I do believe in spooks! I do! I do! I do!

Lions and tigers and bears, oh my! These pictures are from our first Halloween together as roommates two years ago. We took an innocent childhood fairytale and turned it into a sexier version... the Wizard of Whores! (Just kidding...kinda!) In search of a heart, courage, a brain and jello shots (in your mouth!) this was one Halloween we will never forget!

I'm With The Band.

Last night we road tripped after a weekend in Jacksonville (is it possible to have too much fun in college?!) to St. Pete to see Anberlin play on tour with Metro Station, mae, and Motion City Soundtrack. Jess's boyfriend is the tour manager of Anberlin and it's always fun to watch their shows! Their music is awesome and their lyrics are incredible! We always feel like rockstars getting in VIP and hanging out on the tour bus . It's okay... we're with the (tour manager of the) band! =)

The World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party

Each year Florida Gators and Georgia Bulldogs travel to Jacksonville to play each other on neutral ground in the Jacksonville stadium. This 85 year old tradition has been nicknamed the "World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party" because everyone comes to Jacksonville on Friday and tailgates all day Saturday before the big football game. We checked into our fabulous hotel on Friday afternoon that was directly across from the Landing, the open air restaurant/shopping riverside venue where everyone conjugates for the game. After eating dinner, we went to the Corey Smith concert before heading back to the Landing where millions of people were celebrating! It was very convenient only having to walk across the street back to the Omni only to wake up a few hours later and stay the celebrating all over again!

On Saturday, we tailgated and Jess and I watched the game in the Landing with all the fans. Although the Gators lost, we met lots of friends in the bar we watched the game in and had a lot of fun cheering on the Gators. It was a fabulously fun weekend!

Lottery Winner

Today was our lottery for our nursing school complex and practicum rotation assignments. It is the scariest day of our nursing school careers as we are selected at random to sign up for where will spend our entire spring semester of senior year. Graduating in less than six months (yikes!!), this assignment semi decides our future careers! There are 120 people that are competing for our spots and lucky for us, Jess was called first for complex assignment getting her first choice of the ER and I was called first for our practicum assignments getting my first choice of the NICU!

Aunt Jess

Aunt Jess and nephew Cole William

Ballet for Dummies

Not knowing much ballet lingo, I googled ballet to see what some of the motions they were going through at the recital and the first website that came up was Ballet for Dummies and I thought I should share what I learned about: a Demi-plié in fifth position

The first exercise at the barre is the small knee bend, or demi-plié ("duh-MEE plee-AY"). The word plié means "bent," and demi means half — just as demitasse means half a cup, demi monde means half a world, and Demi Moore is half a Moore. When you do a demi-plié, you bend your knees as far as you can while still keeping both heels planted on the ground. That little caveat is the key. It means that the depth of a demi-pliédemi-plié in four of the basic positions. varies a little for every single dancer — as you're about to find out. To go from fourth to fifth position, begin by pointing your right foot, keeping it turned out as far as you can. Now close your right foot directly in front of the left, gently touching toe to heel. Lift your right arm through middle fifth position, and open it out to second. There you have it — fifth position.

Even in the unlikely event that you were born with mega-turnout, don't try to press your right foot flat against your left. A move like that can damage something important — your knees, for example.

In fact, your fifth position may stay "open" for years. It takes a long time for a dancer's hips to loosen up enough, and the muscles to strengthen enough, to hold the ideal position. Patience, young grasshopper.

While your right leg moves from fourth to fifth position, your right arm has something to do as well. Lift your right arm through middle fifth (arm) position, into second position. Okay now — time for the demi-plié. All the same rules apply, and the arm movements are the same in second position (refer to Figure 2b). Because of the strange contortions involved, the demi-plié in fifth position is the shallowest bend of them all. But perseverance pays off.

Prima Ballerina

Kate's First Ballet Recital was unsuccessful but adorable none-the-less. I met her at the studio and she is rather shy and proceeded to sit next to me and watch the entire barre. Her entourage (Aunt Sherry, Nona, Miss Jeni and I) all came to watch and I kept encouraging her to join in with the other girls and she would just look up at me with those precious little eyes and say "no thank you, i'll wait". Although I saw no developpes or plies, she dresses the part very well and makes a beautiful prima ballerina!

