The little one graduates college

Dec 30, 2009 by Rochelle

Well, it happened. My little sister graduated. It’s been something I’ve been dreading, but somehow it wasn’t nearly as sad as I thought it would be. It worked out really nicely and my sister had a great time. She also got hooked up with tons of cash and presents, so that was great too!

Anyway, she’s still on the job hunt, but I have faith that she’ll find something great soon. Here are some pictures from the events.

First, there was the Journalism graduation:

And then some from the larger graduation the next day:

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Family Reunion

Dec 29, 2009 by Rochelle

It’s hard to believe but my family reunion in Phoenix was nearly three weeks ago. It went far better than I could have imagined and it was truly wonderful to get to spend time with my dad and his brothers. I don’t remember the last time I saw all four of them together, but I’m thinking it was easily 15 years ago. They are all the same, and there is something really comforting in that. Sure they are all actually different, but their core is the same and that’s nice to see. I see that when I am with my own brother and sister. Our cores are very much the same, and there’s a connection there that I don’t feel with anybody else on earth. It’s quite indescribable, and if you have siblings I’m guessing you know what I’m talking about.

Anyway, our resort was lovely. Phoenix was cold. And I basically got us everywhere we needed to go because of my iPhone. I bought overpriced buttons and yarn, went into the first ever built Microsoft store (there’s only two presently), and played a wicked game of pictionary. I didn’t get to know my cousins Christine and Ben as well as I would have liked, but I did get to talk about teaching with technology with my uncle John and his wife Nicola who are both professors. My dad got a little too stressed out about being in charge, and so I back filled that responsibility and made it all work out. I promised myself that I would work hard to not be in charge and just be guided, but that didn’t happen in the slightest. No problem though, I should recognize that ability as a strength and my family and friends can rely on.

Here are some pictures:

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We went hiking by our hotel.

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My dad and Cathy.

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On our hike. From left – right: Uncle Ted, my dad, Uncle John and his children Christine and Ben.

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We went to the Botanical Gardens, which was basically some fenced in area of the desert.

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Random glasses on a cactus.

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The whole group (minus me). From L-R: Christine, Lillith (Nicola’s mom), Cathy (my step-mom), my dad, Francine (Ted’s wife), Uncle John, Ben, Nicola (John’s wife), Uncle Ted, Uncle Bob, Yvette (Bob’s wife).

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Heading to Phoenix

Dec 10, 2009 by Rochelle

I’m going to Phoenix today for a family reunion! My uncle John and his family are traveling all the way from Australia to be here for Christmas. I haven’t seen them in 13 years and so I didn’t want to pass up this opportunity.

They’re a funny bunch and so much different than my other family members on that side. My dad has three brothers, Bob, Ted, and John — the baby. While my dad and his first two brothers are a lot alike, John is just different.

My dad is a lawyer, my uncle Ted is a lawyer, and for a long time my uncle Bob was a paralegal, but went back to get a masters degree in special education. My uncle John followed in their footsteps and went to CU’s Law School and got his Juris Doctorate. Somehow though, that wasn’t good enough, and went to ASU to get his PhD in psychology. Yeah, let’s just say that I am the first person in my family line to not get an advanced degree. It makes me feel like such a loser with my lame Bachelors. And that’s where he met his life partner Nicola. Together they became psychology professors and when I was a kid they did fun experiments on me and my brother.

They moved off to Florida and taught there and had their first child, a daughter, in the early 90s. Then right before they moved to Australia to teach, they had a son. I only saw Ben as an infant and so this will be my first time really meeting him.

They are very academic people. They are gifted at everything. They are also incredibly active people with a love for life. Not to say that my family isn’t that way, but John’s family tends to be more positive about life and natural. They are naturalists and environmentalists as well. They are also economically conservative and really sound at everything they do. So I’m looking forward to getting to know them a little bit better and see this other side of my family.

So today, I’m traveling with my dad and my uncle Ted (along with their significant others), and then my uncle Bob is driving up to Phoenix from Tucson. There we’ll all meet up with John and his family. We’re staying at this resort and I’m very excited to just relax and spend time with family.

I love this picture of my dad and his brothers! From left to right is: Bob, my dad (Charles), Ted, and John.

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Best of 09: Night Out

Dec 6, 2009 by Rochelle

There are so many fun nights out to choose from! Highlights include a recent stint at the Cheesecake factory, gambling with Marissa in Vegas, and stumbling back to the hotel after getting drunk with my mom in London and laughing the whole way there, playing poker at the Burke’s house, celebrating a Twilight themed birthday party at the Burke’s, and going to the Twilight and New Moon double feature. But the best night out had to be my brother’s wedding reception. I know that’s not exactly a night out, per se, but it was so much fun. There was tons of dancing and drinks and cheer. We had such a great time that night! It was one of the best wedding receptions I’ve ever gone too!

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Meet Calliope

Dec 1, 2009 by Rochelle

How it came to be

If you read this blog closely, you’ve probably caught on that my mom is a pet person. She’s always on the prowl for new pets. When I went down to her house for Thanksgiving, her pet situation was as follows: 1 new puppy, three birds, and five cats. She asked me if I’d like to take one of her cats, Callie, because three of her cats weren’t treating her too nicely. These three cats are siblings from the same litter and really close knit. The fourth cat is from the same mother, but not the same litter. So she was sort of the odd one out. So anyway, I thought about it and spent some time with her and totally bonded! So I agreed!

Dec 01 2009: Calliope

Her name

So my mom named her Callie, because she’s a Calico, but I needed more from a name! To go along with our Greek mythology theme (Persephone and Penelope), I decided to name her Calliope (pronounced ka-LIE-oh-pee).

Calliope

Calliope was the muse of heroic poetry, which I find so cool because I actually reference heroic (also known as epic) poetry in the book I’m writing. The name is also Greek for “beautifully voiced,” which is so cute because she has the sweetest meow.

Callie Torres

It’s also funny that a Calliope would come into my life because I also love the character Callie on Grey’s Anatomy, and her name is Calliope too. It’s these little things that just prove that she was meant to join my family!

Speaking of Persephone and Penelope

I don’t think they even noticed there was a strange cat in their house until I opened the door to the room I’m keeping her in and they happened to see her. I got the three cats in a room together and it became a huge hiss fest. I hate this part of bringing in a new cat. I just wish they would get past it and accept each other, because I know they will eventually.