I know that when I start working I will miss doing mini-projects that I randomly think of doing while I'm at home. For instance, today I noticed that my "Mall Money" container which I keep change in was so heavy/overflowing that it could barely store another dime. So my sister, Grace, and I decided to dump it, sort it, and count it.

My Grandma got me that container years ago, I actually used it!

I have probably been putting money in that little container for 8 or 9 years. And the grand total (drum roll please) was $60.02. ($37.75 in quarters, $14.80 in dimes, $4.75 in nickels and $2.72 in pennies.) Please don't check my math. I'm 90 percent sure it is wrong!

Remember when you were little and counting money was so much fun? Well, it's still fun :) But I'm just not as delusional about the total amount as I once was. For example, I know 60 bucks is  not really going to help buy me a mansion. But I guess, a penny saved is a penny earned :)

Memorial Day Weekend

Tomorrow night, 4 people are coming over for the weekend!

My sister who just returned from Europe (she visited London and Paris)!!

My sister, who has been working by Cincy, and her boyfriend, who has been working in Dayton!!

And my boyfriend, who has been working at Little Rock!!

In the mean time, I will be preparing for their arrival with my parents and little sister :)

Pet Peeves Part 2

I haven't officially complained about things that annoy me since February 16th so this post about annoyances is clearly long over due.

In my quest for continuous improvement as a human being, I am going to make a vow to try my hardest to omit a few phrases from my vocabulary (including tweets and status updates.)

Why? Because when I hear people constantly use these two expressions it makes me want to pull a Hamlet's father's evil brother and dump poison in my ears.

And, even worse, there is now twitter and facebook where ANYONE can publish ANYTHING at ANYTIME (Let's be honest, I have a blog, the internet is not selective in it's publishing process.)

So, I am forced to read these two annoying phrases, too. Which makes me want to pull an Oedipus. Or King Lear. Or the three mice running after the farmer's wife. A special thanks to the theme of blindness in literature for giving me an abundant of characters to choose from.

What phrases you ask? Well they are two, but mean they mean essentially the same thing:

1. "No Offense": [comes before offending content] This is used more commonly in dialogue, and basically means "I am about to be rude, but, hopefully these two words at the beginning of my sentence make you not notice..."

ex. "No offense, but I would rather die than wear that sweater you have on."

2. "Just Sayin" [comes after offending content] Used more in tweets/statuses. Basically means "I just said something rude, but am putting this two-word phrase at the end of my rude tweet to cover my ass." Also, you are almost never saying something just to say it. There is almost always a reason so don't pretend there isn't! If you actually don't have a reason for saying something - maybe you should stop talking!

ex. "I don't see why fat girls wear leggings. Just sayin"

The thing with both of these phrases? They are almost always in offending/rude sentences. So no, I am not blinded by your vocabulary magic trick. I am not fooled by you inserting two extra words to try to come off as nicer than you are. And I know I say these occasionally too, but I'm really going to try to stop ever saying them because the fact that i wrote this post in like 7 minutes really shows how much I dislike them! Glad to get that off my chest :)

By the way, I got a beautiful pleasant surprise in the mail today:

So don't worry, I am not actually angry/annoyed at the moment. I am actually quite looking forward to the weekend when my whole family will be home plus the giver of these flowers :)

I Made it!

 Dear Bucknell, oft of thee we're thinking - As memories fond come drifting by

 The tireless stars may cease their blinking, but thoughts of thee shall ne'er die

 And though the years steal swiftly o'er us. And winter comes with biting sting.

Our hearts, with youth's undaunted chorus, Shall e'er with praise of thee shall ring

I figured graduation was as good a time as any to learn the school's Alma Mater. I'm not so sure with all the words. I didn't want to ruin it by googling them, since I'm now a TRUE alumni. I'm pretty sure I got that winter bit right though. That's the only line I knew, really, prior to a three-day celebratory weekend of my graduation from the university where any chance they got they endorsed the singing of this tune. I was one hundred percent confident with our fight song though. Ray! Ray! Ray! Ray!

The Joys of Unpacking

If there's one thing I hate more than packing...it is unpacking. Unfortunately, they almost always come together.

Now I am actually unpacking from college only to repack a month and a half later when I move to Wisconsin in July. Basically, a month and a half long reorganizing session. Isn't there a military bootcamp I can attend instead? Or perhaps a 6 week temporary job cleaning out stables on a farm? Doing push ups and scooping horse poop sounds much more appealing than tackling my jewelry collection. I basically wear the same earrings every day, but that doesn't stop me from having enough to make Claire's Boutique writhe with envy.

