Wishing everyone a weekend full of sunshine, flowers, and happiness :)

Good morning, Sunshine!

Okay, so of course it's not so sunny today. But the past two days have been BEAUTIFUL. So sunny, in fact, that I've done everything I can to stay outside.

I went running twice, I chilled, I walked to the local ice cream shop, and I even did reading for a class - just to catch some rays! 

Now I am, of course, kind of burnt. I don't burn the way some people do, though. Even though I'm as pale as Casper in the winter, when I do catch some rays I usually burn a little at first - but then it turns to a darker shade of pale in a couple of days.

(At one point in my life, I occasionally went to tanning beds but my biology class sophomore year scared the shit out of me in that respect. Just imagine your professor referring to them as "cancer chambers" or "cell mutation beds" for a semester. It turns out fear is quite an effective deterrent.) 

Anyway - day one of soaking up natural rays turned into a bit of a fail. I was sitting on a cement bench (not the most comfortable invention) outside of my apartment doing some reading. Turns out the left side of my body was facing the sun and my right side, well, was almost in the shade due to a tree growing near by. Didn't notice this at the time, though. So, after Monday, one arm, one leg, and even half of my chest had color and the other half of my body - not so much. Also, although other girls had swimsuits on - I wasn't quite so brave, so I now have tan lines galore.

At least everyone will know that my half-of-a-farmer's-tan is natural. 

Pleasant Surprise

I got a job and my friend got me a surprise celebratory cookie cake!

I couldn't tell you which one I'm more excited about! Thanks Christine :)

Sorry this post is so short. I've been busy eating the above jumbo cookie and copious amounts of Easter candy. It's hard being a second semester senior, but somebody has to do it. 

Earth Day, the Rebecca Black Rendition

It's Earth Day, Earth Day
Save the world on Earth Day
Everybody gotta start to save the planet

Earth Day, Earth Day
Gotta get clean on Earth Day
Everybody joins together and recycles

Plantin' trees, plantin' trees
YEAH
Recyclin' Recyclin'
YEAH

Turn. Off. The. Lights.

Have a happy Earth day and goodnight :)

Easter Wishes!

Well, even though our school doesn't give us anytime off, I'm home (already) for Easter weekend. Oh, the joys of being a second semester senior :)

Since my twin goes to a Catholic school, they actually do get Maundy Thursday and Good Friday off - so she will be arriving home shortly!

I've come to the conclusion that Easter may be my new favorite holiday (I used to always say Christmas Eve) but I love that Easter typically involves warm weather and flowers, and it's not as commercialized as Christmas, or as stressful. Plus, I live for candy ;)

Also, my family almost always makes Ukranian Easter eggs - and i was so excited when I saw that my mom had the dyes all lined up on the island! For those of you who have never heard of such things, what you do is you dye an egg - so let's say you dye it yellow. Then you use a special tool filled with wax to draw on all the parts of the egg you want yellow. Here are pictures of the tools:

They actually have evolved over the years. When I was little, they were wooden. Now we have plastic (of course)

I'm not sure why this woman's hair is so close to the hot wax, but you get the idea.

Then, you dye it again (maybe, pink). And do the same. You usually dye from lightest to darkest color.

I realize that's not a good explanation, but maybe I'll try to explain later when I feel like typing more. At the end, you drill a hole in the bottom of the egg and use a syringe to blow the yoke out of the egg - so you can save your egg for years to come!

Here are some pictures I found online:

My mom is really good, and hers often turn out like these!! Mine? I'm lucky if I don't break the egg!

Happy Easter, whatever your traditions may be!!

Futurama

Since none of the jobs I've applied to have panned out (yet?), I developed some fool-proof back up plans over the weekend. And by some, I mean 2.

Option 1: Become a Gypsy.

I know what you're thinking. Joyce, you can't be a gypsy because you aren't musically talented and don't have big gold earrings. First off, I DO have big gold earrings.  Secondly, while many of my college friends may not know this, I can read sheet music in treble AND bass clef, being that I was a member of band for SIX (embarrassing) YEARS!! For all the offended band people out there, if you played the instrument I played, you would be equally embarrassed. Trust me. 

Upon further research, I don't think that Gypsies even need to possess sheet-music reading ability (but I am on the fast track to becoming an over-achieving gypsy, don't worry. If gypsies made salaries, I'd be up for a promotion.) 

I'm pretty sure all they have to do is dance and play the tambourine. My dance skills are paramount (anyone who knows me knows that this goes without saying). I'm going to go out on a limb and say, given natural musical inclination, about two weeks of practicing tambourine is all I need before I can embark upon this career path. 

