All Hail the Garage Sale!

Sometimes money is tight at a point when you wish it really wasn't, but you just have to keep carrying on. You end up giving up the things you really want and settle for only what you need.

And other times, decor shops like Twigs go out of business and the proprietor decides to donate the remainder of his merchandise to my church garage sale, and you buy $25 worth of fall decorations and apartment apparel.

Two pumpkins, 6 place mats, a (heavy) paper towel rack, and a decorative plate.

Another decorative plate, filled with pretty pine cones and several, soon-to-be-opened, autumn leaves.

4 matching coffee cups (a must!)

6 glass cups (with little ducks frosted on the sides), 2 Halloween pumpkin lumineres (orange and black), and 2 pine cone mugs.

Let's just say, I'm a happy camper.

Shout out to Camille Fittell!! You've spread your Ziploc illness.

The B-word.

Okay, get ready readers, because I'm about to go on a rant.

So I'm doing an after hours shift tonight at Bath and Body Works (the one with the soaps, not Bed Bath and Beyond...very different), and these punk little jerks walk by the store and yell

"YEP, LOOK AT THEM WORKIN BITCHEZ!!!! HAHAHA!"

Um, EXCUUUUUUUSE me?! What did you call me? Get ready, because I'm about to beat you up.
...is what I wanted to say. However, I'm almost 20 now, and I should act like it.

So tomorrow I'm going into Hollister/ Abercrombie/ where ever those stupid boys must have been working, ask for their manager, and report them/ complain.

Suck on that!!! AYEYEYEYEYEYEE!

It is absolutely unacceptable to speak that way to a woman, especially someone you don't even know.
I know that in reality, my petty revenge is unnecessary because this situation is out of my hands, but still. I will not accept that or allow it to happen to me. Not now, not ever.

And you should all do that same.

I Love My Job!

I mean, where else can you buy a Mint Chocolate Chip air freshener in the shape of a hedgehog? Where?

Adorable.

My Love Affair

Don't worry, Mom, this won't be anything racy. ;)

If you know anything about me at all, then you know that I love my college. No, wait, that doesn't quite explain it. A lot of people love their colleges. I think it's more descriptive to say that I'm in love with my college. Seriously. If Kansas University was a boy, and he was single (which he probably wouldn't be) I would drop everything in my life and marry him this very second. That's how in love it with I am.

It was a very instantaneous love, almost a love at first sight (or first sign, if you will).
The moment: Move-in day, August 2009.
I was driving on my way up to Lawrence, parents traveling far, far behind me with the majority of my dorm equipment. Overcome with the length of the drive (which has now become almost second nature to me), I called up my good friend and partner in crime, Elizabeth Najim, who had moved into her own dorm room just days before I did. We giggled, as we usually do, about our lives and she gave me a few stories about what her past week had entailed. I was already excited about going to college, and her friendly voice only made me more anxious to get there. A midst our banter, I noticed a destination sign to my right, reading:

Lawrence: 17 miles

The glaze which had been covering my eyes for the last hour of the 2 and a 1/2 hour trip was instantly gone. Out of no where I was overcome with excitement. I almost felt flustered, and I don't have a clear explanation as to why. I suppose it was due to the thought of you're almost there, you can make it, your independence is eminent, only 17 more miles. To this day, whenever I pass that sign, I get the same feeling inside. It reminds me of the just how in love I am.

My favorite campus sculpture, in front of Lippincott Hall
Credited to Abby Davis

I'm not sure I can ever truly explain what it is that I like so much about KU. I mean, The campus is beautiful, at all times of the year, no less. The history is engulfing; there is an amazing feeling of being preceded by so many great people and so many great accomplishments. The education I'm getting is excellent. It's never a boring place to be. The town of Lawrence has a wonderful amount of charm, so much so that I have considered living there after graduation. The people I've met are incredible, effecting me in ways that I will probably never fully understand or be able to reciprocate. All of these things are great, and combined they are even greater, but they don't define my love for the school.

I guess there is only one way I can describe it: I am exactly where I am meant to be.

Can you think of the last time you've ever felt that way?

I visited a friend's college a while back, a college which I had considered switching to in order to be with her. Her college was spectacular. It was beautiful and grand and very very historic, but none of this couldn't compare to the feeling I got on my morning walk to class, the day I returned home from that very trip. I was fitting into the exact hole reserved for me in the universe, and there is no better feeling than that.

But what can I say, I'm a woman in love.

ROCK CHALK!

Ranting on: Motivation

I would consider myself somewhat of a driven person. I have goals. I have standards. I have routine (most of the time). I definitely don't settle, or if I do I find myself feeling extremely guilty for not meeting my previous "nose-in-the-air" type of requirements.

Does this make me snoody? Probably.
But I'd rather be considered as a snoody person; that annoying little voice in the back of your head asking you "What would your mother say about this," than to be considered a slacker.

I don't have patience for slackers. I don't have enough energy to sit a listen to someone explain why they can't do something. Obviously, they can, they just aren't trying hard enough. I don't have enough time in my day to hear your sob story on why things aren't working out for you. I'm so sorry, try harder.

(Before anyone gets in a theological debate with me, let me say this: I'm not really discussing those in poverty or those in Haiti/ Japan/ other natural disaster areas. That is a whole other discussion. I'm talking about the people who have opportunities, and they squander them. The people who, like me, have several doors open for them. Maybe not all of the doors they want, but some, to say the least.)

Compared to some, I have led a privileged life. I have had to wonderful opportunity of attending a college that I love and that loves me back. I have parents who, if it came right down to it, would drop everything and help me out (emotionally, financially, yada yada yada). I have friends who support me and care for me.

I realize not everyone has this, but so what? I didn't always have these things. I made these things. Plenty of extremely successful people didn't have these things during their journey. I just can't see how some people can use "slacker" as their excuse. "Oh the world just isn't working out for me, I can't do anything about it, so I'm going to waste all of my opportunities because I can, *whine whine whine*."

It is for this (and many other reasons) that I want to become a teacher. I want to kick that stubbornness out of people and show them that they CAN do things far out the zone of their expectations. I never want to hear from someone, especially any of you reading my blog, that you can't do something. Yes you can. You might not know how or what you can do to get there, but your goal can be accomplished.

It's hard work, my friends, but life is hard work. DON'T sit back and allow yourself to settle. You should have a goal, and you should be working everyday to see that that goal is met. I know that I am, and if I can do it, then everyone can do it.

Don't settle.