To- Done List for Thanksgving Break

As my to-do list piles up, I need to be grateful for my to-done list for this long weekend.

1. Visit Dad at Firehouse and marvel at his and the rest of the firefighters' Movember mustaches.
2. Laundry
3. Watch CJ (little brother) kill it at the emcee at Pep Rally.
4. Watch CJ cheer the Sheehan Powder Puff team to victory against Lyman Hall.
5. Eat delicious 6 foot sub with family and friends after game.
6. Laundry
7. Enjoy Macy's Parade and sing along with broadway songs.
8. Eat embarrassing proportions at Thanksgiving dinner with Bachmann side of family.
9. Go to get CJ an xbox at an ungodly hour on Black Friday.
10. Indulge in second Thanksgiving dinner with Murray side of family.
11. Catch up with high school friends at Panera.
12. Curl Dani's hair for party.
13. Catch up with Amy and Aunt Laurie and go on and on about placement.
14. Go see Lincoln with Dad and CJ.
15. Laundry

Note the lack of homework done over break, I will pay for this tomorrow and the rest of the week. Hope everyone else had a wonderful Thanksgiving break filled as much love, laughter and thanks as mine had.

Now a sprint to the finish for the last couple of weeks of the semester.

Tweet me your to-done list for Thanksgiving Break - @harasmur

Athletic Extras

Being a Saint Micael’s College athlete means more than just practicing and games.  We also are lucky enough to also have opportunities to participate in many comunity service activities as well as seeing a life skills speaker each year. 

A couple of weeks ago, my team and I participated in the Breast Cancer walk in South Burlington. The walk is called Taking Strides Against Breast Cancer and it was a great day.  The walk is five miles, and it was five miles well spent.  The softball team was joined by the men’s and women’s lacrosse team, the women’s hockey team, the women’s basketball team, and the field hockey team for this special event.  Below are two pictures, the first is a team picture with our sign, and the next is a picture of me, Stephanie Frank, Lindsay Houston, and Bethany Falls dancing with Mike the Knight. 

Another opportunity we are lucky to take advantage of as Athletes here is our annual Life Skills Event.  Every year, it is a night for all of the studen-athletes to get together and learn something.  This year, we were privileged to see a presentation by Hudson Taylor.  Asking Hudson Taylor to speak was an idea of our Athletic Department inspired by the Purple Knight’s It Gets Better Video.

The presentation was inspiring and reminded me and my teammates that what we say matters.  Hudson Taylor is the founder of the Athlete Ally non-profit organization and he spoke to us about reaching out to our fellow athletes, especially LGBT athletes. You can check out Hudson Taylor on Twitter as well, @hudsonism.  He did a great job speaking to us.

Being an athlete in college can be busy and stressful, but I am lucky to have a team to do it with.  I am also lucky that my athletic department is active in our community and wants the best for each of us. 

Any Questions? Comments? Concerns? Tweet me! @harasmur

Swamped

Midterms were upon us last week, and I was totally swamped. Now, luckily I can relax a bit, almost like the calm after the storm.  Speaking of storms, good luck and be safe to everyone who will be affected by Sandy! We are only expecting some wind and rain up here in Vermont, but I think southern New England might get hit pretty hard, so stay safe! Also, check out this wind map, it is awesome in such a nerdy way!

Look for my next blog post about my four-year sticky note plan.

Tweet me updates about the storm? Or about your Halloween Costume? Or about what you ate for Dinner?  Or questions? @harasmur

Live Webcam Awesomeness!

Hey Everyone!

I just got back from a wonderful 4 day weekend at home in Connecticut.

While home I was lucky enough to attend my brother CJ's Eagle Scout Court of Honor.  He worked tirelessly to achieve this prestigious rank and I am very proud of him.  And as of October 14th, I was no longer the only person in our family who has their own "day" in town.  So everyone mark your calendars because October 14th 2012 was Christopher Francis Murray Junior Day!

In other news: Have you seen this tweet? You can click on it to view it larger...

And did you see the response from Saint Michael's? It's below...

Well, Saint Michael's came through a couple of days ago.... Click to check out the webcam!!! It is so cool, even when I am here I click over to it. 

Keep a lookout for the girl on the light blue bike, it might be me riding (or speeding depending on the time) my bike.

That's my story for now, hopefully you find the webcam interesting and you waste as much time as I have watching it.

PS - did you like this tweet? See more like it by following @harasmur and @saintmichaels on twitter!

Cooking in the Townhouses

Hey Everyone!