One of my friends recently told me that, in modern times, being a gypsy is now equivalent to being homeless. My response, "Does Shakira look homeless to you?" 

Regardless, I know everyone should have a plan B:

Option 2: Become an Ice Cream (wo)Man!

People often say, do something you love. "Love" does not begin to describe how I feel about being surrounded by ice cream. Also, I've heard you should do what you wanted to do ever since you were little. As a child, I used to always say I wanted to be an ice cream man when I grew up. Seriously. Ask my mom. 

The only reason this is plan B rather than plan A is because it involves driving. Not exactly my forte. 

The only downside to these awesome future goals are that neither of these careers require a college degree. But I'm certain I still learned many things in college that will be valuable to me for the rest of my life. For example, I learned.... maybe I'll post on those tomorrow. 

Spring Has Sprung

I am blaming the sun for my lack of consistent posting this week.  I know, you just assumed I was saving the world or something. Or, getting a job? Nope. Sitting outside.

Today is officially the second nice day of the Spring 2011 semester.  Who knew I went to school in a Tundra. It's so refreshing to NOT put on my Northface in mid-April. Living the dream.

But seriously, there are buds on the trees! So I am no longer complaining.

Also, since today is Friday, why wouldn't I order a platter of mini cheesecakes to bring in the spring?

If any of my friends on campus are reading this: please come over and eat one(or two...or three)!!

I'm not trying to gain 50 pounds right before swim suit season ;)

Seventeen

Today is the 17th Birthday of my youngest sister, Janice! Which is weird, because I feel like I turned 17 about 2 weeks ago. And I'm allegedly 5 and a half years older than her. So clearly, she caught up. Because there's no way I'm graduating from college in a little over than a month. Not. A. Chance.

Regardless, my little sister is one of the funniest people on the planet. If she wrote a blog, she would have 100,000 followers and make you laugh every sentence. And you wouldn't have to waste anymore time reading about my traveling mishaps.

Since her favorite show is The Office - and she can quote nearly every episode, here are some quotes for her to try to place to the specific season and episode, which I'm sure will be cake:

Jim: Fact. Bears eat Beets. Bears. Beets. Battlestar Galactica.

***

Dwight: Final question, young Ryan Howard. What is Michael Scott's greatest fear?
Ryan: Um, loneliness. Maybe women.
Dwight: Wrong...he's not afraid of anything. Also, I would have accepted snakes.

***

Jim: Because right now, this is a job. If I advance any higher, this would be my career. And if this were my career, I'd have to throw myself in front of a train.

***

Michael: Yes. It is true. I, Michael Scott, am signing up with an online dating service. Thousands of people have done it, and I am going to do it. I need a username, and... I have a great one. "Little Kid Lover." That way people will know exactly where my priorities are at. 

And here is the appropriate wish for her:

Sadly, her favorite character, Ryan Howard aka B.J. Novak, is in the background of this picture (how could they?) So, here's him close up wishing her a happy 17th:

Happy Birthday, Baby Jan!!!

Traveling Trials aka the Story of my Life

On Thursday, I flew from Harrisburg to Chicago to Madison for an interview on Friday. My flight was (relatively) painless. I made it to Chicago on time to sit there for hours and hours since my flight was delayed, but at least I didn't miss my connection!  

For the record, Chicago O'hare airport is like a zoo full of angry animals. SO. MANY. PEOPLE. I felt like I was at Disney World, with all the families rushing around, expensive food, and long lines to get into any decent restaurant. Except every single person there was pissed off. I was sitting by a man at a gate for a while, and he told me he was flying to Vermont. I was impressed he could find a direct flight (my naivety of the airport system shown through) and he said, "Yeah, well from here, of course you can. But they never let you leave."

The next day, after finishing my interview, I went to Madison airport to find out that all flights to Chicago were cancelled. So my hopes of getting back to Harrisburg that day were quickly diminished. Not exactly the most popular destination.

At this point, I'm already regretting parking in short-term parking where it costs like an arm and a leg to park everyday. Especially considering that I only have 2 of each of these extremities. But, hey, I was only going to be parked there for one day. And since I got stranded in a city the last time I flew, there was no way it'd happen again.

Then, finally, they found a solution: Flying from Madison to Detroit to Harrisburg the next morning at 7.

And I was all, Wait? Did you just say Detroit? Because I'm totally not up for a Connecting in Motor City: The Sequel, (see my first wonderful Motown experience here - same link as above)  because I kind of feel like getting back to Harrisburg before, you know, 2012. The world's supposed to end then, and I wouldn't want to miss that. On a side note, I think the predicted destruction of the world is directly correlated to the fact that my youngest sister graduates from high school that year.

