Six days Later

Here I am again, blogging at 1:41 a.m. (Larisa, I think I’m giving new meaning to your “night blogging” philosophy…).

I didn’t intend to wait almost a full week before another post, but a lot can happen in six days! Recap:

–Stressing Out.
-Studying. Homework. Reading. Non-stop. Way too much time at this desk.
-Watching football.

To be specific, watching our Lions lose to those Wolverines, for the bagillionth time. Not the exciting study break I was looking for guys, c’mon now. (Did Morelli actually put his head through a wall?? I think we are all wondering….)

-Cleaning in preparation for my parent’s arrival (Tomorrow night!!!!).

Logic was absent in this task. Cleaning a college apartment on a Saturday morning, pre-going-out-to-Lulu’s night, and pre-Sunday laziness (more football watching) is really not effective. At all.

-Shopping at Target.
…..twice. I have some amazing aviators and red-pumps to show for it.

-Going out with ALL of my roommates for some drinks and dancing. Oh what a night. 🙂

Just for you, Larisa, I will mention that yes; I almost lost my phone. We won’t talk about that. Phone getting kicked around the dance floor all night: Unhappy me. Overall night: Fabulous.

-Taking the first of four 2-hour Essay tests, for a science-based class. Not nice PennState, see above reasons (i.e. stress, studying, 1:41 a.m.).

-Working.

Here I feel the need to mention that tonight I found a hidden treasure. Books on everything you ever wanted to know about Food; chemistry, cooking, restaurant operations, nutrient contents, baking, fruits & vegetables. Everything. I have finally found a purpose behind working in the library. Yes, these books are located on the 3rd Floor of Paterno, aka Business Library. Expect to see some book reviews very soon! 🙂

…and all of that finally brings me to 1:56 a.m. Six days later. It’s amazing to me that last week the thought of this simply stressed me out. And here I am, in the midst of the overlapping exams and assignments (and still needing to clean up). Surviving and relaxed.

Tomorrow night I get my cherry on top; Mom & Dad, welcome back to Happy Valley!

We’ve got so far to Go

Sitting here at 1:21 in the morning after a l-o-n-g day, this is all I can think:

We’ve come so far, but we’ve got so far to go.

And I will admit, I am also thinking this because it’s the title of the song thats playing right now as the “Hairspray” soundtrack tunes fill my room…

Today was just one of those days. No “breaks”, no pausing, no relaxing. Just going, going, going. Not that those days are the bad ones, they are just the ones where everything you have gotten yourself into hits you at once. It’s a head-on collision with classes, work, assignments, tests, quizzes, group meetings, computers crashing, and Life. Usually this equation adds up to stress, this day being no exception.

This is the life of a senior in college. Despite your number of classes, jobs, groups, etc. you find your routine; just as you have in every previous semester. The only difference, the big difference, is that on top of all these things you have “Next year” to think about.

Where are you going after you graduate? What do you want to do with your major? What programs will you be applying to? What does your resume look like next to those who will be competing with you? What are you doing now to get where you want to be?

Ehhhhh.

I guess this is the time in our lives where we really need to “have our shit together”. This is where we reflect on every class and job, thinking about what we learned or whether it will look like “valuable work experience”. This is when we start hoping that we did things right for the past 4 years.

It’s funny to think about what those past 4 years look like when they aren’t viewed as a transcript & resume….

To me, these four years will be immortalized by a ridiculous number of pictures, old textbooks, class notes that I’ve kept for whatever reason (which will probably never be looked at again), an abundance of useless “household” things I’ve accumulated after living in 5 different dorms/apartments, a wardrobe that changes at least twice a year (but is still full of the shirts that are only worn twice a year), and a collection of sweatpants and t-shirts sporting the PennState love.

I’m sure that list could go on for a while, but you get the “gist” of it.

I guess it just comes as a realization that this year will be stressful, it will go fast, and it will test my patience and sanity.

On the other end of the spectrum, it will treat me right. I have my roommates, my best friends, football, bar specials left and right, and of course the classic “weekends that start on Thursday”.

It’s a four year party, and we’re at the last call. Not going anywhere soon.

food & family

As an avid reader of (and hopefully future writer for) Kraft Food & Family magazine, I eagerly await the fresh new recipes, articles, and tasty treats featured in each new issue.

My interest in these mini-magazines started at home when my mom began receiving them in the mail. This was far before I had acquired my interest in food, nutrition, and cooking; the days of browsing colorful pictures of Kraft mac-n-cheese variations and dreaming of those Jell-o pudding pies. The days when all I knew about cooking was how to boil water… and of course add the butter, milk and cheese packet to those macaroni noodles. Also the days when recipes for innovative appetizers, simple lunch ideas, family dinners, and fresh new twists on classic deserts carried the magazine themselves.

