School is more fun without homework...

Well hello friends! I know it has been two weeks since I last blogged which can only be attributed to one thing: welcome. Not just the program in general which was an incredible success but also the start of the school year in general. It has been great so far. I know I've said it before but I have some fantastic students that planned and executed an awesome welcome including an outdoor movie, concert, Teal Tuesday, and finished up last night with a comedy show. They did it all with energy and enthusiasm that made it easy to come to work every day (or night).

In the middle of all this craziness I have had lots of visitors as well. Adam Best & Kshan came to visit last week. As many of you know Adam has been out to see the last 7 months so I was more than excited to see him (Welcome home Adam). JoJo (and Spunky) also came for a weekend visit which was wonderful. There is something about spending time with your mom that brings life back into focus. It was exactly what I needed last week. She got to meet and visit with some of my favorite people here in Wilmington and it was nice to share her with them. Lastly, Ashley & Brian Raska came through on their way back from Myrtle Beach for breakfast at one of my favorite places Chris' Cosmic Kitchen . It was great to see them as well! I enjoy sharing Wilmington, the place I now call home with people because I know they will find it as wonderful as I do!

UNCW is an amazing place and I continue to appreciate being at a coastal school. Here are the top 3 things awesome things working at a coastal school I've observed over the past two weeks:

-Making a rain call involves calling Enviornmental Health and Safety because the weather can change in a matter of minutes.
-There are skateboard racks in the dining halls to hold the skateboards of it's patrons
-The biggest Welcome events involves fencing off part of the beach for a giant beach party (Below is A, Katie and I after working Beach Blast)

Other than that I've just been enjoying time with friends, relaxing and enjoying the beach/pool time I have missed over the past few weeks. It feels good to start getting into a normal routine and it feels GREAT to not be bogged down with school work for the first time in 18 years :)






Time for shout outs:

- Happy late birthday to Jimmy O
-Congrats to Alyssa for getting an awesome job at Stevens
-Good luck to those at JMU as you start school this week (especially that Ashley A. Jones starting CSPA!)
-Congrats to my ACErs on a sucessful welcome
- Happy early birthday to Bradley Davis
-Good luck to my teacher friends starting school in the upcoming week. You will be great :)

They're back...

Apparently I'm not as good of a blogger as I thought I would be, it has been a while since I've blogged. Here are some highlights of the last 2 weeks:

- My wonderful friends Katelyn, Kelly, Angela and Audrey came down for an AWESOME girls weekend!

- I got to judge the RA training lip sync which was a total blast (shout out to Belk/APT, Crossing &Schuites)

-My ACE students came back in full force last week planning an awesome fall calendar and welcome programs.

Most importantly...they're back! Freshman move in was Saturday and with that the craziness began. UNCW does an amazing job with move-in and for any of you who work on a college campus you know there is nothing like the energy of the start of the semester. Today, as I volunteered at Convocation I looked at the sea of Teal and was taken back by the amount of enthusiasm and excitement that was around me. This is what it is about. Below is a beautiful pic of KTK, A and I at 7 am Saturday :)

After freshman move-in I went to VB for Mrs. Diane Anderson's retirement party. To say the women is remarkable is an understatement. For those of you who don't know the legend that is DDA she is one of my biggest mentors. I met Mrs. Anderson formally my junior year of high school. I served on a VB city-wide sportsmanship committee represeting good 'ol Tallwood. That summer I was elected the City-Wide SCA Chairman at Beach Workshop and from then on I have never been the same. Mrs. A has been an incredible source of support for me throughout the years. She taught me true servant leadership both as my advisor on CWSCA. She provided me with a once in a lifetime opportunity to serve on the Virginia Beach Leadership Workshop staff for five years and I have never, ever been the same person. I am the person I am today because of Mrs. A. To be in the room with so many who feel likewise was inspiring. It was amazing to hear so many others speak of Mrs. A the way that I do. So cheers to DDA, an amazing influence on my life and so many others.