One of many great things about Saint Michael's College is that nearly everyone lives on campus.  When I was looking at schools, I was really turned-off by "suit-case schools".  A "suit-case school" is a school where all of the students leave to go home on the weekends.  If there was ever an opposite of this - it is Saint Mike's.

A reason for this are the townhouses (housing for upperclassmen, especially seniors).  There have been a bunch of posts through SMC Blogs about the townhouses, but I just really wanted to brag about a meal I made for my upperclassmen friends so I felt the need to chime-in.

Although I do not live in a townhouse, I have friends who do, and I totally used them the other night to create a delicious masterpiece that I am extremely proud of. Naturally, I got the recipe off of Pinterest.  Do not laugh but it is pasta stuffed bread.  MMM Carbs and some more crabs stuffed with carbs - every athlete's dream come true.

I needed a kitchen for this endever, that is where the townhouse came in handy.  Seniors living in townhouses usually do not have a full meal plan, meaning they need to learn to cook and provide for themselves, this also means they get little kitchens to experiment in.

Below is a picture of the meal I made for my friends and I.  It is literally bread stuffed with pasta.  Yes, the cat plate made it taste that much better.

The bread after it was baked and before we ate it!

Yummy yummy on a cat plate. 

Okay guys, thanks for letting me show off my cooking prowess!

If you need any cooking pointers (haha) or just want to ask a question - tweet me @harasmur or email me at smurray4@mail.smcvt.edu.

NE-10 Blog

Hi everyone! Happy October!  

This month I am looking forward to the fall colors, going home for break and apples!

The reason this is not a video post is because I am in the library.  The softball team finished our fall season yesterday and we have one week off before we start conditioning with our conditioning coach.  I am trying to use my week off from softball to get all caught up with work and maybe even get ahead, for me, this means being very quiet and focused in the library.

I have some exciting news to share with you today as well.  In the beginning of the semester I was chosen to be a NE-10 student-athlete blogger.  The NE-10 is our sports conference that Saint Mike's competes in.  It includes The website for the NE-10 is here.  I am very happy to be a part of the second year of the blogs and my first post will be up soon at this page.  Especially if you are an athlete - you should check it out.  There is a representative from each  NE-10 member school.  I am very proud to be representing Saint Michael's for this year.  

Speaking of softball, our last fall-ball games were yesterday.  Our last game was a soggy event against Norwich University.  The rain and mud did not put a hamper on our excitement for our last games of the fall,  We are now pumped to get in the gym and prepare for the spring season and especially FLORIDA! (I am looking way ahead with this as the trip is not until spring break).  

That is all for now.  I will try harder to update this on a more regular basis so keep in touch!

As always - if you have any questions feel free to tweet me @harasmur or email me at smurray4@mail.smcvt.edu.

Until next time!

Timing is Everything

Hi Everyone!

I am back with another video post this week.  I tried to upload it yesterday afternoon, but I needed to leave to get my bike fixed! Bummer that I had to wait until today, but huge relief that my bike is now good to go.  Below is a quick video I made about time management and the other goings-on in my life this week.

Today I am lucky enough to be playing in the Alumni Game for the SMC softball team.  It is Almuni Weekend here at Saint Mike's and the Alumni Softball Game is an annual tradition.  It is a fun game between the current team and the alumni players.

That is all for now, I will update again next week with more adventures!

New Year, New Room!

Hey everyone and welcome to Fall Semester 2012!  This is a new year, so I thought I would try something new and make a video post.  Check it out below, it is all about my new digs up on North Campus!

So there it is! If you have any questions, feel free to email me - smurray4@mail.smcvt.edu, or tweet me - @harasmur!

See you later gator!

The Bus

If you have driven on the highways in New England, you may have seen the huge Saint Michael's College bus cruising around.  It is a large coach bus with a huge SMC athletics decal on the side.  One of the times that I visited Saint Mike's while I was still looking, I was driving up 95 in CT and I saw the bus going in the other direction.  It is really cool to see it driving down the road, even before I decided to come here.

Lately, I haven't been just seeing it from afar, I have been practically living on the bus. This year we have been on the bus for about 44 hours in total.  We have made trips to Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Connecticut, and Long Island.  Lucky for us and all the other athletic teams at SMC, the bus is really nice.  It has pretty much everything we need.  Some of the perks of the bus include but are not limited to: TVs with DVD players, nice reclining seats, book lights, wifi, and a bathroom.  Needless to say, the bus is super classy and we are lucky to have it.

Since we have had so much time on the bus, we have taken a lot of pictures (of course) so here are some of the ways that the SMC Softball team uses the bus:

Greer doing her homework.

Everyone on the bus and ready to go!

Beth doing homework and using the wifi.

Greer being a sleepy-head.  

