My Dear Readers,

I realize I haven't blogged in quite a bit of time. The last few weeks of the quarter were quite hectic, between big projects, starting a business, my birthday, and finals. :P Now, I am finally on break and have spent the last few days (starting on Saturday) in San Jose and Redwood City with my extended family. I am staying with one of my mom's sisters and her husband and two little ones. There is finally some silence and a relaxing aura. The cousins are eating a healthy snack, the three year old is chatting with her mother, and the one year old is toddling about saying, "Mama" and "me too!" It is the perfect atmosphere to start my post.

As mentioned above I had several big projects due at the end of the quarter. The ones that come to mind are:

• 30 min. industry presentation
• 10pg. industry report
• A ten page paper on the Our Father (which ended up being more like twelve pages)
• A two minute film for Sarah's Law
• A five minute short film for Directing I

Finals managed to fill the last two weeks of the quarter. During the ninth week, I celebrated my birthday! :) I managed to enjoy myself despite the mountains of homework, projects, and finals looming before me. After one and half hours of class, I had the opportunity to attend Mass and some spare time for an hour of Adoration. A couple hours later, I enjoyed intelligent conversation with my parents over a delicious birthday dinner. When I got back to the apartments, my brother insisted that he walk me back up the stairs. Long story short, about six or seven girls jumped out of the dark and presented me with a cake. We had the candles with my lighter. :)

Needless to say, there was great jubilation at the end of finals and I was very happy to see my family and spend some time with them before heading up to the bay area. I have been here since Saturday afternoon and I have learned, once again, how exhausting it is to partake in the life of two children under the age of four. I'm ready to go to bed at 8:30pm. Last night, after the children went to bed, I watched Peter Pan for the first time in years. My aunt and uncle joined me for the end and we talked until midnight. My uncle was eating fresh baked bread with raw garlic in oil and vinegar. I slept until 10:00am this morning. We went to Fresh Choice for lunch and then had a relaxing afternoon of PlayDoh and fresh air.

Well, I must depart. The silent lull is now gone and I hear the sound of little hands on the baby grand piano. I hope to update again soon! :)

God bless you all,
Andrea