I also came to a strange realization this weekend. In my less than 24 hours home I got to see Petey before he headed back to LU for his SENIOR YEAR on Sunday. It's a strange feeling when you realize your siblings have become your friend. As many of you know I have adored Petey my whole life but being around him now is like being around a best friend. As soon as he came home on Saturday we began talking and catching up like two friends who hadn't seen each other in a while. As much as I hate to admit it, little Petey isn't so little anymore. He is an adult (in many ways) who I respect and very much love. There is no doubt that I miss him when we're not together but it isn't until I see him again that I remember how much. So Petey, there's your shout out...love you little bro! Good luck with senior year! Don't worry Joann wanted to document the event :)

UNCWelcome has started and so things at work are crazy. Tomorrow night ACE has it's first event. We are showing "The Sandlot" outside while serving cracker jacks, capri suns and ice pops. It should be an awesome event :)

I believe that is all for now... Shout out time? I think so!

-Congrats to 3 of my favorite teacher friends for getting jobs this week: Rachel Ann, My little one Ashley     Carlton & Leslie Ann Lehner
-Lots of love to Lindsey McDaniel for organizing a successful move-in
- Tyler Jones for being selected to speak to the Board of Governors this weekend
-Good luck to the UNCW students as they start classes this week
- Happy Birthday today to my Uncle Joe
-Welcome home to Adam Best...back from a 7 month deployment! 

I want to give the last shout out to my amazing students who have worked SO hard over the past few weeks to plan what I believe will be a great start to the semester. I am the luckiest girl to work with such an amazing exec board and graduate assistant :)

Live a life less ordinary...

Hello Friends,

I know it has been a while, I suppose life started getting busy, or less interesting leaving me little to blog about but none the less, I'm back. Life in Wilmington is going well. For those of you who have heard about the couch saga, my new couch was delivered today and thanks to my recent paycheck and Sarah giving me another table my family room is really coming along :) I am very pleased.

As I predicted, with August hitting life has picked up at work and the rookie moments are becoming more frequent. I must say that for every rookie moment I have, I have 5 moments when I think to myself either how lucky I am to have found this job and opportunity so that keeps a smile on my face. More and more I am becoming more comfortable and the true Stefanie Mancuso comes out. Example: At the Student Affairs division retreat yesterday in Southport I was standing with some friends on the deck telling a story (full out, Stefanie story... acting it out and everything) actually, let me rephrase I was acting out what I believe I would be like as the Bachelorette (Christina was convincing me I should be on the show) and I knock my whole plate and cup off the ledge of the deck onto the hill. There was no good way to get onto the hill to pick up my mess, so, classy as ever I hoped over the railing, picked up my trash, and then climbed back over (no, I was not wearing a dress or skirt). Classy as always.

I saw Charlie St. Cloud Sunday night. Good movie, clearly some tears occurred, even from the guys. Again, I need to do a better job of not interacting with the films, it seems those around me aren't into it...it's just a challenge...I've never had an inside voice. I will put the disclaimer that it is not a chick flick, they just flash Zack Effron all over the screen in the previews to get 15 year old girls to buy tickets. In fact, it reminded me a great deal of the 6th sense only with a hotter actor and less whispering.

Yes, I am sad about the Ali not picking Chris L on the Bachelorette, however, I am happy for Ali and Roberto. They seem happy. I just hope they honeymoon in Alaska so he doesn't sweat so much. Poor guy. Did anyone else notice how tight Roberto's pants were and how difficult it was for him to get down on one knee, I know our house did.

Lastly, I have a public confession to make. As many of you who work at UNCW know, I am a regular at the local Fisher Center Einsteins. Today, I had a meeting with a student there and my boy Samual offered me my usual coffee cup for my regular Vanilla coffee. I chatted with Daniel, the manager and proceeded to have my meeting. Following my meeting I went over to fill up my coffee cup with a little more coffee before heading to my next meeting. Daniel yelled over to me "do you want me to charge you for that refill" to which I responded "don't hate on me Daniel". Tonight, I share this story with Katie and she informed me that you do not get free refills from Einsteins and that was the reason that she and Adrienne never do when I do after our frequent breakfasts. Clearly, I feel terrible for taking advantage of my dear friends at Einsteins and abusing my regular status. Lesson: Do not assume all places have free refills. I will remedy this situation, asap.

