My name is Mandy and I live in Manhattan, New York. I am an art major specializing in photography. I grew up on Long Island, but I have always loved the city. My favorite places are Starbucks(!), the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the shops of SoHo.

Upcoming events: My friends and I like to go to the coffee shops by our school and we have found some excellent restaurants. This Friday we are heading to the Hard Rock Cafe in Times Square at about 8pm. I hope we can see you there! Last week we went to a free art show in the park and played frizbee golf for most of the day. We ended up with a horrible sunburn, and had to run out at midnight to the corner drug store for some aloe vera.

Update: The Hard Rock Cafe was so crowded that we wound up going to Joe's Pizza! At least it was a lot cheaper, although so many of us showed up that we could not fit in the tiny place. That was some of the best pizza ever anyway.

Finals are coming up in a couple of weeks so the only socializing I will be doing will be at the library at the college. I am so worried about my Art Theory class grade, I have had the hardest time in that one. My art work will be on display in the school lobby for the next two weeks (come and see).

My brother just graduated from high school last weekend! Congratulations John! We went out to Los Cabos with some of our friends afterwards. They had a band there; some local country and western group; and the food was great! I tried the tortilla soup, it was a bit spicy, but very good. My little sister fell asleep before the night was over, but she really got a chance to ham it up with me on the patio while the band was playing.

My aunt's family is planning a huge Fourth of July party. They have catering, music, a pool, a volleyball net, and even inflatables for the kids. We go out there every year, and after it gets dark we head down to the beach to watch the fireworks. Some of my other family is coming out from the Midwest to spend a week around the same time and I promised I would show them around. They have never seen the ocean, and have only been as far east as Ohio. I plan on posting some of the pictures here after their visit.