Life doesn't have to be perfect to be wonderful

This past weekend I celebrated my roommate Nicole's birthday with my friends by going out to dinner at one of our favorite restaurants.  This dinner was just like deja vu for all of the birthdays we have celebrated here in Orono.

From last years horrible birthday dinner.

This dinner started with us calling the restaurant (which will remain unnamed) ahead of time to reserve seats, or at least a spot in line.  They said okay we will have a table ready for ten people around 7:00, which was perfect.  We arrive at 6:50 just so we are not late, and we go and tell the hostess our name and they say about 20 minutes and our table will be ready.  We were a little frustrated by that but we understood because it was dinner time and they must be busy.  Our group was fine waiting for 20 minutes, until a group of 15 or more people come in sit for 5 minutes and go right in.  This made no sense, we called early and have a smaller group, but we let that slide too.  It was not until 7:30 and we still were not seated that we complained to the hostess and sure enough 5 minutes later we were finally seated.  Needless to say we were quite annoyed, but there is more.  We waited ten minutes for the waitress to come take our drink order, twenty minutes for the salad, and then ones we got the salad the food came out 5 minutes later.  The waitresses were rude and disrespectful, but the group of us still had one of the best times.  We laughed and joked and remembered all of the other horrible birthdays we have had together.  It seems with my group of friends, no matter where we go for our birthday dinner, the restaurants either mess up the name, don't write down the reservation, cant seat us all together, take forever to serve us, and even forget meals altogether.  

Even though we have had horrible luck with birthday dinners the memories and laughs we have had because of them is something to be remembered.  We might forget the servers name, or the amount of time we had to wait, but we will not forget the laughs we shared and the memories we created.  These moments made me realize that it is better sometimes that things do not go perfectly as planned, and I am forced to roll with the punches and be flexible.  The memories created when something doesn't go as planned can be even better than if everything goes off without a hitch.

The art of being happy lies in the power of extracting happiness from common things.

Moving into the college dorms was one of the scariest days of my life.  I was terrified of meeting my roommate, my neighbors, and making new friends.  Little did I know then, that some people I met on the move in day freshman year, would be the people I live with four years down the road.  Molly, Nicole and Stephen were my neighbors in Oxford and I could not have asked for better people to be placed into my life.  The four of us have been friends since the first day, and have created some of the best memories ever.

Nicole, Molly and I went to Hawaii at the end of sophomore year, and it was the best trip of my life.  We did so many things, and it brought us so much closer together.  Traveling with the two of them was amazing but living with them last year was even better.  Of course there were arguments and fights, but there were many more good times.  Each of us finally turning 21, having a roommate we couldn't stand, shoveling our cars out, falling down the stairs in our heels, doing homework the night before it is due, and sappy movie mornings on the weekend.  These girls, were the best part of my year last year and it would not have been the same without them.  Having Stephen move in this year, was a big change, but adding him to our little strange family was the best thing ever.  He is the voice of reason in our crazy girl fights.  He is the best hair stylist I could ask for, and he makes me laugh more than anyone.  

My three roommates have played such a large part of who I am today, and I would not be the same without them.  I can't imagine not having them in my life anymore, and cant wait to make so many memories with them.  I asked Stephen the other day if we could have old school game nights when we are all grown up and old, and he said to me, "uh duh."  That moment proved to me that the friendships I have created from day one of my college experience are forever friendships that will last into actual adulthood.  These three people who just by chance lived near me freshman year of college, taught me about happiness, and how I do not need to have a huge group of friends and I do not need to have a boyfriend. All I really need are the few people who make me laugh until I cry, let me cry until I laugh, and of course laugh at me when I look and act like a fool.

Live every moment, laugh every day, and love beyond words.

Hey guys,

This is just a small part of my crazy family.

    I guess to start I will tell you all a little bit about myself, and how I found myself here at the University of Maine.  I am Hilary Webster and I come from a rather large family compared to most.  My parents are divorced and because of that I have many siblings, two sisters, one brother, and two step sisters and a nephew.  I am in the middle of them all, and I have to say it is a nice place to be.  I also have a large extended family, which includes 7 grandparents, 11 aunts and uncles, and 20 cousins.  Lets just say it gets a little hectic around the holidays, but I love my family more than anything and I strive to do my best for each and every one of them.


I am a fourth year secondary education major with a concentration in chemistry.  I know, everyone wonders why on Earth would you choose to teach chemistry?  I chose it mainly because of my high school chemistry teacher, he changed my view on school in general and I decided in that class one day that I was going to be a chemistry teacher, and I have stuck to it.  Ever since fourth grade I have known I wanted to be a teacher, but it was not until junior year of high school that I realized I wanted to teach high school chem.


Once I knew I was going to be a teacher I thought UMaine Farmington would be where I wanted to go... until I visited.  When I took my tour of UMF I thought the campus was beautiful and the classrooms were nice, but it was small.  When I saw the same kid four different times, in different places I knew that UMF was not the school for me.  In the same weekend I visited the University of Maine.  The campus was (still is to me) beautiful, and classes were nice, but the thing I liked most was how large it felt.  I had been against going to UMaine for as long as I could remember, because I felt that is where everyone from my high school went, and I did not want to do that.  When I realized the school was so large and the UMaine community was so vast I knew this is the school for me, and to this day I still believe that.

http://everythingsright.com

I have kept some of my friends that I had from high school, but I have made many other lasting friendships.  I am making so many lasting memories here at UMaine and can not wait to share them with all of you in this blog!  At times this school can be boring but I have found those are the times where some of the best memories are made.