Car Conversation

Note: Hermione's real name starts with an "M"...

H: Back to good ol Manchester College!

C: Good ol MC...

-thinks for a moment-

C: Omigosh! We are MC!

H: What?

C: M and C! You and me! Our initials!

H: How did it take us three years to figure this out?

All My Best Bits

I spend a very good portion of my day procrastinating. My favorite way to procrastinate? 

Reading all my favorite blogs. 

Number 1 Addiction

Evil Beet Gossip

Personal Friends

Open Your Heart, Catch My Disease

The Bigelows

It's Just Life 

Live, Learn, Lead

People that Now Feel Like Personal Friends...

Kayla Aimie

My Life in Transition 

Liberty London Girl

Watts Up with Rhonda

Melissa's Greetings

Peony::Love

Peonies & Polaroids 

Kimbery Michelle

Petunia Face

Slice of Pink

Design/Art/Decorating

AKA Inspiration

Design Sponge 

Cupcakes and Cashmere 

Made By Girl

Feather 

I Suw Anne

The City Stage 

Decorno

Fun Things to Do

When you and your significant other are departing, and he's with his friends, yell out "I love you!" and watch the squirming commence. 

Now I'm mystified as to why they all react this way. He knows each of his friends has had girlfriends, and that they all said those three little words to each other, but Lord knows they don't want to acknowledge it in front of each other. 

Silly boys.

Disclaimer: This exercise is not to be used as a relationship test, it is purely for your own enjoyment. If said boyfriend only whispers it back or just laughs it off it doesn't mean anything more than he is a silly boy. 

Open Letter

Dear Roommate's Feet:

Please smell better.

Please.

Char

Bachelor Time Quotes

During the reunion:

"If I was Jillian I'd rape him backstage."

Conversations after the reunion about our house for next year:

C "Can we get a puppy??" 

H "Yeah we can get a pet... (C emits squeals of joy)

... Like a fish or something."

Hermione speaking about her dog at home, a big black lab that lives outside, and explaining why she wants a dog like him and not like my yappy ankle biters. 

"Timon and I are two peas in a pod I tell you."

Explaining what he does when he's allowed inside...

"He loves it so much he hides!"

Not a convincing argument to me, nope not at all...

Open Letter to Freshmen Girls on My Floor

To One of You:

It is ok to smile. It is also ok to eat. I have a sneaking suspicion that your apprehension to eat has a little something to do with your complete unwillingness to smile ever.

To Two of You:

 First. Turn the water off while you brush your teeth. While you straighten your hair. While you put in your bellybutton ring. Just anytime you are not directly engaged in using it. Did you sleep through all of third grade year? Let me sum it up, "Reduce, recycle, reuse!" "Don't waste water!"

 Second: I understand that you must use the sink on the far left to straighten and bow dry your hair as it is next to the only outlet (although needing two sinks to do such seems a bit excessive). What I don't understand is why you pile up your face wash, makeup, assortment of body rings, and cell phone (playing screamo of course) on the sinks on the right. There are SEVEN sinks. Why must you use two of the sinks on the left and three on the right? You really need five sinks to get ready in the morning? And at least one of them is always running water. You don't even need water to put in a belly ring! And why leave two in the middle? Why not just use five consecutive sinks? You, my freshman friend, are a mystery wrapped in an enigma!!

I would like to take this moment to announce that Hermione and I officially have a house for next year! Woohoo!!

Yeah Too Many Posts Today...

I so badly want to do this. So badly. Sooo badly that the BF should probably avoid taking me to any and all sports games...

The Story of Free Meals

In the last 3 days (Thurs, Fri, Sat) Hermione and I received three free meals and free drinks, all because of our extraordinary good looks. Well that's what we convinced her ex anyway...