Plus, if I'm going to stop by my favorite city in Michigan I better be getting free cheese cake and oreo pie compliments of the airlines. Note that I did not use the word "or" in the previous sentence.

It was basically either that or hitchhiking my way across 4 states, so I embraced an evening exploring what Madison has to offer, and it was a pretty nice town! Despite all the current political revolters. Here are some pics:

There were protest pins, shirts, bumper stickers, posters etc!! At almost every store I went in to.

There was something so old school about these political protest pins! I kind of wanted one.

This was when I realized my dreams were coming true before my eyes.
And also wanted to transfer to Wisconsin.


My only regret is that I only filled one bag.


And here's me in front of the capital building!!

The next day, my flight out from Madison actually arrived to Detroit 20 minutes early! (No, airlines, you are still not off the hook.) Sadly, my flight in Detroit was delayed, but, due to previous travel experience, the Detroit airport is like a second home to me. And, 16 hours after my expected arrival time, I finally made it back to school!

I'm Published!

Well, in the world of blogging anyway. And not just on my own blog! One of the funniest authors I've ever read, Jen Lancaster, was having a contest a few days back and to see which of her readers could write the best "6-word story" and the winner won a copy of her new novel, If You Were Here which comes out May 3rd. I am kind of excited that she wrote a novel, because she has previously written 5 memoirs, so it's kind of a change of pace. Though her memoirs are hilarious, and definitely start with her first one: 

Bitter is the New Black : Confessions of a Condescending, Egomaniacal, Self-Centered Smartass, Or, Why You Should Never Carry A Prada Bag to the Unemployment Office. 

Anyway, I know you're all dying to know: did I win the contest?! The answer is, sadly, no. BUT of the 1186 entries, she did mention my post in one of her 15 "favorites" other than the two winners.

Here's the post: Click Here To See My First Published Story

For those of you too lazy to click, or, totally un-interested, I will share my story with you, anyways:

"Free" cat. Hundreds later, apartment destroyed.

Honestly, I haven't posted as much about my cat as I could have. Sure, you saw her help me with my homework , but other than how she ate my headphones as a snack I haven't really conveyed her destructive tendencies to you. For those who are really interested, my roomie has a blog she occasionally posts to from the first-person perspective of our little bundle of joy: www.minniesays.blogspot.com

For others, here are a few pictures of the feline that I owe my 15 seconds of fame to:

The first day we got her - she was so small! (and deceivingly innocent)

Day 2: Still Innocent

She and her boyfriend, Tomas: partners in crime

Though I admittedly take less pictures now then I did when she was as cute as a button and before she began needing to go to the expensive vet every other day and decided she was anti-litter box, she is getting much better (KNOCK ON WOOD AS HARD AS HUMANLY POSSIBLE) so maybe I'll post more recent pics soon!

Better Things

There's senioritis and then there's what I have.

Today in class, I made a list of things I would rather be doing:

1. Pet a porcupine.
2. Convert to Catholicism and join a convent.
3. Ride in a car with Rebecca Black. (Which seat would I take?)
4. Run a marathon in high heels.
5. Clean 1000 litter boxes.

But no, 52 minutes of class it was. I kind of feel bad for this particular class (don't mean to hate on it too much), it's just I am a senior, it's spring, and class on ancient literature just isn't holding my attention like it once may have.

By the way, I just found out today that I have an interview on Friday, so I might be M.I.A. for a while this week. Happy April :)

We Gonna Celebrate

For my meal plan I have "dining dollars" allocated to me since I'm on scholarship. I have some surplus right now, and if you have any left at the end of the year, the school just takes them! You know, the 200k tuition just isn't enough.

Clearly, I am eager to spend every penny of my dining dollars. Needless to say, my goal of "spending all my dining dollars" is one of my most feasible goals so far. I've been exploring the school's catering services, and the opportunities are endless! Turns out, the catering services food makes the their dining facilities food like leftover McDonald's.

My first catering purchase today was, of course, dessert. Since there was no reason to celebrate, we decided to have a pseudo-celebration for our cat's birthday. She's been acting like an emo kitty lately, and we're hoping this little celebration will thwart her anti-social tendencies!

Here's her cooking cake:

And here are some chocolate-covered strawberries to complete her celebration:

Sadly, our emo kitty is still opting to sit under a table next to the wall and not socialize with anyone:

Oh well, it's her party she can cry if she wants to!