I think that is all for now... I've got some serious shout outs going on though:

- Congratulations to Katie and Clay Haley - they had a BEAUTIFUL wedding that I was lucky to attend last Saturday.
-So much love to the two newly employed teachers for the city of Norfolk, VA: Mrs. Ashley Carlton & Miss Rachel Myers. I am so proud of both of you!
- Love to my housing folks who are in the midst of RA training right now
-Best of luck to Miss Ashley Jones who moved to Hburg to start grad hall director training tomorrow (Go Dukes!)
-Time to come back east LK...congrats on finishing your NODA internship in Texas :)
-Phillip Burns: thanks for the great life talks, I appreciate them, still.
- Jimmy Oliverie making his victory lap this week at his internship in Philly.
-Early birthday shout out to Angela Damiano and Jemilia Harrison -Monday

Next up: a visit from some of my favorite girls this weekend.

Always,

Stefanie Jo

ADPi's with the beautiful bride this weekend <>

Leo will always be Jack Dawson to me...

Good Morning!

Can I start by saying, where has July gone? It seems I was just writing about the 4th and now we are approaching the last week of the month. For those of you in Student Affairs, you know what this means: the end of our summer. While this may seem sad to many of you who will continue your summers through labor day, remember that ours does begin early May. I could not be more excited about the opening of school, this may be the only year I feel this excited about it. However, I will not really feel as though I've started my job until I've done it through the hustle and bustle of the school year, especially August. 


This week has been a good one so far, lots of spending time with friends which has been great. I have been so lucky to meet some great people down here and I enjoy spending time with them when I can. Monday and Tuesday were spent with Jen, Sarah and Katie. We enjoyed the Bachellorette at Sarah's beautiful new apartment (literally, beautiful). I really am not ok with Frank and continue to love Chris L more and more every day. I think Frank's issues are the most real the show is so, perhaps it is best that the fantasy world has a taste of reality.  Tuesday night we saw Inception.

Yes, it is a great movie. I minimally interacted with the film (this is a big deal, as many of you who have seen films with me before know) mainly because I had to focus so much during the movie to understand. However, there is a scene with Leonardo DiCaprio and his wife in the movie where she says "don't let go" and it took EVERYTHING in me not to yell "NEVER LET GO JACK". I resisted as Jen and Sarah are new to seeing films with me and did not want them to feel mortified. Overall, a great movie and I wish Bill Hall could see it and explain it to me more (shout out to my Dukes who know and love Bill Hall). 


In other news, I am in the market for a new couch...after much drama with JCPenny, JoJo and I are giving back the original couch and instead getting one more to my liking, without the drama. :) So Wilmington folks, got any furniture store suggestions-hit me with them :) 


A Joann and Pat update. They are still rockin' :) I went over last week to help Joann with some e-mail issues. They are always good for a laugh and a life talk. Hopefully we can break bread together soon! 

I believe that is all for now!

Shout outs: 
Happy birthday to Keith Taylor today :)
LK is a little over a week shy of being on the east coast! 
Good luck to Miss Lori Corley as she begins her journey as an ADPi leadership consultant <>
Special thanks to Adrienne for a great couch talk last night, a great friend already!
Congrats to my fellow CSPA friend Mike for getting a sweet job last week! :) 


A parting Pearl Jam song lyric I just received from a friend to leave you with:

"I know I was born and I know that I will die
The in between is mine.." (I Am Mine, Pearl Jam)

Have a great day,
Stefanie Jo

I get by with a little help from my friends...and family :)

I think the Wonder Years was onto something in the late 80's when it started each show with the Beatles, "With a Little Help From My Friends".  The truth of the matter is, it's the only way to get by. As most of you know this week is a difficult one for my family and many of my friends. It is amazing to me that it has already been 6 years since we lost someone dear to us, my father, Peter A. Mancuso (Big Petey, if you will). In reflecting on this with JoJo and Petey I think we have realized how blessed we were to have such an incredible man in our life for as long as we did. What we have also started to take notice of is how lucky we have been to have the incredible support we have over the past 6 years from our amazing family and friends. The truth is, life can be difficult but if you let yourself be open to a network of amazing people who care and want to help you will do more than get by. I can say in full confidence that without this, we would not be the strong people and family we are. So on behalf of JoJo, Petey (and Spunky) I want to say thank you for the continued support and love we have been shown year after year since 2004. It is not only your thoughts and kind words this time of year but your constant love and support.