Thursday, was Hannah (Abbott) and Katie's (Bell) 21st birthday! So of course Hermione, Hannah, and Katie, and I had to go to Hacienda! Once there, we met up with Hannah's boyfriend. We had a very good time, complete with sombreros, and enjoyed the first time that we could all sit in the bar area together! After we were done we realized that Hannah's boyfriend had picked up the tab. No arguments from us as you can imagine... That evening we set off for the bar in town where her boyfriend set up a tab for our table. As I was the DD, I just sat back and watched the craziness, but everyone else got free drinks!

Friday, Hermione and I went out for a girls night and as all of our girls nights include food and shopping, we went to TGI Fridays in the mall : ) We got a table and ordered our food and then we waited. And waited. And waited. For over 30 minutes. As our hunger induced crankiness started to rise Hermione quietly, and not at all seriously, declared that she wanted to see a manager, and suddenly, one appeared at our table! What? Did he hear us complaining? Would now be a good time to wish for a million dollars? Well, apparently they had brought our food to the wrong table and had to remake our meals. And guess what? He said he'd pay for our diner!

Saturday, my parents came and visited. That always means a free meal : )

All in all, a good weekend! And Hermione assumed that since as of Friday we had had two meals paid for by someone else, we deserved to spend a little money...

My purchases: Jeans, navy shorts, turquoise chiffon top > All F21, together totaling about $25

I love that store...

New running shoes from Footlocker! Regardless what anyone tells me I am a hard and fast Nike girl... Not so much a pink girl, but they were on sale, and come on, even if they are pink, those are cute shoes.

And that little white square my parents brought. It's a little garnet ring I bought in Prague (they're famous for their garnets) and Zales finally finished sizing it! There will be a whole post devoted to that ring soon enough. 

Weather.Com

Just checked the 10 Day Forecast and you know what I have to say?

Global warming can kiss my butt. I say we take a closer look at global cooling!

This post is just for you, BF. : )

Happy Sunday!

I'm so craving spring, but it just doesn't look like it's going to happen anytime soon... I'm wasting time right now until Hermione and I run out for lunch, I'm starving!

So I guess I will run through our weekend. Friday night we had a girls night, Hermione and Ron split up so we needed to return his BDay gifts. The guys at the golf store were very understanding, in fact they even guessed the circumstances behind the return, apparently two college girls in a golf store is not particularly normal... Either way we had a fantastic night and got another free meal! Which I will explain later : )

After that we attempted to go to the BDay party of a friend of ours, but the amount of people in his house was ridiculous, most of the people didn't even know who the birthday boy was so we left. Plus they were mostly freshmen who gave us dirty looks when we walked in so our visit lasted about 20 minutes. Freshmen ruin everything!

So we came back to our dorm and had a grading party and watched Pride and Prejudice. Which was way more fun than that party!

Yesterday my parents came up to see my sister perform at the BBall game (Dance Team). After that the BF and I rented Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist (which I loved!) and bought a chocolate cake to eat. All in all, a good night : )

Anyway, happy sunday to you all! And a very Happy Birthday to Ashley!

Please Check This Out

This website made me laugh so hard. I highly recommend it.

And if you are wondering how I found it, well, in a fit of frustration with the opposite sex I googled "Why is my boyfriend stupid." 

I apologize to his various family members that read this blog... If it makes you feel better the anger only lasted about 10 minutes and I am well aware that he is not at all stupid, but guys and girls just can't get along all the time. That would go against nature. 

Love you babe!! : )

That's All

Sometimes you just need to agree!

I Keep Hermione Around Because She Makes Me Laugh

Today at lunch in the union Hermione was telling me about when  Ron comes on vacation with her and her family to a cabin they rent every summer in Wisconsin. 

H- Well, honestly when he  comes he makes the whole trip fun (Aw, sweet! Wait for it...) He's just so hilarious whenever he tries to do anything outdoorsy!

C- Haha, well, Hermione, what happens when he gets good at that stuff?

H- Oh no, that won't happen. Trust me. 

And she said it with the straightest face I've ever seen, totally serious.

