I made a promise, and although I was tempted by laziness, I held up my end of the deal.

Fifteen years

This meme is: 15 Years in a Nutshell. Think back on the last 15 years of your life. What would you tell someone that you hadn’t seen or talked to for 15 years? How would you sum up your life? You get 10 bullet points. A list of 10 things to summarize you. At the end of your list, tag 5 more people and send on the love.

It sure sounds like a long time, but thinking back – it seems like both a million years away and just last week…

Fifteen years ago was mid-July 1993. How ironic. I was in England early July 1993, and here it is fifteen years later and I was supposed to be coming home from England today. Anyway, I just got back from England and I am SURE that the first thing I did was call my boyfriends at the time. We’d been dating for around 9-10 months at this time and I was miserable in England because all I wanted to do was spend my summer with him. Yea, sappy puppy love. Anyway, I was chunky and unhappy with myself – but my friends meant the world to me. Before we new it, Senior year was upon us. I have a lot of memories that I would like to forget from my Senior year. A lot of anger, frustration, hurt, confusion and most of all drama. I freaking hate drama. I began looking at colleges with my parents and all I wanted to do was go away because I didn’t want to be part of the life I was currently living. I wanted to go away and change a lot of things about me. I had some sessions where I battled depression and anxiety, and lost a LOT of weight… but DAMN did I look good! Lol

Although I was set on going away for college, I chickened out at the last minute. I decided to go to UConn, which was my “safety school.” Although I wanted to leave my past from high school behind me, I was still scared to go out and start over.

Fall of 1994 was awesome. I had a blast in the UCMB. I made a ton of new friends, had a lot of great experiences… had a few (trillion) more heartbreaks and didn’t go to class all too much. That eventually caught up with me. My second semester I pledged Kappa Kappa Psi and of course attended even less classes – that caught up with me and I was placed on academic probation the next semester. I was involved with someone for a few months, who I eventually left for someone else.

1995-1996 whirled by quickly. In the summer of 1996 is when I met the first big love of my life, Ted. Ted and I met at UConn, shortly before he graduated. We started dating over the summer and quickly became serious. I remember him shouting, “I love this girl!” to my friends one New Years Eve, just after he said it to me for the first time. Unfortunately Ted was much older and had some internal drama himself and just after my 21^st birthday he broke up with me. I don’t think I ever really gave men the same chances that he had – meaning that the next 10 years would pretty much be a string of meaningless relationships where I did not get serious with anyone.

I failed out of UConn in the spring of 1998. I was crushed. All those years of not going to classes finally caught up with me. I returned to my former place of employment and because the owner had issues with my mother, I was not re-hired. My mother worked for this small company for many years and I learned everything that she did by the age of 16. When she became sick, I would often back-fill her job for her. I then had to look for some form of income. I decided to get a part-time job at a local liquor store.

1998-2000 I pretty much did nothing responsible. I went out a lot. I drank a lot. I put weight back on and was miserable with my appearance again. I fought with my parents all of the time. I was miserable overall.

In early 2000 I was hired as a customer service representative in a call center for one of the local insurance companies. I was THILLED to be making $22,000! I was shocked and so proud of myself for getting this job and getting a salary like this! Yes, I was quite naïve! Lol

The next few years were a lot of the same. I worked hard, played hard then began going to school again. I knew that I needed to complete my bachelors. I just HAD to. I was determined to do this the right way. I began looking into local schools and ultimately chose Saint Joseph College. I started weight watchers and lost 60 pounds. I was even a runner-up for a modeling / weight loss contest for First magazine!

I worked full time, went to school full time and played even harder. Every weekend I was out at clubs or bars. Dancing, visiting friends… continuing the endless stream of hookups and lack of serious relationships.

I completed my BA in spring of 2004 and immediately looked into grad school. I became interested in perusing a PhD. I applied to many schools and ultimately was rejected by each program. Although I had a lot of potential, I had not biology behind me and I was looking into Cognitive Psychology programs – and those do require some bio behind them.

One school had me as their number two choice. I went back to them to get more feedback and to learn how can I get accepted in the future. This is why and when I then started taking classes towards a MS in Biomedical Sciences. I did very well, unfortunately I did not feel comfortable there. I got along better with the teachers then I did with the students. I was older then the rest of the students and just not really into the partying anymore… oh, and the weight started to slowly find me again.

That brings us up to 2006. I was bored at work. Just made the decision to leave school and was clueless. I knew that I wanted to have a nice, stable future in front of me. A nice home, the ability to travel. This got me thinking and planning. I first planned a trip to Italy! I went on a tour, but was by myself. I was randomly assigned a roommate who was quite nice and away I went!

When I got back from Italy I began scouring for new jobs. At this point I had been with the company for six years and was on my 5 job (well, 4 because one was a promotion.) I needed a change, but had no intentions to leave the company. That was when I was offered a great role n the company’s world headquarters. I knew that this role was going to be out of my comfort zone and demanding a lot of hours and energy from me. It was great. Plus I was excited about the raise as well!

One month into the new job and I got mono. I was house bound for the better part of two weeks. Not the best way to start off. Two months later I lost my beloved kitty, Prancer. He was just over 18 years old and had a long and healthy life. A few months after that I had the first large loss of my life; I lost my Paternal Grandmother. The day of the funeral I came home and decided to open an account with eHarmony. I emailed a few guys, but one guy in the IT industry particularly drew my attention. He was smart, but not cocky – that has been a rarity in my experience. He was eager and energetic about life. He was interested in meeting someone who would want to travel. We set up a lunch date.

Our lunch date was on Friday March 30^th. I remember being a little excited. I remember sending Nichole text messages as I walked to the restaurant. We had a pleasant conversation over lunch and made tentative plans to see either Sunday night. Saturday morning he called me and asked me to meet for lunch. Again we had a great time and planned to have an ‘official’ date Sunday night. Before we knew it, we were in a relationship. I believe we barely went a day without seeing each other – even if it was just to meet up for lunch. The next thing I was helping him pick out furniture for the apartment he rented one town over. Three months later I moved and you can read the rest by clicking on the link Daniel below. Lol I think you all pretty much already know how that turned out.

So now here I am. In my own apartment for the first time in my life. I have a kitten who drives me nuts, but I already adore. Full of cuts and scars from my relationship with Daniel. Wondering what the future has in store for me.

Heh – I never said I was a good writer. Hopefully I didn’t bore you all to death on stuff you probably already knew.

so.... if you want any clarification or if I didn't make sence feel free to ask questions. I'm not shy on here..