The lesson: Do not be afraid to lean on your friends and family when times are hard. I smile brighter and laugh harder because of each of them (well... you, if you're reading this blog). Just something to consider...

Overall there has not been too much excitement this week, for those of you who are Bachelorette watchers like myself, you know that the end is near and the rumors Ali picks no one makes me sad. I am a Chris fan (shocker, I know). Odds are I will punch the TV next week when Frank breaks her heart, jerk! Haha...it's really the only trash TV I watch so I allow myself to get into it, everyone has a guilty pleasure, right?

I am joining a book club with some of my favorite JMU girls :) A very fun/exciting way to keep in touch!

Ok, time for shout outs:

- Kelly Ann Shanley & Adam Best have a great time reuniting in GREECE! :)
- Big loss for the Yankees this week, shout out to George Steinbrenner 7/13-yes that is irony at its best!
-Another CSPA 2010 gets a job, Congrats Jane! (insert lasso!)

Tabrizi fo' Sheezy

Well, clearly the most important update is that Hoss and Carolyn were married yesterday, which resulted in a true DGSC weekend. For my new followers, DGSC or Dirty Girls Social Club is a name associated with 12 of my closest friends from high school. The namesake is attributed to a book by Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez about a group of girlfriends and their lives. We took this name in 2003, the first year of what would become an annual dinner and a lifetime of friendship.

The first of this group of friends, Carolyn Fawcett tied the knot yesterday. She is now Mrs. Tabrizi and it was a great event. The weekend began with many of us coming into town (with a few boyfriends and fiances) on Friday and staying with the wonderful Angela Damiano (shout out to my favorite hostess!). We ate at one of my FAVORITE Mexican places in Alexandria and I was heart broken when I was unable to have a Cadilac Margarita, my favorite, because the machine was broken. Some how I survived. We spent the evening sharing funny stories, showing the guys some old videos and laughing so hard our faces hurt.

The wedding Saturday was fantastic! There were two beautiful ceremonies followed by a great reception full of sweet dance moves and lassos.

and in true dirty girl fashion, Angela and I prepared a song for the bride and groom. This is a tradition started a few years ago, Angela and I began by performing "Light my Candle" at a DGSC dinner one year. We then in years to come began writing our own songs to be performed at large get togethers. This wedding was no different, we composed a brief ditty for Carolyn and Hoss to the tune of Train, "Hey Soul Sister". The video is available for viewing on my facebook. I'm not sure how to post it on here, perhaps my dear friend Kelly Shanley will post it in the comment section?

Overall a great night, it was no shocker JoJo tore up the dance floor during the cupid shuffle, as I have shared with many of you, she loves a group dance! It was great to spend time with JoJo, Matt and the Shanley's as well. Nothing like a taste of family and home.

Overall a great weekend. Life in Wilmington is going well... last week went by fast with a 3 day work week but I am getting excited for the awesome programs and events that are coming up in a month. Dinner at Pat and Joann's was great. They prepared me a wonderful Italian dinner and I returned the favor by setting Joann up with a new more user friendly gmail accout. I continue to enjoy spending time with my amazing new friends here and look forward to introducing more of them to you via the Mancuso Monologues but until next time...

Stefanie Jo

Of course, some shout outs:

Congrats to the several couples that were wed this weekend:

Carolyn & Hoss         Kat & CJ           Mike & Christina

Also, welcome Brayden Roemmich, nephew of my little one Ashley Carlton.

Kelly Ann Shanley traveling to Greece next weekend...lucky girl!

Shout out to big Peter Mancuso, thinking about him this week <3

Wake up in the morning feeling like...Usher?

