"There is a tide in the affairs of men."

The only reason that I know this quote is because of One Tree Hill. It is from Shakespeare's Julius Ceasar and although I remember reading it in 7th grade, I never really remembered this quote. I hear it all the time when I am watching "my show," so today I decided to look it up so that I could understand what it really meant. Here is what I found in my search:

Brutus:

There is a tide in the affairs of men.

Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;

Omitted, all the voyage of their life

Is bound in shallows and in miseries.

On such a full sea are we now afloat,

And we must take the current when it serves,

Or lose our ventures.

Julius Caesar Act 4, scene 3, 218–224

Brutus and Cassius are discussing the final phase of their civil war with the forces of Octavian and Marcus Antonius. Cassius has been urging that they group their forces at Sardis and take advantage of the secure location to catch their breath. Brutus, however, advocates heading off the enemy at Philippi before Octavian can recruit more men. Brutus's main point is that, since "the enemy increaseth every day" and "We, at the height, are ready to decline" (lines 216–217), he and Cassius must act now while the ratio of forces is most advantageous. "There's a tide in the affairs of men," he insists; that is, power is a force that ebbs and flows in time, and one must "go with the flow." Waiting around only allows your power to pass its crest and begin to ebb; if the opportunity is "omitted" (missed), you'll find yourself stranded in miserable shallows.

Just wanted to share a little knowledge! :)
- b -

Dream Come True

So this weekend I got engaged to my best friend! Alex proposed on 

November 14th & we will be married before next 

school year, the Lord willing! We couldn't be happier! 

Here are some pictures that we took this 

weekend! Thank you to everyone who has called, texted and 

sent us the sweetest messages! We love you all!

- b & a-

Grateful

This whole weekend I have been moping around and pouting. Thursday was my birthday, and I was going to wait until the weekend to celebrate with my friends and family, but around 3:00 on Friday afternoon, Alex called to tell me that he was at the doctor's office getting tested for the flu. And guess what? The test came back positive. I was really upset at first, but it ended up just turning into sheer disappointment. I had SO been looking forward to seeing him and spending my birthday weekend with him. That didn't happen so I just moped around all weekend. It wasn't very fun, but I did get a lot done. I decided that I wasn't going to celebrate anything about my birthday until he got here, sooooo the presents are all still wrapped, the cake has yet to be made and my dinner(s) with family and friends have yet to be. I just wanted to wait until he was here to celebrate with me, and that's what I'm sticking to! It's so hard because I love presents, but it will be well worth the wait. :) He is still not feeling very well and is staying with the dogs at his apartment in Jackson until he feels better to get back to school and life. I feel so bad for him, and I ask for you to keep him in your prayers! Swine flu is no fun from what I've heard. :( There is some good news though! UofL received all his credentials to enter the Sports Administration program in January, and he has an interview on Friday morning!! Hopefully he will be feeling better, but I am so excited!! He received the notification today, and that has made it a great day. Please pray for him to feel better and for him to do good on his interview Friday! Hope all is well! 


- b -

Welcome To The 20's!

Today is my 20th Birthday!! :)

It started this morning when the sunlight through

my window woke me up. I checked my phone to see

what time it was but it had died. I opened my laptop

to find that it was 10:30! My first class ended at 10:45 and

my next started at 11:00 so I had missed all my classes! :(

Naturally, I decided to sleep in. I woke up around 12something,

took a shower (& used my mom's special shampoo), and 

then went to lunch with my mom at Lynn's Paradise Cafe 

because I had never been there before! It was 

amazing, and I'm glad that I have officially experienced

it. It's a Louisville original. :) Then I went and 

got a flu shot and came back home! We are going to 

celebrate my birthday tomorrow actually because 

I have a TON of homework to do tonight. Sigh. So I am about to go 

hit the books. But I am glad to be 20! 

Thank you to everyone who called, texted, or

facebooked me today! Love you all!