Don’t get me wrong, this magazine is still full of all these things, and they’ve even expanded the wide array of what are labeled “Healthy Living” recipes. Yet, these staples tend to stand in the shadows of brand names for every ingredient, full page advertisements for crackers and pizza, and even two page spreads of “What’s New” on the market for brands that are now within the Kraft family.

For those who may not know, Kraft is the #1 food company in the United States. Somebody’s doing their job right! They’ve expanded to include Jacobs, Milka, Nabisco, Philadelphia (cream cheese anybody?), Oscar Meyer, and Post. (Source: Yahoo! Finance) Not that I wouldn’t brag if my company was #1 in the U.S., but when I’m looking for a fun new recipe to try and cook for my roommates sometime soon (yes, roomies, always thinking of you 😉 ) I don’t want to see a full page ad telling me how easy & delicious frozen pizza will be if I just heat it up!

Alright, Kraft…I can only be upset for so long. The truth is that even if the magazine inflated to 100 pages (with half of them being advertisements), but kept its heart of fabulous foods, healthy options, decadent deserts, quick-tips and up-with-the-times articles…I’m 100% content.

In the meantime, I’ll continue to fold in the corners of those irresistible recipes that I fully intend to cook for those lovely roommates of mine…soon…

Another wonderful resource that Kraft has set up is their website:
http://www.kraftfoods.com
Check this out! I can’t say enough good things about this site! You can search everything from 20-minute dinners to crafty seasonal deserts. You can set up your own “recipe box”, essentially “bookmarking” those dinners that you know you’ll make…someday. 🙂 Users can also rate recipes so you know which to try and which to pass-up, or maybe change-up to your own likings.

these boots are made for Walkin’

…or puddle Jumpin’. Depending on the boot. Yesterday I wore my new rain-boots, or “Wellies” as those good ol’ Brits call them, for the first time.

Let’s just say I’m a little behind the times. Or say that I did not adapt to the East coast weather very quickly. The first afternoon that it rained my freshman year, I looked out the window and thought:
“Well, it’s not a very far walk to my class, and I don’t feel like carrying an umbrella. I probably won’t get too wet.”
Funny thing about living in the desert; you have no idea what a real afternoon-rain is. Following a five-minute walk to class, I was soaked. And cold. And shocked. Yet another thing I had to learn (can we add this to the list? Football, check. Rain etiquette, pending check). I finally figured out that if the weather even suggests that it may rain, bring an umbrella. It took me a little bit longer to adjust to wearing shoes that are weather appropriate, and to the fact that after walking around campus, the bottoms of your jeans (or any form of pants for that matter) soak up a lot of water. It also took me even longer to adjust to the idea that it can rain for an entire day. Nonstop. Pouring. Rain. Oh, my.

That’s not how things happen in the desert. Hello, East Coast.

After countless days of not expecting the rain but getting it, bringing an umbrella but still being soaked from the shoulders down, wearing flip-flops and slipping left and right, stepping in puddles that I couldn’t see, looking out the window and not seeing the rain but walking outside and Whoa there it is, and sitting in buildings waiting for it to stop and then realizing that it’s just not going to….I have rain-boots.

I should probably mention that even after 3 years of all this business, I didn’t even buy these boots for myself. That’s how stubborn I am. I received them via the U.S. Postal service on my 21st birthday. They were a gift from my younger sister (I love you, Lauren!). She came up here for her spring break last year, and what do you know, it rained most of the time. She saw Emily’s rain-boots, wore them, loved them, even took pictures in them. We desert-folk aren’t quite used to this fashion statement. Maybe I’ll bring it back West and get it started.

I guess Lauren recognized that clearly I needed these rain-boots. Not only because of the plethora of reasons listed above, but also because this is one fashion-trend that I had to get my hands on. Thanks baby, you’re always looking out for me! 😉

110,078

110, 078: Number of people that filled the seats of Beaver Stadium Saturday night to watch the PennState Nittany Lions defeat Notre Dame!! It was the second largest crowd in Beaver Stadium history, and I was there.

Check This Out. We are…PennState baby! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ma8eNb-I9VE

Saturday marked a lot of “firsts”. First time attending a night-game at PennState. First ALL-STADIUM White Out (and ooooh, it was beautiful). First time standing for the entirity of every quarter (until that 4th one rolled around…dangit. In my defense, flip-flops are not appropriate footwear for standing endurance on metal bleachers, nope nope). First time attempting to sing the entire Alma Mater (it’s pretty long, who wrote that?). First time buying a bottle of water without having the cap removed (maybe students have stopped throwing water bottles? Agh, let’s hope so). And to that I should add, it was the First time that I’ve seen people in the stands selling water (yesssss, no more concession stand lines!). Nice job PennState, very much appreciated. 🙂

That could probably go on for a while, I’ll stop with that.