So, let me explain... no, I am not that big of a Kei$ha fan but this morning I woke up with Usher's "OMG" in my head. Not really sure why, perhaps I was thinking about my weekend...

Let me start by wishing everyone a happy belated 4th of July. While the 4th has never been my favorite holiday I should recognize here my love of America which I demonstrated at a young age by performing "God Bless America" and "Proud to Be An American" over and over again for well, anyone who would listen. I wish there was not video evidence of this but unfortunately there are several performances that Joann keeps close to her on family video. So, for that reason I must say I have a place in my heart for the 4th of July.

This weekend was great. It started Thursday night when a group of us went to Captain Bill's to support some UNCW folks on their volleyball team. We hit around a bit and I remembered why I played field hockey in college. We are trying to put a team together for the fall so I have a few months to get better. If only that Katelyn Grant was closer...she was an all-star in her day :)

Friday, after work I hit up the Keys Pool where my friend Pat was hanging out (he is the 74 year old man I friended a few weeks ago along with his wife, Jo Ann). They are from Long Island, NY so we talk about Italian food and he reminds me of my Grandfather. I have adopted them as my grandparents and they are having me over for dinner tomorrow night, apparently they've gotten me a surprise. I am so excited to see what it is. Dinner is at 5:30, I feel bad I'm making them eat late ;)

Later Friday I was able to meet up with the one and only Jermisha Dotson who was in town celebrating her birthday. This is where the Usher song comes into play, it was easily played three times while we were out at the bar and I believe it has become the anthem of the weekend...

Saturday was spent working out, running errands and some pool time. That night I had sushi (mmmm...) downtown with some friends and headed out downtown for another fun night :) The next morning I was up early to get things together for a beach day. Ironically, we weren't the only people who wanted to be at the beach of the 4th of July, who would have thought? Parking was an adventure, I will take Katie's version of the story (which I have taken from her blog... b/c she really is the one who experienced the worst part of it)

Here's the short story: Stefanie had found a spot where a car's meter was going to run out at noon (it was11:30 am at that point) and so I was waiting in the car to take the spot when the people returned while Stef walked some stuff down to the beach. Next thing I know, the family is coming back to their car, but a different woman is with them and waving her husband to come take the spot. I try to calmly explain that I've been waiting for that spot. To which the woman tells me "sorry, but he said I could have his spot" and then continues to stand in front of the car so I can't pull into the spot while her husband pulls into it. I was livid to say the least! So, then Stef and I took turns waiting in the car for another spot. It was my turn and there was a couple coming back to their car so I was excited. Next thing I know, someone else is coming over that way to take the spot. So, I calmly (or not so much) get out of the car and go to the man who is getting ready to get in his car and back out of the spot. I politely ask if he would mind backing out in a way in which I could then pull into the spot and block the other car. He tells me, "sure thing, sweetheart." I get back in the car, and pull into the spot while watching the woman in the other car get angry. Thank God she didn't slash the tires. - Katie K

After that drama, we still had a great time at the beach with friends, food and fireworks (what more could a person want?)

Today was a great day off...took a long walk with KTK as she is training for the Breast Cancer 3 day walk (sponsor her!), shopping, pedicure and pool time! Also, I got to watch Adrienne kick Corey's (another new friend here) butt in tennis. We finished up by watching the Bachelorette... (mmm Chris L I love you!)

So overall, a great little 4th of July weekend. Wilmington is shaping up to be a great place to live and I can not believe I have already crossed my 1 month mark of working here. Below is a picture of the ACE executive board at our retreat a few weeks ago. They are fantastic and it has been great getting to know them so far!

Of course I have to throw some shout outs to the following people:

Jen Stollery - starting her big girl job this week! Good luck momma :)
Joe Peltzar - moving into his new place this week
All of my new Wilmington friends... many of who have started to follow the blog... you all are great :)
Diane Moody - happy belated birthday :)
Carolyn Fawcett- a big week for you sister, turning 27 and getting married HOLLA!

Thats all for now... much love!

Stefanie Jo