Last night we were watching the Bachelor in her room grading papers for the profs we work for (glimpse into our future perhaps?). Jillian got kicked off (totally

 didn't see that coming).

I look over at Hermione and her jaw is on the ground. She looks at me and says, 

"I'm shocked. Just shocked!"

It was fantastic.

Happy Valentine's Day!

The problem with a huge paper being due February 16th is that we all wait until the weekend before to do it, and February 14th is a day that the tv is swarmed with everyone's favorite romantic movies. Right now I'm watching Love Actually, one of my favorites. 

Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport. General opinion's starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don't see that. It seems to me that love is everywhere. Often, it's not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it's always there - fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends. When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know, none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge - they were all messages of love. If you look for it, I've got a sneaking suspicion... love actually is all around. 

The funny thing is, when our plane landed in Frankfurt, and Luna and I took off to get our bags, there was a little old man waiting right there next to the baggage claim. He was obviously looking for someone, and that someone was obviously not involved in our huge group of people. A young girl in her 20s with red hair and hippie clothes jumped out from behind our group and gave the older gentleman a big hug. He told his daughter, perhaps granddaughter, how much he had missed her and how happy he was to see her at last, it had just been too long. My first thought was Love Actually's opening lines. There is so much love in the world and we just don't see it, sometimes we just don't open our eyes and notice it, but it is all around. 

Whether it's family reuniting at an airport 

or if it's 16 year olds holding hands at the mall, 

20 somethings celebrating the birth of their first child, 

or ancient wrinkled love birds sitting in a park together it is certainly and blatantly everywhere, sometimes we are just too stubborn to see it, it's a choice we have to make, and I think it's the choice between optimism and pessimism. 

Happy Valentine's Day! 

Little Audrey Marie

Two years ago I was lucky enough to get to see Ashley and Andrew get married, (even if it may not have been the least stress-free situation in which to meet the BF's entire family for the very first time...) and I feel so fortunate that I was able to see their marriage culminate in something so beautiful!

 The BF and I went to go see this little bundle tonight and what a beautiful baby! I was so excited when the BF asked me to go visit with him. Babies generally make me nervous, I'm great with little kids, but babies I just don't know what to do with. Since Audrey was born though, I've been so pumped to meet her, and she didn't let down. Everything about her is so tiny and soft and perfect. Now it makes more sense to me why my friends are always cooing at babies when we walk past them in restaurants and stores : ) It's amazing to think that something so tiny turns in to a grown up one day.

Anyway, congratulations to the very happy little family! I know a thousand people have already told you this, (I heard three people say it tonight!) but you guys do great work! You made a beautiful little girl! Congratulations!

Also, kudos to me for holding my first newborn! Snaps for Char!

Forever 21 Never Fails Me

I want these boots so bad. Now.

Now, black or brown...?

*Update* Definitely brown...

This is Very Random

Going into my senior year of high school I was completely set on what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I was going to go to Purdue, major in Fashion Merchandising, spend my senior year in NYC at the Fashion Institute of Technology, and carry on with a career probably as a buyer for an upscale department store. Ya know, like Rachel did on Friends... But two high school teachers said things to me my senior year that completely changed everything. 

One day my spanish teacher (Mr. E., everyone's absolute favorite teacher) was talking to us about when he ran into an ex student of his, I think his name was Ben, and if it wasn't, it is now. Anyway, Ben was the big time manager at some store and when he saw 

Mr. E. he said something to the affect of, "Aren't you proud of me, I made it." Mr. E. then proceeded to tell us that, actually he wasn't at all proud of him. Ben wasn't doing anything to help people, he was just bossing people around, basically wasting his life. That stuck with me. Everyone wants to impress the cool teacher. Automatically I thought about all the times I had enthusiastically described to him how much I loved fashion, how I started sketching designs in 5th grade, and was so excited to spend a year at FIT. I was so worried, I was sure he thought I was a disappointment, a waste of his teaching skills. What does fashion do to help people?

