Flyin in the sky from Julia :)

Hi friends!!! This will probably be my last post till I head back to BW cuz on Sunday I leave for Ireland! The fam and I are going to be landing in Dublin on Sunday and then we pretty much travel across the entire country. We get to see the Book of Kells, the Blarney Stone, and of course Irish Dancing!!! Before then I perform in Music Warehouse, where we sing and dance to Legally Blonde, Mary Poppins, and the Jersey Boys. I am also the Bird lady in one of the songs lol.... But now the summer is definitely wrapping up. I'm done with my history class (I think I did okay), and I'm ready to relax in Ireland!! I will be back at BW early on August 20th, so if anybody's around then I'm in Heritage 317!!! Miss u all!!

New Theme Song?

Hi everyone,
My dad and I are huge Cheers fans and periodically marathon many episodes of it during the summer and I was thinking that the theme song would be a perfect background song for a Newman slideshow...what say you?

~ Claire

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePcTjab1uik&feature=related


Also, my friend Bethany started a Catholic blog with some friends and I thought I'd post the link...it's a bit different than Newman, but interesting. http://thecatholicright.blogspot.com

Hey Look over here. Its a post by Steve

Hey Everyone, I havn't posted in a while, even though I was going to at some point

Well, a weeks ago was the relay for life which was exciting, but after about an hour a huuge storm came in, we had to go inside the school it was raining and lightning, and the event was canceled. It was sad because we worked hard for it, we had a video game theme and we dressed up like characters from video games. I was supposed to do relay idol, where guys dress up like girls and act like in a ms. america pagent.

Last Week I was at Teen Institute, which if you heard me talking about Panda, its bascially the same except with High Schoolers instead of middle schoolers. Its a drug and alcohol prevention camp and we have lots of fun activites and speakers and such. The sad thing was since I'm in college I was an intern, and we pratically just do the grunt work around camp, but it still was a fun time.

I've done a lot more fun things, but I'm pretty much half asleep right now. But random thing, If you really look at my emails, you will probably see a bunch of spelling mistakes, but when I put this in my favorites it was listed as Newman Bolg for a long time, I just reformated my computer, and now blog is spelled right, but I mispelled BW email as Be email.

Claire in July

Hi everyone,
Thanks so much for your prayers and all that. Things have settled down into their final summer routine for awhile here, I think. Trying to practice when I wasn't in one state or on one schedule for more than a few days wasn't very helpful. I've started taking lessons with my violin teacher from high school again, and that's been amazing. She's so helpful and is completely willing to work with me on everything I want to work on. That being said, I'm starting to experience a complete lack of ambition toward the Con for the fall. I suppose I want to do well, but I want to maintain what little sanity I have left more. I want to show up, play my part, and come to Newman and see all of you. :-) It's more important for me that I learn how to play in a way that I can feel confident and secure in my artistry instead of trying to compete or beat people for orchestra chairs - and besides, who wants the added stress of the highest chair? I don't.

So, I've been practicing and taking lessons a lot. I've also started Alexander Technique lessons to help with the violin thing - it's been immensely helpful. I can feel my posture starting to change already. Alexander Technique focuses on teaching people how to have the most natural and the most efficient posture and movements. It's amazing.

Ben came to visit for the Fourth of July. It was his first visit to DC and was so much fun. We toured the monuments at night, went to the Folger Shakespeare Library, the Library of Congress, the Capitol Fourth concert, and a few museums downtown, as well as the Folklife Festival. My friend Julia accompanied us one afternoon and we took some rather silly pictures.

<--- Me and Ben at the Library of Congress.





The Library of Congress --->
















<--- Me and Julia having some troubles with a t-rex at the museum of Natural History

And finally, a look inside the Bhutanese Temple that was at the FolkLife Festival.

