Elise, not Elsie.

This is a huge post about me.
I hope you enjoy :)


I am a verrrry proud Jersey girl. I live in the southern part of the state where the nature is plentiful, the air is sweet, and nobody "tawks like dis or pahks ah cahs in hahvahd yahd at awl." I've lived here my whole life and eventually I'll settle down here again when I'm older. We kind of function as our own state, as anyone who has visited the north and traveled south will realize how different the two sections of New Jersey are. The best part about my area - besides the view - is its closeness to major areas (beaches, Philadelphia, NYC) and that it is PHILLIES COUNTRY :) But that's about the only local team I like.


As much as I love my state - and trust me, I never knew how much until I had to defend it to NYers who assume the whole state is like the Jersey Shore and Desparate Housewives of NJ - I decided not to stay for university. I attend the State University of New York at Albany (aka SUNY Albany aka UA) where I double-major in Social Psychology and English and double-minor in Italian and Women's Studies. I intend to push for a doctorate in Social Psychology, we'll see :) I'm a part of the Women's Collective and will be teaching a Feminisms 101 class in Spring 2013; I am also a Research Lab Assistant in the Weight and Eating Disorder Laboratory - EDs are a bit of a passion of mine. I love how nature-y my campus is because it reminds me of home but it's often very cold. Fine by me!



Anyone who knows me in RL is completely blown away by the fact that I've been saved. I was raised Catholic and disowned God and the church a few days after my Holy Communion in fifth grade. I was an atheist until late into my junior year of high school where I feel like I shifted more into agnosticism. I always had beliefs but I never subscribed to the whole God thing - and I was NOT afraid to tell people. Sure, I was respectable, but as soon as you started trying to shove Jesus down my throat, I was armed with every flaw in the Bible. Summer before my senior year of high school my friend Amanda and I got incredibly close and she introduced me to Christianity and her non-denominational church the Word. I was saved at True North Church (which somebody of ANY or NO faith can enjoy - it's very alternative and modern/indie concert-like) on January 24, 2011. Something just clicked with the message that night and I knew I was ready. Granted, I'm still conflicted about the Bible - I 110% suppport the LBQT community and heck, I'm a feminist! - but my relationship with God is amazing. And my youth group - they're amazing. Seriously. Moving mountains every day.


(From May 2010)


I was kicked out of my mom's house February of my freshman year of high school. She was an incredibly abusive alcoholic all of my life to my brother and I, and even though I truthfully did nothing but exist (I'm "the good kid") that night, it's for the better that it happened. I moved in with my father and needed a change - I'd always wanted to be a vegetarian but wasn't allowed, so I took the 30 day pledge and then dived into veganism. I've been a vegan ever since! I love it. I love how healthy I am, I love how I'm contributing to a cruelty-free world, I love that I educate people on a weekly basis about my diet, and I love that I feel in-sync with my morals and values. I've always been huge on animal rights and activism so it really just fell into place. AND my food is better - and 100% cruelty-free!



High school was an amazing part of my life. Above is me with (basically) all of my AP kids, as I call them. I was the typical all-consumed-in-education girl, honors and AP classes all the way. English was my forte and whenever we had essays due, I usually had five or six papers besides my own to review. I still honestly edit some friends' essays! I still visit my high school frequently as well and sub in with Student Council. I was involved with art club and softball (kept stats - my knees are too damaged to play) all throughout highschool, but senior year I pretty much ran the school, according to friends and teachers. I was president of Student Council and we achieved so much. still so emotionally invested in my high school and I probably always will be. I met so many amazing people, including my Transition group and Teen PEP class (DEFINITELY ask about that if you'd like!). I also met the love of my life there, and we had an amazing two year relationship before we ended things this past January.


Oscar and I have been together for a bit now, even though we're not officially dating. I'm still trekking through my breakup with Noel - it's hard to just "fall" out of love with your best friend - and he's been incredibly patient with me so far. Where Noel was my opposite, Oscar is more like my other half. We think alike, we say the same stupid things, and our birthdays are about twelve hours apart - I'm older ;). He's so intelligent and loves me pretty much unconditionally. We fight a lot about really dumb things because it's always a battle of pride... I always play "The Story of Us" by T- Swift for him when we're in these moods. I really do care so much for him and he tries his best to accomodate my Christianity as an atheist.




I hated my name once upon a time, but now I love that I am Elise E-L-I-S-E ee-lease! The inspiration for the title of this post is that all throughout school people read my name as Elsie. Not that it isn't a sweet name, but it's not my name, and I've come a long way to accepting my name and not wanting to be generic. I was named after The Cure's "A Letter to Elise" and my middle name (Marlene) is a family name on my mother's side. I was born 14th November 1992.

I'm the youngest in my household but arguable one of the more mature ones. I live with my dad and brother (21 yrs old) in a tiny apartment. My mom lives in Atlantic County in a sober living house - she's been almost 7 months clean. I'm very close to my father as we're very similiar, but my brother and I fight so much. We're polar opposites but we're close in a weird way because we both endured my mother's abuse when we were young. I'm trying to let go and have a relationship with my mom but it's hard to get over everything (like her being too drunk to see me off to college... yup that was fun) because I know I can't grow if I don't.

Let's see... aside from everything above, I'm a huge treehugger, LOL. I love nature. Musically I'm a self-acclaimed shower singer but I've been told I have a nice voice; I dance a lot, though badly, and I loveeee Spanish dancing. (Oh did I mention I only date Hispanics :P?) I listen to the Beatles mostly because I really find mainstream music distasteful. But I do have some modern favourites and I love my Christian music. I've struggled with Type II Bulimia for several years now but I've been in recovery; and I enjoy exercising - it makes me feel happy and energized. I have a lot of OCDs and I refuse to eat with big spoons. I love to read but I usually don't have time to - I'm a sucker for memoirs. I'm a HUGE baseball fan. My teams are the Phillies (baseball), the Saints, and Patriots (football).

There's so much more to me than just this but I wanted to get a post so anyone reading could get to know me a bit. Thanks for reading! I may do another post like this at some point.

3 thoughts on “Elise, not Elsie.

  1. I really enjoyed this post! Even though I know you, it was nice to be reacquainted :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow that's an amazing story - thanks for sharing.

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