Is that the sun I see?

I have a confession...I'm terrible at keeping my blog up to date. Between school and my bumpin social life (let's be real here...it's just school, there's no fooling you!) I've been a busy girl! Last weekend I went home to see my best friend before she went to Vegas for the weekend. Boy did I get a little crazy with the kitchen this weekend! I made petite lasagna one night, but the Pièce de résistance of the weekend was snickers-peanut butter cookies! Man they were delicious! It was a peanut butter cookie wrapped around a mini snickers; topped off with snickers pieces. They were about 10554542 calories, but they were well worth every good ol' lb.



Ignore my oddly shaped claw hand...I don't know why I felt the need to hold it like that



This weekend, I also did a lot of "soul searching" (as many 20 year olds will do when trying to map out their future). I've decided to become a single majored gal. I was once a double major, but I have said goodbye to English and have decided to only stick with History...I know, I'm a boring History nerd.

The pretty fountain in my backyard

I'm running out of topics, so instead of boring you with my ranting about something completely out of left field (speaking of which opening day for MLB in 3 days! I'm beyond excited). Have a great day lovelies! Enjoy the Sunshine and these picture that I took recently.



My puppy! Look how intent he looks, he was staring at my waiting for me to drop cookie chunks when I was baking over the weekend



I forgot to share with everyone a picture of the cabin I went to with my friend Brittany in Crescent City, CA. It was so cute and quaint



My little secret...

This weekend has been a time of relaxation for me. In the past couple of weeks, I've been feeling that I might drown in all that needs to be completed for school (homework, midterms, papers, and even finding roommates for an apartment next year-- boy was that stressful), coming home was just what the doctor ordered. It was wonderful to be able to come home, virtually homework free (with the exception of a wonderful book for my Lit. and Culture class that I needed to read)...so, when i turned on the TV, you can imagine to joyful squeal I let out to discover that it was a Harry Potter Weekend!!! Harry Potter is my equivalent to heroine for a druggie, I just can't get enough! I've been involved in a love affair with that spectacle wearing wizard since I was 10; given the chance, I would marry Daniel Radcliffe...don't judge.




How cute was he in the first movie?!



I'm gonna let my freak flag fly for about two minuets here and tell you all...it is my dream to go to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter! It's going to be part of my Honeymoon Extravaganza ( I proclaimed this to my family last night and they laughed at me...I'm completely serious, Adam Scott- my future husband- can surely afford to take me on an extravaganza.) Growing up, I was always that kid that wished they could go to Hogwarts in the worst way...shoot, I'm still that kid! Wouldn't Hogwarts me so much better than Jessup? Am I right or am I right??

I feel like I may cry after the last movie comes out. I haven't quite figured out if I'll cry because it is the last movie, or if I'll cry because it signifies the end of my childhood. I've literally grown up with Harry Potter (Emma Watson and I are the same age); the end of Harry Potter means the end of an era. I've gone from a child to an adult in the time span of the saga that is Harry Potter; I'll miss those days. I remember my mom coming home from the store with the newest book for me; I remember coming home from Church camp in the summer to see the new book propped up on my pillow, and I remember marking my calender for midnight movie premiers with my friends. And yes, I was that girl that watched the last movie and cried for Dobby and Hedwig (heck, I cried while reading the last book). Don't judge. I am in love with Harry Potter.

Now that I've shared this embarrassing little secret with you all, don't judge me dear readers!

Dobby! The cutest house elf this side of the pond

I'm back!! It's been way too long since the last time I was able to share my thoughts with you on this blog. So much has happened since I last wrote. Let me share a few:
-I think I may have lost a tiny chunk of my brain in the process of writing papers. Is there a signal that goes out to all teachers that tells them another one has made a paper due, so they must also have a paper due. I literally had a paper due everyday for two weeks, sometimes two a day. Ok...enough of my whining, I'm even getting annoyed with myself.
-Last weekend I went away with my good friend/old roommate Brittany to a cabin in Crescent City with some of her friends from Oregon. Man, it was beautiful. It was so nice to be surrounded by redwoods, to soak in a hot tub while the rain poured down, and looking out from the porch to the river. It was gorgeous. Of course, I gave my mom a scare because I went to Crescent City the day a tsunami hit the harbor there. She laughs because I called her and said, "mom, I know the tsunami destroyed the harbor, but I still have plans to go and I'll be safe."