Angie in July

I love the fourth of July :)
My brother was gone in D.C. and one of our tighest friends was also gone to a beach with her bf and his family, but the party was still good. One of my parent's friends got a little tipsy and was walking around with a glow in the dark earring like a pirate. :) and I got to color with a little girl (my former babysitter's daughter) and my neighbor and his band buddy (they're middle aged and play songs by the Beatles, Eagles, other acustics and more!) came over to hang out and ended up seranading for a bit so that was cool, the fireworks were wonderful, and there was a bonfire, and some friends brought a cute puppy who reminded me of my family's first dog, Jakie (both hunting dogs with lots of slobber and velvet soft ears), and I ate and ate and ate and am still eating. The fireflies are also spectacular. July is a nice time overall I think.
I just started working at the library again this summer kind of by accident. So, it's back to the dusty closet like rooms, but the people are great to have conversations with.
I took a bike ride today with the parents, very nice. My Mom is a little out of shape, haha. But she did a good job overall. And she tried to teach me to knit today and I was blundering through the whole time (you would think I'd be a visual learner? not so), so we all have our strenghts/weaknesses. I always get very lost in the yarn, although I think if I keep trying I can get it, because it doesn't seem like it should be hard...
That is pretty much what is up with me up to this date. I am missing my brother who is in D.C. like I said, great for him, but I miss him, although I do get to talk with him on the phone for long periods of time, so that is good. Which, by the way, Claire, I will be in the D.C. area around August 16th, so I might be giving you a call just to see what you are up to, maybe you will be home.
And let's see... I guess in a way, my summer is less cluttered than the school year. Haha, I hardly use my phone at all. I'm just kind of being here. I have no planner and seldom any missed calls. I kind of miss it, but I'm spending more time with my parents which can never be a bad thing and I"m trying yoga (from yoga in a box-no, I am not doing yoga inside a box haha which is what someone else though when I told them I was doing yoga in a box, its from a cheap set of small cards that fit in a box, but I believe the poses and directions to be authentic). I love the triangle stretch if anyone else knows what I'm talking about. It stretches your sides out, really well! google it. I'm having a hard time shutting off my mind for the yoga at times, but the stretching is nice and I believe I will get there and feel the actual benefits of harmonizing. I particularly love that yoga is open to anyone of any type of fitness and that you can do it in private and grow into to, unlike other types of exercise. I want to start everyone I know on it. WOW this is probably more than any of you cared to know. Haha, that is what you get for giving me the username and password too! Ummm, let's see, I also plan on learning to bake bread this summer (I will probably first cheat and use a breadmaker and then do the real thing...it's a long story). And I have a list of books to adore which I have slowly been moving through. Another interesting summer find was a set of correspondence cassette tapes that my dad and his good friend Paul (who his like an uncle to me and my brother) sent back and forth during their time in the Navy when my Dad was still on teh submarine and Paul was back home. They are VERY funny and entertaining and I would tell stories, but I don't think they would be as funny if you do not know who I am talking about. But I thought of that because in one of the tapes Paul just kept talking about nothing because he was deteremined to fill up the tape and it was funny bc he would say wow I can't think of anything else, I'm going to take a break and come back and then he would come back and still have nothing, I kind of feel like that. But, I miss you guys, and I hope you are all doing well. I'll let you go now and I hope you are all enjoying a little bit of the July life while it is here. Here's the triangle pose: http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://z.about.com/d/yoga/1/5/5/1/bigtriangle.jpg&imgrefurl=http://yoga.about.com/od/yogasequences/ss/standingsteps_6.htm&h=400&w=358&sz=64&hl=en&start=2&sig2=sX7G29Row0SAgZow5q4qew&um=1&tbnid=pscCBgBQH7q6KM:&tbnh=124&tbnw=111&ei=BIpxSP7IBYe6iwHF4PmLAQ&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dtriangle%2Bpose%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Dactive%26sa%3DN