And T-Shirts? Don't get me started. I honestly, no exaggeration, think I have 90 T-shirts I can choose from if I ever choose to workout again in my life. That's what 13 years of playing basketball will do to you. And each one has some weird sentimental value. Like today, I tried to talk myself in to donating a dark grey one with baby blue writing you can hardly read that says "Deep South Classic * NC State * Duke * UNC *" in small print on the front with a huge adidas symbol on the back. The last time I wore it? Probably 6 years ago.

But that's from when I saw Duke's Gym for the first time and me and dad went to Easter service at Duke's Chapel, and me and my teammate Febreezed our jerseys since we were both there with our dad's and the slightly stuck up *superstar* girl on the team totally judged us for it when we offered her some Febreeze since she was OBVIOUSLY hand washing her uniform in the sink. 


I could delve into a story like this for every pointless T-shirt I keep, so I decided I had to motivate myself to donate SOMETHING by using my Business Administration skills and capitalizing on the neighborhood garage sale which is on June 11th. We'll see if that helps.

I'm really trying to turn over a new leaf in terms of being organized in preparation for my move. But so far all that means is I can almost see my floor.

Hiking Pics

I successfully located my camera cord! That's about all the unpacking I can stand to do for the day. Pictures from our trip to Pinnacle Mountain State Park (about 30 minutes from Little Rock):

Little Turtle Guy Who Steve Moved off of the Path

from the observation point

Overall, a successful hike in the natural state. Me playing soccer with Steve later in the day? Not as successful. Turns out I do not have good hand-foot coordination, and when a soccer ball is coming at me I either a.) quickly back up as if it is actually a grenade or b.) protect myself by using my arms as if it is actually a volleyball. Neither are recommended. Option B hurts, as a soccer ball is much harder than a volleyball.

And the soccer field is H-U-G-E. I bet I could fit four basketball courts inside of it, or more. Running suicides on a soccer field? Would take me 20 minutes. And in basketball, we used to do 20 suicides in 20 minutes. I don't know which would be worse. But I know I will not be doing either. Hopefully ever again :)

It's Been a While

Wow, I've almost gone a whole week without posting!

It's weird, but now that I'm done with school, I don't post as often because I don't spend endless hours in front of my computer. Seriously. It's kind of nice.  There's a real world outside of Facebook and Twitter. Weird, I know.

 Also, I made another fun trip to Arkansas to visit my boyfriend. We hiked in a state park and I took some pretty pictures of the Natural State!

Oh, also - I found my camera charger when packing up my room! I lost it in September, so have been taking pictures on my phone since then because my camera died. I had "find camera charger" written on my Things-to-do Marker board for a while, but just erased it after 4 months of not looking. Because I am not one to be defeated by marker boards. I was even considering ordering one online but I'm glad I didn't because now, it is now FOUND! Where was it?  In a Barnes&Noble bag in my closet behind my hamper. Duh.

So when I post pictures from the hike, they might be better than average? Maybe? That is, if I ever do. Because now I have to find my camera chord in order to get them on my computer. I can't just e-mail them from my phone. That might take a good six months. Oh, I love being organized.

Before my trip, though, I was busy doing rebellious things with my sisters:

Everything is more rebellious in Black and White.

Done-zo

My freshmen year, we had "birthday buddies" on my hall. They were secrets until the "big day." My birthday buddy was an unlikely one to go all out, he later rushed one of the preppiest sororities on campus and never missed a party, but it turns out he went above and beyond as far as birthday buddy duties. Seriously.

He hand made a sign, wrote me a very nice card, and bought me this pennant to hang proudly in my room:

People quickly pointed out that it says "Alumni" down the side and I was not yet an alumni, to which I responded "I will be someday."  Well, after four years of hanging the pennant in my dorm room, I can truthfully say, as of a final paper e-mailed 3 minutes ago, I am officially done with all undergraduate coursework and a real alumni :)! Hooray!

 I can't wait for tomorrow when I get a phone call from the school asking for a monetary donation.

Packing/ Moving Home

While packing up my slightly less than organized room, I made a discover. Behold, my nail polish collection:

Yep, all pink. No, I'm not much of a girly girl, I'm just super predictable - apparently - when it comes to nail color.  I did find a few other Essie colors lying around, like turquoise and caicos (one of my faves), but I literally think I have about every shade of pink possible. #success.

