Fresh Start for Fall

Look at how far we've come! It's already the second day of fall. The leaves have started to turn colors, UW has been in session for three weeks already, tests are beginning to start, football has arrived, and better temperatures are descending. 

Fall also means Bid Day for Fraternity and Sorority Life here at UW! It was the weekend before last and I had the best time! I am so excited with our new Hooties, and I can't wait to see their faces more. Don't you just love how talented and crafty some of my sisters are? 

I love Autumn. It still has the warm days of summer and yet alludes to my favorite season of all, winter. I know I love winter, but I'm not ready for it yet. I however am super excited for the start of autumn. Warm colors come into play, I get to wear some of my favorite clothes, like riding boots and blazers. I get to bask in the sound of rain on the roof, and leaves crunching under my foot. Seriously that is one of the best feelings ever. 

With the start of fall comes the start of tests and presentations. I have a Spanish presentation later today! The most important thing that I have found is study in small increments as soon as you can so you aren't rushing the night before to get oodles of homework done. These weekend are some of the best of the year to go out and do things. Hunting season is upon us, and so descends the copious amounts of camo that is to be worn. 

I say get things done, do them early, so when you get a wake up call saying "hey wanna go paintballing with me and the guys?" You can go and don't have to stay up waaaaay past your bed time like I did last night getting homework done. Also, if you get that invite, totally go. It is so worth it for the spontaneous memories and great times. I ended up going to Saratoga after the football game (I'd never been!) and then paintballing the next morning. In my opinion it was a great weekend.

How was your weekend? Have classes gotten intense all of a sudden for you too?

P.S. Go get the flu shot. Seriously do it. I came down with whatever last week and was basically on my deathbed. My roommates were worried sick. And missing class was awful. You don't want that to happen, and they offer them on campus. My tip of the day!

Move In

After finishing the last two weeks of summer, I was super excited to come back to school. I don't know why but the feeling of how good this semester is going to be just seems to be contagious. It's having a schedule, seeing friends again, seeing Laramie bustling full of students all eager (or maybe not so eager) to start again. 

I had the best Labor Day weekend. It was full of many BBQ's and catching up with old friends. Right now the band is playing outside of my window getting ready for the Air Force game this weekend, and in honor of that it's honoring our military. Very patriotic. I only hope we don't get rained on quite as much as last weekend.

 I really applaud UW for the pep rally. Craig Morgan was amazing and he really catered to the crowd. I didn't realize that his whole band was full of local Wyomingites... and one Coloradan. Highlight of that was probably one of the girls I was with, a Chi Omega Sister, was pulled up on stage with him!

This weekend is also looking great. At 8:30 Thursday night the Country Swing Club is meeting upstairs in the Union, probably my favorite event all week. Lots of people just getting together to learn how to swing dance and a couple of line dances. Seriously makes my day. I also love going to the Cowboy for their 18+ Swing dance night on Wednesdays, however the first two to three weeks it's always so packed that barely any dancing happens, I end up waiting a few weeks to have a much better time. 

Friday Night Fever Kicks off the start of school with their weekly movie, this time it's going to be Captain America: The Winter Soldier. They are holding the annual Casino Night in the Union. My freshmen year I was a little too gun shy to actually enjoy it. I am taking full advantage of the free entertainment this year and I will be one of the dealers at the tables. 

Volleyball has a packed weekend and I hope to catch one of their three matches this weekend. Friday at 12pm and 7pm, and Saturday at 12pm. Football will be amazing, I hope we are as packed as last weekend was, check out the UW picture to the right! Kickoff against Air Force is at 8:15 and  a little birdie told me that the band has a special surprise planned!

Now I need to finish organizing my closet... I swear I just find more things that magically appear each time I move! Hope move in went well for everyone this past weekend!

Toxic Friendships

I'm going to jump right in, you know how sometimes you have one of those friends? Like the one who seems to constantly put your friendship down, or don't fit in with anybody you hang out with? Or maybe they just lead a different lifestyle that you aren't comfortable with anymore. Those friends are what I look at as toxic friendships. 

This is particularly easy to fall into when you are in college. Between trying to find what you want to do in life, participating in extra-curricular's, jobs, and having fun you end up meeting a lot of people. However, not all of the people we meet bring great meaning to our lives, and not all of them need to. Everyone should bring something to the friendship though, something positive. A great sense of humor, someone to talk about the deep things with, someone to go to lunch with, someone to make you remember to lighten up. These are great people in our lives, and we all have them, but we also have toxic friendships.