Lindsay is super excited to get going.  She also loves coffee. 

On our trip to Long Island, we got a great view of the NYC sky-line.  You can sort of see it in this picture.

Everyone showing off their prizes from the surprise ball my mom gave us.

Reflection of the bus in a window in Garden City, Long Island.

The best thing about this post? I wrote it on the bus. We are on our way to Saint Anselm's for our last away games.  Wish us luck!

Easter Fun

Happy Easter everyone!

This weekend, the students and SMC were treated to a well deserved four day weekend.  The mini-vacation was in honor of Easter.  While most students went home to visit their families, my family came to me!

We started off the weekend on a high note!  My parents/brother came to watch the softball team sweep AIC on Friday.  Baseball also swept their games and word on the curb is that is the first time both teams have won both games on the same day in SMC history. YAY!!!

We spent Saturday driving around and just relaxing.  I also took my brother and my mom out on the Nature Trail behind the 300's Townhouses.

Then for Easter, we attended mass at Chapel of Saint Michael the Archangel, which is the chapel here on campus.  After a great service, we went back to where my family was staying and it turned out that the Easter Bunny had come!! While my brother and I went alittle overboard on the candy, we also made a Murray Family Classic: Monkey Bread.  Monkey Bread is this delicious contraption featuring crescent rolls, butter, cinnamon, sugar, and an oven.  Let's just say I was in a bit of a sugar coma when Easter was all said and done.

That's what happened this weekend.  Now, I am going to start my essay for Philosophy so wish me luck!

Long Time No See

Wow! It has been quite a while since I last wrote on here and I can’t wait to update everyone on what I’ve been doing. 

Softball season started with a bang!   We practiced every weekday and got our butts handed to us by our new conditioning coach, Courtney.  It was a whirlwind and they all of a sudden we were in Florida.  Let’s just say, Florida is great. The weather was awesome, the food was great, and we had a ton of softball and a ton of fun.  We did well for our first time outside on the diamond.  We really held our own.

My row on the airplane, thats Amanda and Grace

We got alittle goofy waiting for Coach to pick up the vans.  Naturally we set the camera on self timer and took some pictures!

While in Florida, I was introduced to so many softball traditions like secret buddies, fancy dinner night, orphan day and theme park day.  I loved learning more about the team.  When we all get together, we are almost always laughing and always having fun.

Orphan Day! These are all the girls whose parents can't make it down to Florida.  Coach spoils us and we go to go to Olive Garden!

Us at Busch Gardens.  Yes thats me in the front with Steph.  Photo cred: Lindsay!

The whole team on fancy dinner night!  Don't we all look really different not in our uniforms?

Then, we were back from Florida and back to school.  The weather last week was unreal!  It was gorgeous.  There were a ton of tours going by and all I kept saying was, “if anyone visits on a day like today and doesn’t come to Saint Mike’s they are crazy!”.  Everyone was outside soaking up the rays or playing a game.  We even had Fox 44 news come to our practice to talk about getting outside so early because the weather!

Recently we have been playing alot and just trying to keep up.  I have been very busy but also having fun.  It is important to find a balance.  Right now we are on the bus on the way back from Connecticut and everyone is trying to keep in the balance.  We have some girls doing homework, some taking quick naps, and some are relaxing.  I am going to try and do some homework for the rest of the ride back up!  Enjoy the rest of your night!

3 Day Weekend!!

This weekend, the hardworking students of SMC had a three day weekend! YAY! I stayed here for the weekend because it was too short to really go home for me.  It was however, perfectly long enough to be super relaxing and really fun!

On Thursday night, I had softball practice.  We ran the timed mile, and although I was freaking out about it, I passed! I was very happy with myself and I spent Thursday night celebrating our conquering of the mile.  We danced and played some really fun games.

On Friday during the day, I caught up on my Glee.  I have been so busy since coming back to school, I haven't been able to watch any TV shows.  I spent Friday lounging in my bed and watching Glee on Hulu, it was AWESOME!  Friday night I spent with my friends Celia and Tara. They both stayed for the weekend as well.  We took goofy photo-booth pictures like this:

Saturday was spent sleeping and doing some homework.  Saturday night I went to Turtle Underground.  Turtle Underground is held in the basement of Purtil on North Campus.  Some/Most weekends, there is a musical performer there.  Last weekend, it was more folk-y music, and this weekend, there was a DJ.  I like going to Turtle Underground because it is like going to a really good free concert.

Everyone came back on Sunday, so my friends and I mainly just hung out and caught up.  I also finished my homework that I was putting off.

So that was my weekend.  The 3 days were much needed for us here and now its back to the grind.  Hope everyone has a great President's Day!