Dancing Through Life

So I think I'm still getting used to the routine of posting on a blog... This Newman blog was the first one that I have ever used lol. But yeah, I am staying alive. The summer has officially kicked into gear for me. I am working full time with awesome 3 year olds, but my job is always made complicated because of my director. I'm also taking U.S. History at my local college, which is good to get out of the way but also a pain lol. I have actually become a slacker student at home cuz I just don't have time to study for tests and such. Still I'm actually doing pretty good considering. My hometown puts on a Broadway revue show too, and I have been cast as the Bird Lady and get to sing "Feed The Birds," so I'm pumped! I even get real pigeons!! Other than that I'm trying to hang out with friends, have a lil of a social life, and talk to my twin Mer on SKYPE cuz she's in Italy till July 13. Me and Greg are uber great as well and I've been making a few treks up to Cleveland to see him. Give me a call if I'm ever in the area so we all can hang out! Love u all!

Peace,
Julia

Prayer Requests

Hi guys,
I'm posting to request some prayers for my general health and peace of mind. I'm trying very hard not to be bitter - my Suzuki teacher workshop is incredible but it points out all the things that I didn't learn. I'm also realizing that I just never mastered any set of skills pertaining to the violin...it doesn't feel completely natural to me, and some of the pain in my shoulders has come back.

I have a lesson with my old violin teacher tomorrow and I'm hopeful that she'll be able to give me some more direction so I can break more of the old habits and become a more confident and secure artist. I'm really scared...I feel as if I've been frustrated for years, like I was stumbling in the dark. Now it's as if someone turned on a light and I can see just how many obstacles are still in the way, that I could have stepped over easily years ago had I known how to fix them but have grown to ridiculous proportions. Now I'm more overwhelmed by the number of things I have to learn than anything else and am desperately hoping my old teacher will be able to help me.

So, yeah. I hope all of you are doing well and please, if you have time, I could use some prayers.

Thank you!

Claire

Update

Hi everyone!

I'm writing this from my grandma's computer in Lincoln, Nebraska. My mom and I are here for a few days visiting my grandparents and various aunts, uncles, and cousins that live in the area. I won't bore you with all the family details - suffice it to say that my mother has 9 siblings and that four of them and their families live here in Lincoln.

My summer plans have changed somewhat. I was very dismayed last week to learn that the festival I was going to attend in Italy was canceled due to lack of participants and rising costs in Europe. So, I'll be home for four weeks instead of going to Italy. Needless to say, I'm rather angry and upset about that. I suppose God has a reason for wanting me to be at home rather than in Italy this summer.

Magic Mountain Music Farm was incredible. It completely changed the way I view music and myself as a musician and I might be doing some backtracking in my studies once I talk to Dr. Ross. The people there were all really great, and the teacher was pretty brilliant. I loved it and definitely plan to go back in the coming years. There are loads of pictures on my Facebook and also some rather silly videos.

Other than that, nothing terribly exciting is going on. I'm practicing quite a bit, watching tv shows online (I've recently become addicted to Bones) and enjoying the quiet. Ben is coming to visit next month around the fourth of July and I'm very excited about that - this distance thing is proving to be quite difficult.

I confess that I haven't been to Mass because I was in upstate New York in the middle of nowhere. I did go to a Methodist service last Sunday with my friend Kristen Klehr (who lives in Binghamton) when we hung out before my flight back to DC. We'll be going to Mass tomorrow with the family, though, and then I hope to get back into a regular routine since I'll (unfortunately) be at home for the rest of the summer (grrrr.)

I hope you all are well!!! :-)

Love,
Claire

Steve, I'm glad you came to pick up the tables at the Newman house yesterday so we could talk about this blog so it would remind me to check it and post something!