I also found this mylar balloon that one of my teammates got me for senior night! I can't believe its been so long since then!

Thank you, Rachel!

Before leaving a snapped a couple pictures of campus (literally, while walking on my blackberry). I hope to get a few more before graduation because, with all the construction they're doing at our school, if I come back in 5 or 10 years, it could look completely different!

Happy Monday!

Reptileland!

Today my friend Taylor and I took a field trip to Clyde's Reptileland, just about 15 minutes down the road! I was expecting little glass windows with lizards - but this mini-zoo really exceeded my expectations!

These are the first creatures I saw:

A little bigger than your average lizard, considering the guy on the left is 600 pounds!

I didn't attempt to take many pictures of the snakes, frogs, etc through glass, but loved the butterfly garden. Also, Taylor and I bought Emu food and got one of the two emus to eat out of our hand! I'm thankful I had lots of quarters :)

Nom Nom Nom

And now, my favorite "reptiles":

Almost There!

I am officially one paper away from graduating from college! Only 8-10 single spaced pages stand between me and my diploma. And, although writing I just completed a 12-page (double spaced) paper for my English class, and I basically enjoy writing - I am trying to find the motivation to make some progress on my final final paper.

It's crazy to think how many papers, tests, exams, and presentations that I have done over the last four years...and it's all coming to an end. Some people are very emotional about graduating and leaving school, but I feel that I am ready to move onto a new chapter of my life. However, it is sad to say goodbye to some of my friends. One of my teammates left today, and I gave her a hug and said good bye ...but I couldn't say with certainty when I will see her again. It is only the first of many goodbyes, but I do hope that cellphones, facebook, email, etc. can help me keep in touch with my college friends over the year!

I feel that I learned a lot in college, and most of my knowledge came from relationships with other people rather than class assignments.

However, I did burn my arm today while making Mac n Cheese, so I guess I'm not a totally knowledgeable adult yet.

Interior Design at its Finest

I took a field trip to Baltimore with three other classmates and a professor on Saturday to visit the Walters Art Museum. It was about as interesting as a Medieval Art Exhibit can be, I suppose, but I did get excited about my job next year after the medieval audio tour (not any better than it sounds) was over. We got to eat at Potbelly's in the Inner Harbor of Baltimore, and I was excited to eat somewhere new, and my sandwich = delish. I enjoy visiting other cities, and really wanted to check out the national aquarium! Here's a couple pics I snapped:

Why Be Less when you can B-More?

The Potbelly's where we ate is in the bottom right corner of this pic!

You may think it's strange that I went on a field trip with only 4 students, since the class had 30+ kids in it and he taught two sections. Well that's because this was a make up trip. There were two other field trips before where everyone else managed to go to. Field trip option #1 = a Saturday in February when I had a basketball game. Field trip option #2 = the next Saturday in February where I had another basketball game. So yep, I had to go the last Saturday before classes end. Fun Times.

I was actually thankful for the lack of other students because buying lunch with a group of people is seriously a huge pain.  I'm also easily annoyed by people who can't sit in a car for like 15 minutes without their bladder exploding.  I remember once being that person who made everyone stop to pee. I was 7 years old and my family was driving from Iowa to Pennsylvania. I have since outgrown that phase. My family once drove from Pittsburgh to Chicago (an 8 hour ride) and I seriously think ALL SIX OF US only stopped once.

That's why, to this day, it baffles me why you would ever stop on a 3 hour ride unless you ran out of gas or saw Prince Harry of Wales with a flat tire on the side of the road. But, of course one of the other girls needed to.  I decided to use the bathroom of the gas station too, since all the cool kids were doing it.  In hindsight, I was glad that we stopped because of the interior design gem that I stumbled upon. THIS is how the bathroom was decorated:

It honestly looks like the Flower Fairy of the month of May puked all over the place.  This is one of my favorite interior spaces because if you would have done NOTHING the room would have looked A HELL OF A LOT BETTER (not to mention, less creepy). And you would have saved yourself from explaining to the cashier that, no, you were not throwing a 3 year old a princess party for 55 toddlers, but you actually thought these would be a nice addition to a restroom.

But seriously, isn't there a beautiful juxtaposition between this interior light up pink tree and the picture of the pink blossom trees I posted Friday? I thought so.