so the past two weeks have been really bittersweet (oh gosh, i'm going to cry writing this post =P). saying goodbyes is probably my least favorite thing to do... haha, i dind't do such a good job at it... but i guess i'm lucky that i can miss UIUC. far better than hating it there and dreading to go back =P

i'm not going to elaborate on missing the UIUC-ers but just know that all you uiuc kids are being missed tons!

so nicole amato, being the great person she is, and being MY LOVE visited me last wednesday from south carolina and we drove back to NJ together. it was pretty wonderful to have her at UIUC.... it felt like she belonged there. matt, her, and i got to hangout and it felt like the good ole days--when we'd sit around and just bash each other until we had no self-confidence left in us. i dind't get to hangout w/her as much as i wanted to because i had all these things going on thursday (my final crit w/dietmar for typography and an africa final which.... was a headache in itself).

so here's a little rundown of the past week:

wednesday (may 11): drove to chicago and picked up nicole from o'hare airport and then grabbed dinner w/her, isabel, matt, and matthew at za's. then nicole and isabel had an OC SEASON 1 marathon in my room while i pulled at all nighter.

thursday (may 12): dietmar's critique from 9-noon; grabbed lunch at panera w/nicole, matt, and jeff hanchman; went to take my africa final (please don't ask what happened... what a mess); packed a little; went out for dinner w/nicole, matt, josh, brian, steve, megan, brandon, and stoner at pickles; packed some more; went to brian's w/rob-b; hungout w/rob-b some more =P

friday (may13): so.... nicole and i planned on getting on the road by noon.. what really happened: we get up at 10, loaded my car full of crud and brought it to stoner's apt (thank you so much stoner), came back to bromley... laid around and hungout w/the brom kids and ate leftover crap from our fridge, packed my car, and hit the road at 330. yeah, we're punctual. we finally got to Penn State at 3am.... totally exhuasted. we stayed at Mo's pimpin' apt and talked til 6am...

saturday (may 14): so.... nicole and i planned on getting on the road by 3.... what really happened: we woke up at 2:30, walked around PSU for a few hours and ate at pita pit, bought some PSU attire... and hit the road at 5:30pm.... and got home at 9pm

... i know, we're not the most punctual people but hey, we made it back to NJ in one piece and we had fun and we got lots of rest =) i love u nicole.

some pics from the past few days:


isabel and i right before she left.... and right before we both broke down in the lobby sobbing .... i miss you my pena...


nicole, me and isabel... so all year i've been telling nicole and isabel that they were the exact same person and when nicole decided to come visit me, i was SURE that if nicole and isabel saw each other, they would both just evaporate into thin air. this is proof that it did not happen, thank goodness. i love them both too much for them to vaporize!


isabel and matthew =)


cara and i.... brom buddies + GD buddies


an awesome mural at PSU



PSU was beyootiful


MO!!!!! =) aka the most awesome guy in the world for giving me a tablet and an apple mouse and for being a wonderful host!


so the other night we went to my g-parent's house to eat dinner and this is how jeff fell asleep... takes skill to fall asleep like that


we went out to eat w/angela's family last night and here's us kids... wow, i feel old. look at baby gia gia.. SO ADORABLE

i miss you kids...