Summer is going well and fast for me. Three weeks ago, I went to North Carolina to visit a friend of mine from college. We spent one day hanging out in Asheville, which reminded me of Oberlin, only a bit bigger, then spent a day touring the Biltmore Mansion and grounds. I did the total tourist thing and got the audio tour, but it was worth it for all of the background information. The house is huge, and usually when I see places like that, I can't imagine ever living there, but in this case I could. I can't put my finger on it exactly, but despite the size, it still seemed homey. Then, a couple of weeks ago, a friend from graduate school who lives in Phoenix , came to visit me. We had fun just hanging out in the Cleveland area for a few days. So now I'm looking forward to my road trip with Drew at the end of June/beginning of July. We'll go to baseball games in DC and Philadelphia, spend a couple of days in Gettysburg, and visit my aunt and uncle who live in Chestertown, MD.

Take care everyone!
Kirsten

"Post!" by Steve

Hey Everybody! I hope your summer is going fine and dandy! This weekend I went to Katherine's Grad Party. It was lots of fun, Steph Scharf brought a game called quelf, and its the funnest most random game ever. Its kinda hard to explain, you just roll the dice and pick up a card cordinating to the color you landed on. One color is just a question, (but strange question), another makes a rule happen, usually just to you, but could be a whole group, I got when whever I spoke I had to repeat it, while Michael Columbro had to speak like a pirate. Theres anotehr card kind that makes everyone go around in a circle listing items in a catergory like kitchen utensils, and 2 other colors that are really random, such as someone had to tell a eulogy for their recently deceased (made up)puppy and describes it life or sometimes they have to guess what you're doing, or have to make you do something, such as screaming tornado and seeing how many people go under the table with you to avoid a tornado.
wow, i spent a long time describing that game.
We also played a loooooot of volleyball.
Then on Sunday I went to a memorial day picnic at a family friend's house, which was a lot of fun, we played a looooooot more volleyball (my siblings and I enjoy volleyball) and played a really fun game of Mao (a really fun card game, if you havn't played it, unless you get anoyed easily) and some good old capture the flag.
Monday, I slept all day
Then Tuesday I went to Cedar Point with CAB. It was kinda cold, but it was good, because Im guessing less people went that day due to the weather. It was nice, because we got to ride most of rides, and I got to ride the Maverick for the first time, and it is now offically my favorite roller coaster.
Yeah, and I still don't have a job :(

Hola!

Oooo...this is exciting. My first post as part of the Newman Leadership Team. whoot! This is such a cool idea to keep in touch. I'm having a lot of fun browsing through the different posts and learning what everyone is up to this summer. (Of course I should be cleaning and packing right now, but I'll keep this short. haha)

Oh, this is Emily (Mastroianni) by the way. I didn't get to see you guys last semester because I was in Spain. I had a great time there learning Spanish in the beautiful city of Sevilla and traveling around Europe. You can check out my blog at: http://thoughtsandadventuresinspain.blogspot.com/ and view loads of pics on facebook if you are interested.

This summer I am going to be working with Project Affinity in Cleveland. It's a program through BW's OCO office. I'll be living with 5 other students in the Archwood House and together we're doing service in the community. I will be working at the Cleveland Rape Crisis Center and Ohio Citizen Action (a environmental organization). I move in Friday and am really excited to get started. Keep the household in your prayers. :)

Anyway, I can't wait to get to work with you all come fall. I hope everyone summer is going well so far.

Blessings!

Emily

Hippie Music Farm

Hello all,
Just wanted to let you know that I'm off to the hippie music farm, as you all call it. You can look it up at http://www.magicmountainmusic.org. I'll hopefully have pictures when I get home on June 8 and will post a full report. :-)

Peace and love,
Claire

Thank you all!

Hi all!
Thank you so much for the beautiful card and gift certificate! David and I are looking forward to going out to eat :) I missed you all at the end of the year, and I'm glad to hear everything ended up so well. I was thinking of you all while I was traveling around Oregon. We had a great trip, and Gracie did so well on her first plane ride! We had fun seeing lighthouses along the coast, and walking on the beach (even though it was cold!). The city of Portland was great too. We saw an awesome Grotto in Portland.