Any questions? Comments? Love Notes?  Tweet me!  Or ask me a question anonymously!

Reflections: Part 2

Hey All!

So happy that it is Thursday and almost the relaxing weekend!  This is the second part to my reflections post.  It is re-going over my original pro/con list for Saint Mikes! Here is Part 1, and below is the original list:

Okay so here we go with the second part of the list...

• Family connection of Tom - Tom is my uncle and he went to Saint Mike's too!  This was a very cool factor in my choice of SMC because I was really connected to the school.
• Distance - I am from Connecticut, and I loved the drive to SMC.  I liked that it was just the perfect amount of space between me and my hometown.  
• Snow - although we haven't actually gotten alot of snow this year, when I visited last year there was a TON of snow and I loved it!! I am a huge snow-lover.
• Real Turkey on Thanksgiving - This is a reference to Thanksgiving Dinner which is held in Alliot each year.  Thanksgiving dinner is absolutely delish and so so fun! They set up table clothes and candles in Alliot and make really good food.
• psych - SMC has a psych major and psychology is one of many (too many) subjects that I am interested in.
• Liberal - I liked the liberal arts feel.  As I said above I have many many interests and the liberal arts curriculum caters to that perfectly.
• Fresh Seminar - Another point relating to the curriculum, I liked the idea of a small freshman seminar where I could meet new people.  I took Living Digital and I found the class very engaging.
• Uniforms - I am not positive about this one...We don't wear uniforms to class of course! This is probably a reference to the softball uniforms.
• Laundry - Also not positive on this one, I really like doing laundry here though, the laundry rooms are very nice and big.
• Clothes - Maybe I liked the style of the students on campus?  I know I really do now, I have seen some of the coolest sweaters on the SMC campus!
• Safe - pretty self-explanatory, I feel safe on campus, and there are bluelights everywhere you look.
• Drive - the drive to school is so gorgeous. All I can think of is "The hills are alive with the sound of musiccccccc"
• Swipe keys - the Knightcard makes getting in and out of building really easy.  It is very convenient.
• Backpacks - My mom and I were both very impressed that students left their backpacks outside of Alliot.  It is a rule, but it shows how trusting SMC students are.
• Mascot - I was a Titan at my high school, and I knew that it would be very difficult to top that, but a Purple Knight comes pretty close.
• Bus - I liked the shuttle to North Campus because it was nice and comfy.
• People live on Campus - I liked that everyone lives here.  The community is really awesome.
• SMC - Sarah Murray's College - get it?
• Friendly stores - this is a reference to Vermont in general.  The people here are just straight up nice.
• Closets - love my big blue closet! Fits everything!!
• 12:1 - teacher to student ratio, which I really appreciated because I wanted a personalized experience

So that's it!   I hope you all enjoyed my reflections and my look at my first impressions of SMC.  

I hope you all have a great weekend!!

Questions? Comments? Concerns? Poems? Compliments?  Tweet me! or Formspring me!

How do you deal with quoteunquote noisy dorm buildings?

The noise doesn't really bother me. This fall, I had to go to bed early on the weekends alot and I just tuned the noise out. I know that some people use earplugs if they really need the quiet. If you need to, you can also ask the people to please quiet down.

Ask me more questions about SMC!!

Reflections: Part 1

Recently, some one asked on the Class of 2016 Facebook page why students choose Saint Michael's.  I posted a link to my original post on this.  I also wrote to her about how helpful a pro/con list was for me.  Looking at that original post got me thinking.  It was so interesting to see what I first thought of this school before actually coming here.  I decided with this post to go back and comment on my original list!

Here is my original list

The first thing you will notice about the list is the paper it was written on. I was staying with my mom in the Double Tree hotel in Massachusetts for a softball tournament.  I was freaking out (a common occurrence during this stage in my life) about college and where I wanted to go.  The pro/con list was my mom's idea, she is the one who actually started writing it while I was talking to her.

Here is how I am going to do this, I am going to write my original comment in bold and then my reflection after it...

