Spring Break in Lake Tahoe

Hey Everyone!

It's SPRING BREAK for the Purple Knights this week and it couldn't have come at a more perfect time. I was in desperate need of a break from school.

On Day One, my parents and I went on a two hour tour of the Incline Village, Nevada area, where my parents recently moved. The weather was beautiful and I had forgotten how blue the lake is. I can't wait to spend lots of time there.
I am actually applying for summer jobs right now and hopefully I will get to work at the Hyatt's day camp for kids. Then I'd get to art projects and nature walks all summer. Sounds pretty good, right?! If I don't get the job, I am hoping to work at one of the beaches in Incline. Either way, I'll be working on my tan.

On Day Two, I headed for Diamond Peak for some GS training. :-) It was sunny and it's one of the few places I haven't skied, but it's really cool because there are some unreal views of Lake Tahoe there!

On Day Three, I headed to Sugar Bowl. I trained slalom on my own old home hill. I skied at Sugar Bowl for a long time before switching to SRI. Anyways, once again it was sunny and I was sweating. No one ever said skiing was glamorous.

And because I like to make the rounds, I headed to Boreal today. It is a really small mountain off of HW 80 with a whole lot of park for the free riders and snowboarders in the area, but also a race arena. I jumped in with my friend, Shannon, who I am currently recruiting to St. Mike's. She just got her acceptance letter and is coming to visit me in a few weeks! Can't wait!! We trained GS once again under beautiful skies and then headed to Tacos Jaliscos, the best Mexican food restaurant ever, and ate way to much food.

Hope everyone is having a great second semester and Spring! For all you accepted students, don't forget about the upcoming Blogger Chat on March 25th. Currents students will be available to answer any questions you have about Saint Michael's.

xo
Gabbi

Tour Blog 2

Video Blog

Aren't We Good Lookin'?

This is the ski team at Eastern Championships in Middlebury. We clean up pretty good, huh?

Another Higher Ground Adventure :-)

Welcome to Higher Ground. That is a guitar that sits in the lobby area. It's big and has pretty designs and is signed by someone famous. I didn't read the plaque, but you can go and learn about it on your own.
I was at Higher Ground last night ( a Tuesday... I still think it's cool I can go to a concert on a Tuesday night because I'm in college and no one is really telling me what to do... and I had my homework done so...) to see Mikey Wax, Serena Ryder, and Howie Day. I won the tickets through a Facebook contest done by our school's radio station, WWPV. There are always contests for tickets to concerts, which is great because I probably wouldn't have gone if I had to pay for a ticket. Not that they are at all expensive, but to be honest Howie Day isn't a big enought name to tempt the lonely twenty sitting in my wallet.



This is Mikey Wax when he was playing guitar and piano in the same song. It was very cool. I mean I'm no musical genius, but I think we can safely assume that it took a bit of practice. My favorite song in his set was called "The Last Great Song," which tells the story of a man he met in New York City who asked for change in exchange for hearing "The Last Great Song." Wax's song wasn't a copy of it, but a story about it. I thought it was wonderful.



Now, meet Serena Ryder, who is now one of my favorite artists. When I found out she was opening, I did some research. Her sound reminds me of Alanis Morrisette or Minnie Driver with a whole lot of sass. I have to say, I love her more live than recorded. Maybe it's her stage presence, but she was quirky in a red flapper style dress and seemed completely into what she was doing. She played her miniature guitar, stomped around in her boots, and made the whole place shake with her vocals. Really, it was amazing. I would kill for her vocals. To be honest, I like her far more than Howie Day. She was the best part of the show. I am hoping to go see her again on May 5th (even though it's the middle of finals week.....).


... And now, Howie Day. I have to say I'm very conflicted on my feelings towards him. Yes, he is VERY cute. And yes, he plays guitar, piano, and writes songs. So, I guess he's sort of perfect? Except for the looping. Now I understand that recorded music has lots of layers and editing, but I like concerts because when it is an individual, it is there voice and a singular instrument. It's very raw. Don't get me wrong, I would be so down to go to a Beyonce concert with edited beats, but it's just not what I expect out of someone who I wouldn't consider to be in the pop genre. (That's just me.) When he first came on, I was a little thrown off by the fancy footwork on the looper and "echo creator"(That's probably not what it's called, but you get the point.) As the show progressed, it grew on me. I have a feeling this is because he was very charming and funny on stage and as I've said VERY attractive.
Who knows?

That's all for now.
xoxo
Gabbi

The Good, the Bad, and the Completely Random

Hello All!
I currently have some time before a floor meeting, so I thought I'd give you guys a look at the laundry rooms here at St. Mike's. Without further ado, welcome to the Joyce Hall laundry room.
.

Here are the washing machines. There are seven of them. On a Sunday morning, the laundry room is often overwhelmed with clothes. To do laundry, students need to make sure they have enough money on their Knight Card. The Knight Card is our student ID to which students can add money to use for laundry, get food at the vending machines on campus, purchase food at the Knight Stand, and pick school supplies in the book store. The Knight Card is also accepted at many off-campus locations such as the Skinny Pancake and Boloco.



On a more random note, we have some very strange weather this past week. At first, we were gifted with at least 12 inches of new snow, something we have not seen in quite a while. Then it proceeded to down pour rain off and on for a few days. This combined with unusually warm temperatures turned the campus into a giant puddle, which is fine if you are someone who owns rain boots. I am still one of the few who hasn't purchased any yet, but if there is one thing you should bring to college, its rain boots. You can wear them in snow and rain and you will be happy your feet are dry. Let me tell, flopping about in Uggs is not fun at all... Of course, good things can come of bad weather. For example, snow sculptures. They are increasingly popular on campus. Here is a dragon, or gargoyle, that sat in front of Saint Ed's after the snow fall last week.

Now, that the snow appears to be disappearing once again, the college race season has ended. :-( We competed in our final race this weekend (postponed a day due to the weather). On Friday night, before the race, the Purple Knights and all other ski teams in EISA got dolled up for a dinner banquet. To see pictures, check out the Alpine Ski Team blog. The boys all looked so handsome in their ties. They shaved and they may have even showered! We all enjoyed ourselves and a few of us were named to the 2010 All Academic Intercollegiate Ski Team. To receive the award, student-athletes must get above 3.5 GPA in the fall semester and compete in Eastern Championships. It was lots of fun to see everyone in the ski world our of their speedsuits and helmets.
While I am sad that the college season is over as it has been SO MUCH FUN, but I have a few more races in the next month to improve my rankings a little bit.
Time for my floor meeting!
xo

Gabbi

Like Skiing?

Follow the SMC Alpine Ski Team blog, which has all the latest on the team.
And now we have a Twitter for up to the minute pictures, results, and weird things people say such as: "Eggplant is a vegatable? I thought it was a meat."
That is all.
:-)