Gracie also had her first birthday while we were in Oregon, and we celebrated with a party last weekend. She didn't hesitate shoving the cake in her face! She is starting to take more steps on her own, so walking is probably right around the corner.

We are preparing our house to be put up for sale. So if you know anyone looking for a house...!

It's great to read about everyone's summer so far. Enjoy your time away! Rest, relax, have fun and don't forget to pray! God likes hearing from us too ;)

Peace & Joy,
Mindy

Post from Jason

Hey everyone,
Hope that your summers are going well. I am officially moved into my parents basement. I know, moving up in the world right? But it's free so that's what matters right now. I also have justed started training for my job at Lone Star Steakhouse. They said that I could easily make $400/week so let's hope that that holds true.

Being home is...different. It's wierd being the only one of my brothers here and also having my parents around all the time. I got used to having a single and being able to do whatever I wanted whenever I wanted to. Not that my parents are strict with rules or anything, but I now have to work around everyone else's schedules as well. I can't have people over to watch movies until 3 a.m. or sleep til 1 in the afternoon. It's also hard being away from everyone. Cat is staying up in Cleveland for the next year so we get to have a long distance engagement for a while. It sucks. But at the same time it's really good for us because we're both learning to be independent (Well, she is. I'm relearning how to deal with my family). I'm also away from almost all of my friends. I have only kept in touch with one friend from high school so I am close to very few people here and it's rather lonely. I miss all of you and hanging out with everyone from school. It's surreal to think that I'm not going back there in August and everything won't be back as it was before. But alas, I have complained long enough.

I miss you all. Don't be afraid to call me if you ever need anything or if you make a trip down to Dayton.

Peace and love,
Jason

Chillaxin in P-town!!!

Hey guys!! Thought I should check in and update you on my oh-so-"interesting" things going on in Piqua lol... I've been having a blast hanging with the fam, especially since my twin is going to Florence in two weeks! I've been attending a lot of my brother's choir/award events and he recently got into show choir as a freshman! Until June though I'm just pretty much seeing old friends, running errands, and relaxing!! Once June starts things'll get really busy! I'll be taking a summer class, working at a summer camp, and performing in a Broadway revue called Music Warehouse. So things are going good!! I hope all is well for everybody else!!!


Peace and blessings,
Julia

Claire's Post

Hi everyone!
I miss you all and especially Newman mass! Mom, Ben and I went to St. Adalbert's last Saturday for the vigil Mass and it just wasn't the same. This Sunday, however, my family is going to a new church in the District that does Mass in Italian. I'm very excited!

Moving out went quite smoothly, actually. We rented a storage unit and put at least half of my stuff in there. More exciting than moving out was the fact that Ben met my mom during the moving process and that my mom actually likes him! My mother likes my boyfriend! This is such a novelty! :-) So that's a happy thing, and a good omen.

I've taken to writing letters in my spare time this summer, so if you'd like to correspond via the US Postal Service, email me your mailing address and I'll write you a letter! I've already written to all of my friends that gave me addresses and am anxiously awaiting responses.

I had my first lesson with my [somewhat] new violin teacher yesterday and it went really well. I think I'll be able to improve quite a bit with her this summer.

Other than that, I've just been practicing and reading and trying to reorganize things in my room so that it all makes sense. The picture above is of my bookcase and some of the books I was reorganizing (there were also a lot of boxes on my bed and on the floor...I sort of have a book problem). So many books, so little shelf space.

Kirsten, Steve, THE OFFICE SEASON FINALE! I won't say much more in case you haven't seen it but let it suffice to say...Wow. And, I hate Andy. He ruined everything.

Hope you're all doing well!!!!!!

Love,
Claire

Angie's check in

Hey, hey, hey!

I miss you all!!