My toxic friendship is a really close friend actually. It's super sad because I know that she could be a great person one day and do things. Right now she's realizing that college is hard. Goodness is it, it doesn't come easy to everyone, and it is nothing like high school. Balancing being an adult, learning how to study, be somewhat responisble, and still knowing how to have fun? Its crazy. She hasn't learned how to balance that yet. Too much fun not enough study has lead to a really hard time, but no matter what she does she doesn't think any of it is her fault. Like any of it. She always has an excuse for why it turned out the way it did.

Now, I know that I've done that a bit but at some point you have to own up to your mistakes. The worst part? That isn't the worst part. She constantly tries to one up everyone around her, acts like she is better than everyone else, and she can be down right mean. I have one of my oldest friends who will come over to see me, and my toxic friend is often there (toxic friends seem to have a sticky tendency don't they?), and one day she confessed how often my toxic friend will act condescending to her. That isn't the only friend who has said something, and when it hurts people I care about it hurts me. 

I know that I need to distance myself from her, and I have. It's okay to have a toxic friendship, as long as you don't let it become toxic to you. You may be the only good friend in their life, but if they aren't good for you please don't keep them around. It'll only end up hurting you in the end. Eventually they will realize how they've been acting, and I hope they change. More often than not they fall into the same old patterns. The best thing is to be honest, and if that means they don't appreciate it in the end, it't their loss. 

My friends that I met through our toxic friend have all been saying the same thing lately. I go out to lunch with my guy friend, I'm babysitting our other friends cat soon, and today I went to the gym and lunch with a different friend from my toxic friend's group. We have great times together, and we are all so different it allows us to broaden each others horizons, I am so lucky to have them as friends. College is all about figuring out what we are doing with our lives, that includes who we want to keep in our lives. So, while toxic friends can be a drain sometimes they lead to other things like new friends, or wisdom on how to handle that situation. It's all a learning curve. 

Are there toxic friends you have had? Or do have? Situations they've put you into? I'd love to talk about it!

Summer Weddings

Is it just me or has this been the summer for weddings? I went to a few, and I know a ton more that have happened. It makes me just love love.

 For a really long time the idea of marriage made me cringe. I've seen so many fail, but I'd never met anyone our age that I really had faith in. That is until my sophomore year of college. Its probably because we are getting older and more mature. My favorite love story is probably my freshmen year RA and her now husband. They are absolutely amazing together, best friends who really do help each other in ways I can't even explain. They met in acting class and knew the instant they were paired together. You can see it in both. She adores him like the moon, and he worships the ground she walks on. They don't let the other go overboard either. Its beautiful, and she was always my friend but as the wedding got closer so did my relationship with him. I count both as friends now and I am so excited that they are finding jobs and living together now, starting their journey of married life. 

One of my biggest problems was trying to find something appropriate to wear, and a wedding present that I can still afford as a broke college kid. Summer weddings are so fun as they allow a bit more of a relaxed feel and you have more options. 

For clothes the most important thing to know is venue, don't wear overly dark clothes if you are going to be out in the sun for the wedding. Also if you know where it will take place you can also gauge what to wear. For instance you may not be religious, but if its a church wedding, having wider straps or even covering your shoulders is respectful, especially to some of the older family members who are coming. Here are some of my favorite picks: 

I went for two ends of the spectrum on price but they both give a wonderful example. 

The light blue can be dressed up with a cute hair do and some jewelry or left beautifully bare. Right now it's a steal for only $23.99!

The dark blue is also very light for a summer wedding, but the lace gives the appearance of sleeves maybe a bit more modest or elegant. This is very like my dress that I wore to a wedding this summer, however mine is several years old and I can't remember where I got if from, this is from J.Crew and is priced at $275.00 but would work well for many occasions. 

As for wedding gifts, I tend to go to places like Hobby Lobby or Michael which tend to have cute cheap crafts, or even pre-made if you're in a crunch! Also something for their new home is always welcome, you can find some great things in department stores. Here are two ideas that I used this year. 

The pillow is from Hobby Lobby, and towels are from Kohl's. I found some other his and hers for less at Kohl's but they weren't pictured together. I hope that this helps with summer weddings! I know of several more to come for August!

Did you have any great wedding outfit/gift ideas this summer?

Splurging, when it's worth it

This summer I have been all to reminded the the old college title 'broke college student' really does apply. Some times its so hard to remember that even if it isn't a normal semester, we still need to budget. I have been particularly bad about this. Bath and Body Works semi-annual sale killed me. It seems like such a good price! But those good prices add up. 

