oh the pastabilities

There is a Facebook group: I did not know that Syracuse is cold. Thanks for saving my life. And the sarcasm could not be more realistic. Throughout my entire college career, I have been reminded by people of all walks of life that Syracuse, New York will often come to be very cold and extremely snowy. Case in point:

The positives to a wintery mess of this magnitude? Because I go to school in Syracuse, NY, the roads and sidewalks are clear and safe almost immediately, comforting life pleasures (including café lattes and hot chocolate) are always available, I get to sport super intense North Face gear and make use of my scarf and gloves collections regularly, and although it doesn't happen too often, we do get the occasional class cancellation due to the current weather conditions.

Now for more details into this weekend, shall we? Friday morning began as uniquely as ever, with oatmeal, coffee, and water. I then spent the rest of my day getting ahead on schoolwork and other responsibilities for this coming week, until five o'clock rolled around.

It was at that time that my friends and I dropped in to Michael's and our local dollar store for supplies. The costume? Brass monkeys. The theme? Circus. The party? Success.

It really was a great time, complete with crazy dancing, jumping on mattresses, and high-five exchanges for outfit creativity. There's just something about sorority-fraternity theme parties, don't know how I'm going to live without 'em.

The next day, Saturday morning, I awoke to this. Holy snow!

Once again I warmed myself up with the an oaty breakfast of champions. And then I laid back down in bed to watch When Harry Met Sally. It was my first time seeing this romantic and comedic classic, and I loved it... it even perked me up enough to clean my room and seize the day.

Yet this was not just any ol' day, this was a day that called for day-drinking, orange-wearing, and school-spiriting. A day that is also fondly known as Game Day. It was this school spirit (and not that snow) that immediately attracted me to Syracuse University.

This past weekend it actually exceeded it's four year expectations with the Big East's "Game of the Year," 'Cuse vs. 'Nova. Although I was not lucky enough to get ahold of one of the 34,616 record-breaking tickets sold (the largest on campus for any NCAA game), I was lucky enough to get into Chuck's, the epitome of the Syracusan sports bar. It was completely oranged-out.

I also managed to snag a few bites of my friend's chicken sandwich... a reason for any veg-head to rethink her plan of replacing food with beer. But still, gah, what a blast! I was having such an amazing time, that I even leaned over to my friend K at some point to share some more suddenly-acquired happy wisdom with her, "I don't understand why people ever go to the gym, they should just go the bar, get a pitcher, and then hold it the whole time." Um, yeah, that was-me.

Putting my past "mistakes" behind me, I ended the night at Jimmy John's with K and a Gourmet Veggie Club on 7-grain-bread. 'Twas delicious.

And all this leads us to Sunday, and the long-awaited big/little reveal. I'd like to introduce you to the newest addition to my own ladybug family, the one, the only, Nicole. 

To celebrate, us three, along with my roommate and her new little, went downtown for a fabulous early-bird dinner at Pastabilities.

I began my meal with a piece of their infamous stretch bread, spicy hot tomato oil, and a Californian Cabernet Sauvignon. Next, I had a camera-shy house salad,

followed by this beaut: penne tossed with broccoli, walnuts, garlic, romano and olive oil. I had meant to ask for their whole-wheat penne, but once I was served the plate looking that good ^, I could not bear the thought of sending it back and waiting for another.

   

My dining companions also thoroughly enjoyed their meals, from the angel hair and meatballs in the house tomato sauce, (with seemingly-professionally-sprinkled cheese, I might add,) to the green-garnished cheesy bliss that is fettucine alfredo.

(Mmm, one last foodgasm; There is a reason their stretch bread is infamous).

We bonded over shared interests and unique quirks; such as the fact that Nicole has an obsession with mirrors themselves or that Kate has a fear of lettuce. And finally, three hours of food and conversation later, we parted ways. Which brings me to now, a point at which, in attempt to avoid going too far with embarrassing my sorority sisters, sleeping may be the best option. Good night, my darlings :) hope you're more ready for Monday than I am.