I did leave one “first” out. It was my First home game as a senior (whoa) in Beaver Stadium! Everything about that place amazes me. The size, the capacity, the crowd, and most importantly…the PennState PRIDE. I love it!
I also love when we sing “Hey Baby” before the start of the fourth quarter. That is somewhat unrelated, but I really like that song.

I’m still learning this whole football thing, but I must say, I’ve come a long way in 4 years. As a freshman, the only things I knew/understood about football included the following:

-Touchdowns are worth 6 points. Extra kick=extra point. Bringing the total to 7.

-When someone gets tackled with the ball, it’s time for another “down”.

-There are 4 “downs” before the ball goes to the next team.

-A yellow flag means somethin’s goin down. Or somebody messed up.

Yep, that’s it. Clearly, there was a lot to be learned. Thanks in large part to my dear friend Emily, and the patience of those around me, I now fully understand the game and most of it’s happenings (don’t worry, I won’t make another list of what I know now…that’s going a little too far). More importantly, I like watching football. Hmm, didn’t see that one coming. And I feel it is appropriate to add that thanks to Emily, once again, and Larisa, I am a huge Steelers fan. We had a little scare today when we were watching them play the Browns, where was Palomalu???? Don’t worry, we found him and his crazy hair. Whew.

I don’t own a terrible towel, maybe I should get on that.

Next on the schedule, Buffalo State. Saturday at noon. Let’s Go State!
(Why are we playing Buffalo State? I do not know.)

consequences of hat-wearing

In a not-so-rushed morning, I decided to unload the dishwasher, and then float around on the internet while eating my breakfast…instead of actually getting ready. Result: wearing a hat and not worrying about hair-doing.

Consequences of hat-wearing:

-spending all day avoiding awkward eye contact with 40,000 students walking around campus.

Usually this problem is solved by wearing sunglasses (you know…on the handful of days out of the year that PA is Sunny). However, this morning, my not-so-rushed self felt as though sunglasses and hat=too much coverage and looking incognito.

-overheating of the head

My job in the lab this morning consisted mainly of trekking around campus hanging up posters that will hopefully recruit people for our study. Fact: PSU is a large campus. Fact:It was around 80 degrees today. Fact: Heat is lost through the head.

All of this adding up to: very hot head. Thanks hat.

-not-so-nice new bus pass picture

Yes, I knew that today we would be receiving our new bus passes from CATA so that we can freely ride between the campus, downtown, and our apartments. I have one from last year; it expired. My logic was that I would not have to take a new bus-pass picture. I was incorrect.

New bus pass picture is not attractive. Not that these things ever are. Especially since this year’s was taken from a very strange angle seeing as how the camera-man and his system were set up on a ping-pong table. Classy Nittany Crossing. Very classy. And I’m wearing a hat. Enough said.

Alas, my decision to do that hat-thing today was not so successful. Taking a more optimistic approach; my face was safely guarded from the very strong UV rays that we experience here in Happy Valley. Right? ehhh.

3 weeks from today

The first countdown I started was during the Fall semester, freshman year. Approximately 8 weeks from the day my parents dropped me off, they were coming back to visit me as an official college student. Three years later, and three weeks from today…they’re comin’ back to the Valley. 🙂

Things that I have had a countdown for:

-Weeks/days until family visits

-Weeks/days until I see Alex

-Classes/exams until a semester ends

-Days until Grey’s Anatomy is on (yes, this is how we got through the weeks)

-Days until we turned 21

-Days of work left on jobs that didn’t tickle my fancy (YCC summer job anybody?)

…and the list goes on. Including anything and everything thatI’m excited for. Does it make the time come faster? No. Does it make me more excited for whatever is going to happen than I was to begin with? Probably not.

Where did I come up with this crazy countdown idea?? hmmmm.

On that note, 30 more minutes until I’m off my shift at the library. Very nice.

…and i’m confused

i have spent approximately 16 minutes thus far trying to figure out this blogging business.

things accomplished in these 16 minutes=

-changing my blog name and url to heatherdc (formerly hdiac, which I used because heatherc was taken…thought it would grow on me, but it didn’t…)

-signing in and out twice on accident.

-changing my template. But I think it’s back to the original one because it looks no different to me.

gah. lots of learning left to do.