Cosseted Critter Sitter

Over the weekend, "Aunt Duby" volunteered to pet sit for an eight-week-old chihuahua/cocker spaniel mix named Carmello. What I don't think "Aunt Duby" was prepared for (or at least I wasn't) was the 10 pound pee pad bag and 2 page letter (complete with diagram) that accompanied the pitiable puppy. Inside the sack was canine cologne, bad breath buster bones, 4 different outfits (including one unsightly sweater and a Desperado Halloween costume) and this schematic of exactly how Carmello likes his room to be laid out: bed - folded blanket - food - potty training. Astericked was the annotation that he likes to watch infomercials while he eats in bed, of course. For the game on Saturday (in which the Gators beat Kentucky!) "Aunt Duby" further extended Carmello's wardrobe by sewing him this little UF shirt so he wouldn't be naked (obviously a fur coat alone would not suffice for this cosseted critter).

Beautiful Baby

Uncle Derrick and Little Luca

Over the weekend, we went to Tampa to visit Amber and DJ and meet the new addition to the Patricio family... Luca Martin. Born August 24 on Amber's birthday, Little Luca made a healthy welcome to the world as the perfect birthday present! Derrick is really excited to be an uncle for the first time and even more excited for the gator jersey he bought that Luca has fifteen entire months to grow into!! He's so handsome; I could hardly put him down!

Welcome to the World

Welcome to the World, baby boy Cole! At seven pounds, three ounces Jess is a first-time aunt to a handsome and healthy little nephew! Congratulations Chris and Jen!

Lake Wauburg Challenge Course

As the program assistant for our group fitness program, I successfully planned our first social! We headed out to Lake Wauburg, UF's own lake 8 miles south of campus with volleyball, boating, sailing, paddle boats, disc golf and climbing wall all free to UF students! We spent the morning completing the challenge course where we did several different team building exercises that were a lot of fun! My favorite but the most challenging for me was climbing the alpine tower. Strapped to a single rope with an immense fear of heights it took a lot of self-convincing to make it all the way to the top but I eventually did it!! It took even more convincing to push myself over the edge at the top and suspend in mid-air three stories above the ground to be belayed back down...

Recipe for a Perfect Birthday!

One perfectly sewn dress + lots of perfect presents + one delicious sushi dinner + an 18-cupcake dress-shaped perfectly iced cake + perfect black and white "Young Frankenstein" party + one immaculate guest list = the recipe for the perfect birthday! Happy 22nd birthday, Meggie Weggie!!

Death Valley

Saturday we spent the entire day tailgating.. or should I say being heckled by the over zealous LSU tigers! The LSU campus is beautiful and on game day, it becomes a montage of purple and gold! The stadium, appropriately nicknamed "Death Valley" holds 92,400 people and all of the screaming tiger fans can be found strategically stationed throughout campus shouting blasphemous absurdities such as "Tiger Bait" and "Eff you, Tebleaux!"
While tailgating, some confident LSU fans challenged us to a round of flip cup positive they would beat us. After winning four consecutive rounds in a row, we further corroborated the notion that being a Gator is synonymous with being a champion! It was an awesome game, the Gators were winning for 59 minutes but at the last second the Tigers ended up winning it... The girls and I watched the game from a bar across the street from campus full of Gator fans while Jordan and Derrick were inside Death Valley when LSU beat us defending their #1 ranking. Regardless of the loss, Kayla was an awesome hostess with impeccable southern hospitality!! It was a fabulous road trip! Geaux Gators!!

Rue Bourbon

Before driving to Baton Rouge, we spent the night out on the town in New Orleans! Starting at the infamous Pat O'Brien's, we enjoyed hurricanes in the dueling piano bar before bar hopping down Bourbon Street! There are no open container laws in the French Quarter and the streets were packed with highly intoxicated, Gator fans drinking Hand Grenades (the melon flavored lime green drink below sold exclusively at Tropical Isle), daiquiris of every flavor (a New Orleans classic) and huge ass beers to go!


A hurricane is an extremely sweet alcoholic drink made from lime juice, passion fruit syrup. Pat O'Brien is reported to have invented the hurricane in the 1940s in New Orleans when he needed to get rid of all the rum that southern distributors forced him to buy before he could get a few cases of other spirits. He poured the concoction into hurricane-lamp-shaped glasses and gave it away to sailors.