On a more somber note, I can't help but stop and stare at the TV whenever I see footage from the earthquake and tsunami that devastated Japan. As humans, we sometimes forget the majesty of God and the dangers that Nature can bring. We see nature as something beautiful, and mostly peaceful; we forget that she can also cause the earth to shift on its axis. The power of nature is not something to mess with or forget about. My thoughts and my prayers go out to all those living in Japan, as well as those here that have family over there that may be missing or injured. I pray for a speedy recovery, but more importantly, I pray that we will bind ourselves together as a human race and help those in Japan recover and build up once again. There is nothing too small or too big that we can do as a nation; let's help our fellow man.

And the Oscar goes to...

This weekend I got to go home and just relax for a few days. Home is always the best remedy for a stressed out college student and I'm so thankful that I live close enough to school to be able to go home.

In addition to being around my family again, this weekend consisted of one word: Culture! I went to San Jose and got my ballet fix when I saw Swan Lake. Let me tell you, it was gorgeous! I was moved by the emotion behind the dancer's movements. I'm not going to lie, I did shed a tear at the end of the ballet. It was simply gorgeous and it made me wish I had stuck with ballet when I was young. It does give me hope for when I'm a rich old woman and I've become a patron to the arts in Seattle (yes, that is my plan and I fully intend to make it happen). As I've gotten older, my love of the arts (classical music, ballet, opera, etc.) has grown tremendously and I wish I didn't have to drive so far to be immersed in it. I seriously need to live in a place where I can get it whenever I want. I saw the ballet with my mom and it was a completely enjoyable afternoon.

Tonight was the Academy Awards and my brother and I had a little bet going with Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Picture; each category would give the winner a dollar. Let's just say I won three dollars. I was pretty proud of the fact that all but two of the categories I predicted were correct. There were some superb movies this year, The King's Speech and Black Swan being among them. (Check out the trailers below)

Tonight for our little party, I made pizza and an easy snack of popcorn with melted marshmallows. I love watching the Oscars year after year because movies hold a special place in my heart (as most of my friends know I almost always see all the movies that are in theaters).

This weekend home has been extremely relaxing and I can't wait till the next time I can return when I just need a break from it all.

Don't speak and forever hold your peace

Today I've decided to write something a little more politically charged, but still close to my heart. In America, it is nothing new that we have the freedom of Speech, as protected by our Bill of Rights. I'm all for free speech, however, it is when that speech becomes violent, or contains hate towards our government that I have a hard time with. It is OK to disagree with government; I actually encourage that speech, it is when that speech is filled with dripping disdain and language that can invoke violence that I can't stand.

Why am I suddenly moved to write about it on this forum? It is not only from the language that I head after the congresswoman from Arizona was shot, which has been replaying over and over in my head and on national news media, it also stems from some comments I heard in class today about our president.

Today in class we were discussing the end times and the anti-christ when a girl behind me proclaimed to the class that President Obama is "the anti-christ". There was no joking tones or laughter to signify that it was all a jest, this girl was completely serious. It is speech like this that promotes hatred.

I am not an Obama supporter by any means, although there has been a few instances in which he has surprised me and I have agreed on some of his actions, and I am in fact a card-carrying conservative. I did not vote for this man; quite the opposite actually (I worked on John McCain's campaign), but when I hear speech towards the leader of our nation that is filled with so much slander and hate, it makes me sick.

I believe that in America, there is no place for language that puts down our politicians and causes a rift between political parties. What does hateful language solve? Instead of focusing on real issues and solutions, when there is unproductive language, America gets distracted with the rhetoric.