- b

Help Save a Life.

Today I gave blood for the third time.

I'm not going to lie and say that it is a fun experience,

but I feel so much better about myself after it is over.

Giving blood is truly a giving of yourself, 

and I see no reason why anybody who could give blood shouldn't.

I am terrified of needles and blood, but I suck it up because

I believe that if you have the power to change a life than you should.

So take this challenge, and go give blood today.

_______________________________________________________

³⁴"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. ³⁵For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, ³⁶I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'

 ³⁷"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? ³⁸When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? ³⁹When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'

 ⁴⁰"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'

- b -

Support Our Troops

So two of my cousins left for the Middle East this week. Please keep them in your prayers. They are both my age (Michael is 6 mos. older and Noel is 1 mo. younger), and are in the Army and Marines respectively. Pray that they will get their job done and then come home safe & sound to their families. We love you guys!

My cousin Noel Ramage: U.S. Marines

My cousin Michael Badolato Jr.: U.S. Army

- b -

Fall [Break]

Well happy October! It has been raining the entire month which has been a huge disappointment because fall is my favorite time of the year. Two weekends ago I decided to get all our Halloween decorations out so that our house looked a little more festive and for the most part it went well! I even ventured to put the fake spider webs on the bushes and shutters outside. They looked GREAT but ever since then it has been raining, and they are looking pretty nasty right about now.

This year I am actually having to worry about working on the holidays. Not that I mind, but when I was in Jackson I automatically got all holidays off because I came home to Louisville during them but now I have to be all grown up, and it is not very fun. Haha well it's not too bad, but I am just waiting to see how to plan Thanksgiving and Christmas, etc.! Work is good! Nothing too interesting there!

School is getting really stressful right about now. It hasn't been bad AT ALL but for some reason I have many major projects and reports due tomorrow and Tuesday. I am going to lock myself in all day today to work on them. It is going to be no fun. :( Alex was here to visit this weekend as well, and I didn't get as much done as I wanted. We went to Industrial Nightmare last night with some friends, and it was SO fun. It's a haunted house over in Indiana, and we had a blast! I love haunted houses and being scared especially around Halloween. It just puts me in the spirit! :) We also saw The Stepfather on Friday night. It's a scary movie about this guy about to marry this woman and join her family with three kids. They show you in the beginning how he is a serial killer, and it just gets better from there! Twisted I know, but I just love it. :)

I got to spend fall break in Jackson, and it was THE BEST EVER. I loved hanging out with my old roommates and friends. We had a blast, and I am so glad that I went. It really made me miss Union a lot because I actually didn't miss it until I went. I also got to meet all the new Alpha Tau Omega pledges. They are the sweetest group of guys I have met, and I am so proud that Alex is their pledge dad. I guess if he is pledge dad that makes me pledge momma, so I made them brownies for their pledge meeting/test that they had last Tuesday. I'm guessing they liked them. Oh, and guess what? Alex is getting a LITTLE BROTHER!!! :) Not like an actual little brother, but an ATΩ little brother. He has had 4 before, and somehow every single year they end up dropping out or moving away. It's really sad, but I am so happy for him, and I know he is going to do such a great job. The pledges haven't found out who their big brother is yet, but I know. :) I can't wait because I know that Alex is so happy already and is going to be even happier once ***************** finds out that Alex is his big brother! :) Anyways, enough of that. Life is good. I don't really have much else to say. This week's weather is supposed to be getting a lot warmer, so hopefully it will start feeling like fall instead of winter!!

Peace & Blessings
Peace & Blessings
(haha girls who know what I'm talking about!)

- b-

P.S. We celebrated our 2 year anniversary on the 12th! Here are a couple pictures from the night! 

We had dinner at Amerigo's in Memphis! It was delicious!

Special thanks to Catherine, Jessica, Carrie and Katie for helping me dress for the occasion! I had no dress clothes to wear and they helped me pull something together! Thank you guys!