location" to a local cupcake store, Charm City Cupcakes, and to grab some Starbucks as we met with Michael Scott, someone who Doc Chris has lined up some projects with and needs our help.

Genna, Mairead, and I started off the day driving to location. We hit a bit of traffic but it wasn't that big of a deal. It was a beautiful Thursday afternoon and a perfect day for a drive, so that was pretty great. When we got there, Genna couldn't parallel park (no biggie, I mean I don't even think that should be part of driving exams anymore...am I right or am I right) so we parked in the back by Starbucks.

We each took a group picture in front of the store, which might I add is the smallest cupcake shop on this earth. I'm pretty sure it was once a little shed. I digress. After that, Doc Chris told us that we would again have to enter in a rock, paper, scissor competition in order to see who was going to get cupcakes first.

Naturally, Red Pandas beat out and we got second place (first place went to the team with the most points from last week). Once we were in the shop, we each got to choose the cupcake that we wanted...they all looked delicious. I got Peanut Butter cup. A brilliant choice. Except I really wanted some Milk afterward. I digress again.

Next Doc Chris walked us all over to Starbucks where several team members redeemed their Starbucks awards that Doc had given them. After everyone got their drinks and settled outside, Michael Scott informed us that were going to be working along side of him and his company in order to help promote some things. It was a pretty awesome day and class all in all. Plus, we got to see some adorable puppies and babies along with getting outside on a great Autumn day. A true mixture of sight, sound, motion, and learning.

Thriller Party Reflection

In the spirit of Halloween, Doc Chris decided to host a "Thriller Party" during class this week. Needless to say, it was quite interesting but I would say that it was a successful day for sure. Doc Chris came to class arms full of bagels from Panera and bags of candy. Some students brought the beverages, which earned them extra points (Red Pandas being one of them, naturally).

We had a costume contest for best male, best female, most innovative, worst male, and worst female. Phil won the best innovative for his Clark Kent costume and Katherine also won most innovative for her Madeline costume, both of which were pretty creative. Fellow Red Panda, Miles, won best male for his Mexican Taco costume. A great find.

We also had a dance off, of sorts. Each team would dance down the line of classmates and occasionally Dan and Doc Chris would just bust a few moves here and there.

Overall the class a fun and refreshing from a day full of normal, mundane lectures.
I think that the party gave us some positive affirmation about the work that we have been doing all semester so it was nice to be acknowledged for it.

Here are the Red Pandas in their costumes posing with Judge Doctor Chris. As you can see, Dan is in one of his costumes before his wardrobe changes (three of them might I add).  James was a Yankee Fan, Mairead was Halloween, Genna wore a mask, Miles was the Taco, and our entire team was just awesome per usual. Not a costume, just a way of life.

Judge Doctor Chris posing with Dan aka a boy from Belgium, perhaps?

Despite Doc Chris' hate for the Yankees, here he is posing with James...clearly a huge Yankee fan.

Senior Taco and Judge Doc Chris

BCPD in their costume glory with Doc Chris

First wardrobe change of the class and second costume for Dan!! Dancing up a storm at the Thriller Party

Where's Dan?

The dancing line, first up was Judge Doctor Chris

Two members of the BCPD dancing their way to the end of the line.