I'm not an activist, and I don't pretend to be a seasoned politician or political analyst, what I WILL be though is a concerned American that is extremely sickened by the political rhetoric in this nation from all sides of the political spectrum.

A day that will live in infamy

So ladies and gents, yesterday was Valentine's Day. The one day of the year when boys can act like total saps and not be punched in the gut by their friends, and girls can complain all they want about being single. What is it about that day that makes the air just seem like it carries more life and excitement (it rained yesterday so apparently the excitement levels weren't very high)?

I woke up that morning with a slight headache, caused from too much love in the air (haven't you ever heard that when there is too much love in the air oxygen levels decrease? no, I made that up? bummer...) or from my serious lack of caffeine (I've mentioned that I'm addicted to tea). Anyways, I climbed out of bed and got dressed, knowing full well that I would be faced with an amount of sugary, nauseating love equivalent to a fat kid's banana split. I'm all for love, don't get me wrong, but I was in the category of the girls that complain about being single on Valentine's Day.

Being single this year on V-Day, and not having any prospective suitors (look at me, I sound like I popped out of a Jane Austen novel...oh if only....the things I would do to Mr. Darcy....awkward...) was actually ok; I realized that as the day went on (and trust me, it didn't start out that well). I spent the evening moving into a different dorm room (out of a triple and into a double) and had a great time just talking and laughing with my fellow single ladies (Que annoying Beyonce music).



Hey, a girls gotta do what a girls gotta do to get some lovin! you go girl!

 While some of you were out with your sweethearts (or in the case of my roommate having an awkward run-in with an ex that came to her room while she had another boy in the room with her...) I was doing several things:

1)drinking milk out of a plastic champagne glass...yeah I'm that classy. It would have been classier if the bottom didn't keep falling off
2)singing "Ice, Ice Baby to my friends" (be jealous)
3)avoiding homework

So lovelies, how was your valentine's day? did you do anything fun with your sweetheart? Just because the calender progressed doesn't mean we have to stop sharing the love! keep those oxygen levels down people, I'll suffer in the name of love!

Mondays

What is it about Monday mornings that make me want to stay in bed forever; when dragging (or falling) myself out of bed takes a half hour.  Monday mornings are the days of the week when I lay there and stare at the ceiling or the clock and contemplate: "do I really need to be in class today?". I do my best thinking when I'm rolled up in my sheets, as I wiggle my toes and stretch my arms. Side note...does anybody ever have that horrible moment when their sheets are wrapped around their body like a boa constrictor and you panic thinking you are going to strangle to death? Or is that only one of my many fears coming alive and so I am the only one to experience this? Anyways, back to the topic at hand... I have history classes in the morning and let's face it, that subject isn't changing anytime soon. But, like a good student (who skipped way too many classes when she first started out in college) I always get up and get ready for class.

What is it about Mondays that make me feel so lethargic? I know it comes around every week, so why don't I prepare myself for it better? There never seems to be enough time on the weekends to do all I plan to do. Why does the hourglass of the world run out of sand so quickly on the weekends? Do I dread Mondays (Monday mornings in particular) because they signal the long week ahead? Probably so. But I think I dread Monday mornings because it means that it's the start to all that I vowed would change, the promises I made to myself while I did the inevitable soul searching over the weekend (of which I quickly forget about come Wednesday).

This afternoon, to try and get over my Monday slump, I took a nice long walk. I measure my time spent walking or running in songs (does anybody else do this?). So, I walked for an entire Andrew Belle album and Pete Yorn album. I love being outside and just relaxing in all that has been given to us by our creator. One of the things I've noticed about this modern world in which we live is that we seldom walk places and enjoy the world in which we live. So often, we are in such a rush to get from place to place that we never appreciate our natural surroundings. I vow (and I'll try not to forget come Wednesday) to take time out of each day to walk outside and appreciate the world.

This really has nothing to do with this post, but it's my favorite (or one of my many favorites) paintings by Edgar Degas and it made me smile today.

PS. I'm totally crushing on Madeleine Peyroux right now, she is so mellow. If you like jazz, you'll like her.  Check her out