I think my favorite thing about growing up and becoming an adult is the clothes. I don't mean that I just love to go shopping for adult clothes (because I mean I totally do, half my wardrobe is ready for an office), but that now we don't always need a whole new wardrobe for the incoming school year. New tennis shoes if the old ones wear out, and maybe one or two statement pieces. However school supplies always seem to disappear, I swear my mechanical pencils just run away!

Trying to keep in mind a summer budget, and the fact that I don't actually need to go out and buy clothes I gave in to a small splurge. It wasn't bad and unlike after the whole Bath and Body Works shopping spree I didn't have any guilt. My splurge? A Lilly Pulitzer Agenda. The 18 month agenda is literally going to be my lifeblood, especially if I do end up going to Spain in the spring! Normally I get the cheap flimsy school planners, which end up falling apart about halfway through the year. Which. I. Hate.

I ordered through Pea Pod Paper and Gifts, simply because they are amazing and I love their products. I was so excited to finally be able to order something from them after drooling for the last year or so. The monogram was only an extra seven dollars I believe, which I debated on but I just love it and it makes it a bit more personal. I can't tell you how excited I was to start using it this week! The larger size is wonderful, and I just love the print, which reminds me of my Chi Omega house flower. 

This was probably the last splurge I'm going to do for a while. With me trying to keep my grades up (straight A's hopefully I'm crossing my fingers!), I'm probably not going to be working this fall which I'm coming to terms with it being okay. The fact is we have to realize what is going to be an investment and will be worth the splurge, and what is just a here and now want that wont end up helping in the long run. 

What was your latest splurge? Do you have great budget tips? 

Summer Classes

Hey y'all,

I'm just finishing up my last summer class, successfully I am excited to say. I was warned that summer classes took up a lot of time and that they were harder than normal. Those statements only rang too true. I have to say while I was extremely busy, it was totally worth it. I can't tell you how nice it was to be able to cruise through these classes in 4-8 weeks instead of the regular semester schedule. It also meant that I got to enjoy Laramie in the summer (which makes it so worth the freezing winters!) and basically live off of McAlister's Sweet Tea. 

 I had one class that I just adored, I learned so much, I enjoyed our discussions, I made a good friend and I still want to learn more about the topic. That class easily could have gone on all summer or for the whole semester in the fall easily, the fun part was I saw my classmates every day and it was a small class so we grew to learn a lot about each other and grew closer together. 

I also had one class I loathed. Seriously even when I was in Chemistry my freshmen year I don't think I hated the class so much, (and we really did hate each other Chem and I, it was a mutual understanding and a huge sign in my life that medicine was not for me). I learned a ton in the class, and broadened my horizons. It was an online class so that might have been part of it because we didn't have actual discussions. While I didn't enjoy the class, disagreed with the authors we read, and became frustrated at times, it was also so intensive that I really had to think about what was going on. That class really showed me that hard work even if its not enjoyable, really does pay off.

Looking back I'd probably only take one or two classes instead of three and have a bit more free time to work or go enjoy myself. Not saying that I didn't, but I was really busy and didn't knock off everything on my summer bucket list. The great news is that there is still a whole month left of summer to do all the things I wanted, now lets see if I keep up the motivation to accomplish everything.

I understand that summer classes may not be for everyone, however I really enjoyed the experience and will probably end up taking more. 

Would you ever take summer classes or have you?

Downton Abbey

I know that I binge watching TV shows is about the only way I do it any more. After moving into the new house for the summer, the fact that classes haven't started, and still being on a job hunt, I've had a lot of free time in the evenings. Downton Abbey is probably the most addicting show I've seen in a very long time. 

I have a strange collection of shows that I like to watch, mostly a lot of BBC, hence why I stumbled upon Downton. I was turned on to it by a friend who watched all three seasons that were out when she was sick one week. That level of binge watching is pretty impressive, but oh so deserved with this show.

It follows a royal family back in the nineteen teen's, and their servants, who lead almost more interesting lives than the elites. It has everything you need good guys, bad guys, lovers, family feuds, a snarky grandmother (played by Maggie Smith no less), charming young men, debutantes, and a dog. The level of plots and subplots going on is astounding, but I guess it's needed with over 15 main characters. 

The best part? They seem to end every single episode with some kind of plot twist that makes you jump straight to the next episode without even allowing yourself to go get another cup of tea. I think that has to be one of my favorite things, no matter what is going on, someone has something that you can't wait to find out what's going to happen. I know that once I'm finally caught up, waiting a whole week for the next episode might kill me.

Are there any TV shows that you just can't stop watching recently?