Yikes

I know, I know. Its been a while. Let me skip right to my excuses:
Finals week at college is VERY difficult.
Coming home, I would much rather rest than blog.
No one even comments this thing. Anyone reading?!
One word; CHRISTMAS!
My dog ate my blog... oh... wait a minute...
Okay so maybe the last ones not so true, but everything else is! Finals week needed my undivided attention, I wanted to spend time with friends and family when I got home, its hard to be motivated to write when you are not sure if anyone is actually reading, and hellooooo Santa! He needed his cookies of course.
Now I have a typical theme style blog coming up in just another paragraph, but just to quickly catch everyone up: Finals went well. My family and friends are all looking lovely, especially my cousins that I only see once a year who are getting way too old for my liking (my cousin Christophers voice changed! How scary is that?!). Oh, and Saint Nick was very kind to me this year. All in all, I am feeling cheerful. And to be completely honest, that was not necessarily the case these past few weeks and I did not want to be a Debbie Downer and blog when I was feeling less than chipper. But all this Christmas spirit has brought me back, so here we go!

So for any of you who DO read this, I was just thinking... I have not properly introduced myself. Please excuse my momentary rudeness, and allow me to introduce myself! My name is Amanda and I a fun-loving, energetic 19-year-young kid who still believes in Christmas miracles. That one sentence alone says a lot about me, but let me break it down a little more for you.
I have lived in Massachusetts my entire life, and really love this place. I have never lived more than 20 minutes away from Boston, but I can not honestly say I like to visit the city that often. Aside from the occasional Bruins game of course. Oh, did I mention I am OBSESSED with hockey and the Bruins monopolize my life during the hockey season? Thats a key point to know about me. I am smack dab in the middle of two brothers. One two years older, one two years younger. Growing up we played in our small back yard a lot, most of the time digging holes with my brothers Tonka Trucks. I played a lot of sports, but mainly soccer. Eventually though, soccer killed my back. I still have developing scoliosis, and I was told my freshman year of high school I had to quit if I wanted to be able to teach my kids how to play someday. So I did just that, and now I stay active by running, and occasionally hiking when I find the time. Speaking of freshman year... I chose an alternative style of education when it came to my high school experience. I was not doing well in my towns public school system, and decided to attend Essex Agricultural and Technical High School where I majored in Natural Resources and Parks Management, joined the Cross Country Team, became a class representative, a Peer Leader, the school mascot, an FFA Officer, and managed to graduate 6th in my class. I now attend the Stockbridge School of Agriculture at the University of Massachusetts Amherst where I major in Horticulture. I am not entirely sure just yet what I want to do with my life, but as of right now my two top choices are agriculture education, or agriculture communications. All I know for sure is that I want to influence people. And boy is that a word I hear a lot! Influence. Remember a few sentances ago I mentioned I joined the FFA in high school? Well I am now serving as a State Officer of the Massachusetts Association, and I could not be more thrilled. I get to spend my time out of school visiting chapters, meeting members, attending conferences, holding leadership building conferences for our chapter members, and hopefully above all inspiring new students to love agriculture and persue it passionately while gaining beneficial leadership skills along the way. Now if you remember, I mentioned I was born and raised in Massachusetts. So was my mom and dad, and their mom and dads, and so on and so on as far back as my family has been in America. So how did a little Massachusetts girl become a Future Farmer of America? Well... sometimes you just have to be in the right place at the right time, and someone or something will inspire your true passion. Becky Sullivan was the someone, State Convention was the something, and my true passion is agriculture and FFA! Now how many Massachusetts kid have cowboy boots and rodeo style belt buckles? Well I do, and I am proud! Besides those are far as my wardrobe goes, if I am out of my official FFA black skirt, black tights, black heels, white shirt, scarf, suspenders, and that infamous blue jacket... then you will probably find me wearing one of my two pairs of boat shoes, skinny jeans that are cuffed at the bottom because I am too short to find pants that fit just right, and a V-neck cardigan sweater with a button up collared shirt or a t-shirt underneath depending on how comfortable or how fancy I feel like being. Sometimes though, its just a plain old t-shirt (my personal favorite is my Nothing Tips Like a Cow t-shirt I got in the Indianapolis Airport) or UMASS or FFA sweatshirt. Comfort is my main goal.

I am pretty sure I have talked about myself just as much as anyone can. If you would like more of an introduction or an explanation to any of this, feel free to let me know. But for now...

Until next we meet,
Respectfully,
me