After that I started to doubt things. I went and talked to my favorit

e teacher, everyone else's least favorite, Mrs. S. She was my history and english teacher and I absolutely loved her, she was such a genius and the first teacher who seemed to feel that my ending a sentence with a preposition didn't matter as long as it fit the situation. In fact, she seemed to like my preposition-ending sentences better than my friends' by the book "firstly, secondly, thirdly, and in conclusion" paragraphs. When I went to her she pointed me to history. She said I had a knack for it, and also brought up to me that a fashion career would lead me to a city and did I really want to raise children in a city? Hmm. For some reason it didn't strike me at the time at half of my town commuted the hour drive to Chicago everyday so I definitely would not have had to raise kids in the city, but regardless. Then Manchester started sending me money and they definitely didn't offer fashion merchandising, but their history department was stellar. 

Anyway, every time I feel lost or overwhelmed by my major and find myself pouring over runway pictures and putting together outfits to escape it all my mind starts to second guess my high school decisions... 

Friday night Hermione, Hannah, and I had a girls night. On the way home Hannah started confessing her fear that her choice of major just wasn't right for her and I happily commiserated with her. It was fantastic to know I wasn't the only one. Hermione on the other hand, when pressed, said she had absolutely no doubts, that it was her fate to teach math, no questions about it. Her certainty is something I've always been jealous of, I'm almost never certain of anything... But at least Hannah is in the same boat : )

Anyway, I have a feeling I'll be posting a lot of fashiony blogs this semester... It's the first week and it's already kicking my ass!

Yeah I'm Procrastinating Today. Can You Tell?

This picture of Taylor Swift and Miley Cyrus promoting their duet for the tonight's Grammy's make me sad. 

Miley Cyrus is t-r-o-u-b-l-e. Taylor Swift is not. She is a good girl, one of the few that are left. Boo to Miley Cyrus. I think this next picture perfectly illustrates my point. 

Stay away from her!!

This is What I Want to Wear Tomorrow

Accesorized smartly with...

Jewelry is by this fantastic Chicago based jewelry designer, Jess L.C., that I'm currently loving. Pictures link to her Web Site. 

All clothes by, you guessed it, Forever 21 : )

I'm Not at all Working on It...

I'm slowly trying to ease myself back in to Photo Shop. I learned in high school on a PC (pooh pooh) and so since my switch to all things Apple I have been unable to use it. Recently I purchased Photo Shop for Mac but I just haven't been able to muster the patience to delve back in. However today, due to severe procrastination, I discovered that they are reasonably similar! And so I share with you my first cleaned up picture!

Before

After

Just enough difference to make it worth it! 

Now I guess I should write my papers...

I'm Working On It

I'm really working on the Germany pictures thing, and one day I will in fact write down every little memory that's important to me (after all it is my blog) even if they aren't actually important or even interesting, but they will be written down on this blog. One day I will get to it. I promise. Really, I have to, because otherwise I will forget. I forget a lot of important things, I never forget the things that are important to me, but I have found that the things that are important to me generally do not carry the same value with others. For example, I loaded some of my favorite pictures of my trip to my Flickr account (the slideshow on the left will link to it). While they are certainly my favorite pictures, they are not others' favorites. They are too close up, many are taken looking directly into the sun, they don't give a good perspective of where I was. But they are exactly how I remember the trip. I remember getting as close as I could to everything and soaking in the details close up and I remember looking into the sun and seeing things mapped out in black against a brilliant light. I don't remember detail by detail what Old Town Square in Praha looked like, but I do remember looking up into the cloudy skies and seeing a beige and grey building towering over my head and feeling it. Feeling the beauty and the age of the city. 

The large cityscapes don't get me, but a close up of bright persimmon stucco does it for me every time. 

Anyway, just trust that in time I will get around to doing it all. In the meantime however I have 16 pages to right about my trip in order to receive credit for going on it... Wish me luck!