• Good education - this is very valid and very true.  I am getting a great education at Saint Mike's.  My classes are interesting and vigorous.  All of my professors truly care about my success.  Even though all of us here at Saint Mike's are held to a high standard in the classroom, we still like to have fun!   
• Pretty campus - It is amazing, I thought the campus was pretty even before seeing it in all is glory.  I did visit, but I couldn't see the whole campus in my visits.  The campus is even more beautiful than I originally thought.  It is gorgeous here!
• Interesting classes - very true still, when I visited, I went to class with my host and I remember being very intrigued. All of my classes here at SMC have taught me and engaged me.
• Good looking guys -  Yup, the guys here are pretty cute.  I think this one was my mom trying to get me to pick SMC and to lighten up the mood.
• Lake Champlain - I could go to Burlington and stare at the lake all day, and I have!  The lake was a big draw for me because I love water. 
• Burlington -  Burlington is the coolest little city!  I actually go into Burlington alot more than I originally thought I would. The CCTA is easy and Burlington is close.  I don't want to discount Winooski though, we are making it a goal to visit Winooski more this semester.
• Skiing - I love to ski, just last Sunday I took advantage of the Smuggs pass and went skiing with my friend McKenzie.  Smuggs is AMAZING!!
• Wilderness Program - Confession: I haven't done anything with the wilderness program yet, but I plan on it!! I like knowing that it is there and one day I will definitely take advantage of the program.  
• MOVE - I did do one MOVE project.  I went to the Lund Family Center.  I am going to continue to try and find time to do more MOVE things.  
• Socials - I remember being intrigued that the building put on socials every weekend.  Sometimes I like to go to them, sometimes I don't.  I was expecting something different, but I like what they actually are better. The socials are very relaxed and not alot of planning goes into attending one.  
• Burgers - The grill
• Coach/Team/Field - Softball was a major contributing factor for where I went to school.  I really liked/like the softball here!
• Kristin - This could be anyone.  It was probably a joke, but I don't remember it.
• Mrs. Kiernan - This is another joke.  It's a long story but basically it Mrs. Kiernan is one of my friend's growing up's mom and her son goes to Southern Connecticut and he plays baseball and we joked that when SMC played Southern, Mrs Kiernan would ask all of the players if they knew me.  Sorry if that doesn't make sense, my mom and I are pretty weird together...we thought it was funny!
• Theater Program - This isn't talking about the Theater Major, it is about the Flynn Pass.  The Flynn pass was a large draw and I went to see Mama Mia just last week!!

Okay so that is Part 1 of my explanation, keep on the look-out for part 2!!  

Any questions/comments/funny jokes? Tweet me or formspring me!!

The Swing of Things

This past week has been insanely busy!! I am so happy to be back at SMC and settled in.  Leaving for winter break then coming back just makes me realize how much I love being here. My winter break was really awesome and super relaxing, but I like routines so I am so so happy to be back at school. I finally am starting to feel more normal (hahaha "normal, me? ya right) and organized.

My first night back, Michaela, Allie and I went to the Flynn to see Mama Mia! Go SMC Cultural Pass! It was only $10 a ticket for us because we are SMC students.  To see more about the SMC Cultural Pass, click here.  We are so spoiled to have such a great program here!

Then, classes started again.  I am so excited about my classes this semester.  I am taking Beahavorial Neuroscience (ps, this blogger is in that class as well), Intro to Philosophy, Lit Studies: Road Trips and Intro to Cultural Anthropology.  They are all very engaging and I am excited to continue working on all my new classes.

Also, softball started back up again after I got back.  We started on Monday and have practiced everyday since.  We have been conditioning and practicing and needless to say, my body is happy for the break over the weekend.  Some exciting news about softball is that I got a ton of new swag!  I got a sweatshirt, some tee-shirts and a jacket and sweat pants. I love new clothes so this made me pumped to start the second semester.

That's where I am right now. Tomorrow I am going skiing for the first time this year and I can't wait.The snow is absolutely gorgeous so I can't wait to spend tomorrow playing out in it.

Any questions about anything?? Tweet me on the side ---> or formspring me here!!

Goals for 2012

I've never really been a "New Year's Resolutions" person, but I would like to set some goals for 2012. So here they are:

Play hard this season with Softball.  I am both nervous and excited about my first college season. 

Start/Be a leader of a Girl Scout Troop. This is a very lofty goal, and it is more for next fall than the spring.  I was a Girl Scout growing up and I really believe in the program to build strong girls.  Even if this doesn't happen in 2012, I hope it will happen at some part in my life.

Buy Nicki Minaj's new CD.  This is not really a goal, more of something I am looking forward to in 2012, but I love me some Nicki and I can't wait to hear what she does next!

Get good grades.  This should always be at the utmost importance for every student, but I really want to turn it on this upcoming semester.  This may be a challenge because softball is a spring sport and I will be very busy. But, like my mom always says, "If you want something done, give it to someone busy".

Eat healthy. Original, I know. 

Have a really fun summer full of friends, family and more softball.  I don't want to sit around all summer! (Boy, this is looking ahead)

There they are in all their glory.  My goals for 2012.  I can't wait to see what this next semester/year bring!