My summer...
Last night I ate a hearty slice of cheesecake, a scoop of ice cream on a cone, and a donut in about a three hour time span. WOW (and the donut was for free...fyi go to donut shops late at night, they give you donuts for free)
I also had a K siting, he was out for his bday and he got thuroughly embarrassed by the birthday song, hehe. Apparently his desk at work was also decorated for a girl's bday, he took it with good humor as always. You should ask him about it, it's a good story...and now its on the internet... sorry K
Let's see... I've been working with the research group on campus getting ready for APS conference in Chicago!! I'm excited to go and see the bean (yes!) and hear all of the well-distinguished psychologists. I've felt kind of strange working on the poster with the other members bc I'm the only one not presenting...but, it is has felt less strange lately. The hours for all of this have been kind of odd as well, I haven't seen my family as much and I've eaten too many Recees Pieces/Chinese food for dinner.
Earlier this week, I went to an art therapy session with Sr. Mary Ann and a few other sisters. It was cool, we put water colors on coffee filters, the women (it was a women's group for women who are transitioning either from homeless to shelters or shelters to subsidized housing etc) really got a kick out of it. There was this one woman who was from Liberia and she couldn't speak much english, but she smiled and laughed at every little thing that just might have been funny and she gave really big hugs. It was cool, but I don't think I want to do art therapy, I almost feel like I have too much energy or something to sit still for so long, maybe I'll calm down.... It was also cool to finally understand for myself that there are many nuns who stand so much on their own as individuals, that being a nun does not hide or confiscate identity.
Ummm mass, haven't been since Newman. So I'm a little scared that I'll fall into the old habit of shrugging off church, but I haven't given up on myself yet. This weekend I've made up my mind to go, I hope no one tries to stop me (especially not me)!
Other than that, I'm trying to get through a "to do" to prepare for next semester (which includes learning Italian?? So far, the most solid phrase I know is: "mi porti un poi di pane, grazie" or "bring me some bread please" spelling might be off, I have a feeling this will not get me past a full stomach, and I'm trying to stop spending money (this seems to get harder with each day for some reason).
And I'm trying to shake off the slug!! I've been in, so here starts an energized day at 11:20am with finally responding to others!! I have missed you all and I hope you are transitioning well wherever you are :) At least one day this summer, try the donut thing.
AND I feel it neccessary to mention, if you have never used a blog before, you have to go to blogger.com to sign in, hope to hear from you all over the summer whenever you can add in :)
**HUGS**

Steve's post

Hey Everybody!!! I hope everyone's summer is going good! I haven't really done much yet. I went to church on Sunday with my family, I missed Newman Mass sooo much. I like my church, but the music was extremely sloooooooow. Its been nice relaxing not having finals and classes. Today I got a haircut and my hair is really short. Its probably the shortest its been since I was 15. I'm going to be looking for a job, since I procrastinated on that, but it should be good.

Welcome to the Newman Blog

Hi everyone,
Angie and I had the idea to create a Newman blog that everyone could update throughout the summer so we could keep in touch and still have our weekly check ins. Post whenever you'd like, label the post with your name, and check back regularly for updates!

Here's mine so far...

Finals week is both busier and more relaxed than normal. As I have hours of unscheduled time every day, I'm more relaxed. However, I should be studying and practicing in those hours...not updating the Newman blog. Oh, well. I'll get it done...eventually. Tomorrow I have my hist and lit final and my harmony paper on the Rite of Spring is due. Thursday is my conducting final and my violin jury. I'm actually rather looking forward to my violin jury - all my music is memorized and I think it's going pretty well. Friday my mom is coming to help me pack up my apartment and move home. She's also going to meet Ben for the first time, and I'm a little nervous about that...we're cooking dinner for her on Friday night, though, so hopefully that should help break the ice!

Tonight is our last official Newman event of the year :-( but I'm excited to see everyone although I'll be buried in ice cream and hist and lit studying. I'll try to bring a camera and upload pictures later!

Okay, I'm going to email you about the blog now and then I'm really going to study for my exam. Really.

Peace,
Claire