In My Cocoon

"Holy shit, Sydney!"

"This seems like a major fire hazard."

"Wow. You really did the most, didn't you?"

These are just a few of the things my friends and floor mates say as they enter my dorm room.

"Only 50% of the walls may be covered." LOL like I follow the NU Residential Services rules...

My friend Matt described it best when we said, "Your room is like watching a video of an Anthropologie and an Urban Outfitters have sex." Yeah, he's probably right.

The second question is always, "How long did it take you to hang everything up?". Well, it took about two months to get everything finalized in total. Some say that was a waste of tape (read: money used on tape). Some say that was a waste of time and energy. I respectfully disagree.

You see, school is hard as it is. I am out of my room for most of the day whether I'm running to class or the psych lab or meetings or the library. At the end of the day when I step foot into my room, a wave of serenity sweeps me off of my feet, and gently lays me into my bed. When life is stressful, you need to surround yourself with the people, places, and things you love. And that's exactly what I've done. 

There are way too many stories associated with that bowling pin.

Before I came to school this year, I spent hours compiling, designing, and printing out 77 of my favorite quotes of all time. Yeah, I'm a quote junkie. Some are funny, some are serious, and some are philosophical. All 77 are now attached to my wall, providing me with constant reminders of happiness and inspiration as I trudge through my days.

Darren holds letters and cards from friends and family.

It's funny how looking at something can give instant inspiration. That's how I feel whenever I'm in my room. A week ago, I was working on a difficult lab write-up, felt discouraged, and exhausted. As I was sitting at my desk, I simply looked up and felt the energy seep into me to power through. Yeah, I know. Cheesy as hell, right? You see that painting surrounded by all the quotes and pictures below?

Right above my desk.

This painting means the world to me. My mom and I made it this past summer by exploding paint-filled balloons with darts attached to the canvas. The meaning behind this painting is more than most will know, but that's the beauty of it. My mom, my best friend, inspired me to follow my dreams and to be the absolute best version of myself possible. And every time I feel discouraged, I just look up.

Or, I listen to The Byrds or Hawaiian music to remind me of what an inspiration my dad is. Seeing his picture in various forms on my wall, I think about how hard he works to make a living for my family. Whenever I feel like I want to give up, I just remind myself of hard he works to be able to give me such a wonderful education. Plus, listening to the Hawaiian music makes me feel like I'm not in -40 degree weather, which is always a bonus...

And if I am ever suffering from severe cabin fever, I can always go on spontaneous 1a.m. adventures with these two goofballs. <3

Allie.

Sarah.

As for right now, I'm going to stay under this heated blanket, do some reading for Buddhist Psychology, and admire the temporary serenity that surrounds me.

My current view.

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"Gate gate paragate parasamgate bodhi svaha."

Like a Walking Sleeping Bag

I have never felt this cold in life. It is literally -26 degrees outside right now and I can feel it in my bones. My whole life, I always thought it would be worse to be extremely hot than to be extremely cold. After having endured this weather walking to class, I am not-so-happy to say that I have changed my mind. I would take the fiery pits of Satan's seventh layer of Hell over this frozen wasteland.

I can't feel my face.

I guess one nice thing about the severe cold is I get to wear my warm, fuzzy earmuffs. In combination with my headphones, the earmuffs insulate the sound and make my music somehow sound infinitely better. About a week ago, I was walking to my Anthropology class which is HELLA far away, and bumped some jams to distract myself from the impending frostbite.

Have you ever had those times where you think that the "Shuffle" option on your iPod is reading your mind? That's exactly what it was like. Strolling across Sheridan, the best three-song playlist played through my headphones and banished my winter blues (at least temporarily). Here was the mix:

"Love is Easy" by The Mowgli's

Listening to this song made me feel like I was sitting on Baker Beach, basking in the sun, thinking about love and life. Then I realized I look like the freakin' Michelin man and am thousands of miles away from the nearest beach. 

"Hold On When You Get Love and Let Go When You Give It" by Stars

I don't know what to say about this song. I've been in love with it ever since the day it was released. The bass line just physically wraps itself around my heart. I love it so much.

"Don't Look Back" by She & Him

If you're not already aware, I'm obsessed with Zooey Deschanel. It's funny because I was actually obsessed with She & Him before Zooey, and now I'm just mega obsessed with it all. This song is so inspirational and fabulous. If you just went through a break-up, you need to listen to this song on repeat. Do it. Who needs boys when you can have music, any way?

Also, if you haven't noticed, on the side bar under "Jammin' Tuneskies", I update my favorite songs of the moment every time I write a new blog post. If you want some new jams, take a listen to those songs. 

I realize I haven't written in a while. Bare with me-- this past weekend/week has been the bane of my existence...and the next two weeks I'm not going to function as a human being between Big/Little week, midterms, papers, and projects, but I will blog more, I promise. I need to record all the memories in this crazy, frozen life of mine!

If you go to school with me, please bundle up. Frostbite is actually a legitimate concern and a very dangerous reality. If you go to a school that was given a snow day for tomorrow, I actually hate you.

Here's to the prospect of going somewhere warm for Spring Break. 

Notable Observations

Today, I kind of had an "off" day. I don't know what it was. It was just one of those days where I'm hyper-sensitive to anything and everything and the most random things can put me in a bad mood. So, here are some things (both good and bad) that I noticed from today:

1) Too many girls today speak with their mouth full of food.

I mean, is it honestly that hard to chew, swallow, and THEN speak?! It seems to me that it should be a pretty basic life skill, but maybe that's not true for everyone.

2) Boys are actually the worst.

I've been talking to a bunch of my best female friends lately and they all seem to have some sort of guy conflict. And recently I have been haunted by a man of my past only to once again realize how awful he was. Now, guys as friends? The best. This weekend I hung out with some of my best guy friends every day. I cuddled with Travis and watched New Girl (purely platonically, of course), consumed froyo with Nick, celebrated Vassilis's 20th birthday by eating my weight in Flattop, and had wonderful heart-to-heart conversations with my Pledge Hubby Kevin. Guy friends are the best. But the instant they move from friend to something more, all hell breaks loose. I'm just happy to have guy friends right now. I'll worry about having a boyfriend 5-10 years from now once boys learn to mature romantically. Sheesh.

3) I actually have an addiction to Starbucks.

I mean, this one is fairly obvious. I have to have Starbucks at least one a day, every day. I can't stop. I won't stop. Thank god I have Starbucks gift cards or else I would be legitimately broke.

4) Some people are just blatantly rude for no reason and I don't understand why.

I ran to CVS today to stock up on food, toiletries, and such, and the people who work there (for the most part) are just rude and lazy. For example, the line for checking out was super long because only one person was working the register. There was an employee just standing around, doing nothing. Another employee kindly asked her if she could help out at the register and she didn't respond. A man in line behind me jokingly said "Naw, she doesn't wanna do that." as a way to poke fun at the situation, and the employee gave him the nastiest look and eye roll I think I've ever seen. It was actually horrifying. The man was obviously just trying to make light of the situation, and this lazy employee just threw shade. Why must people be so hostile so often?

5) My favorite boutique is going out of business. 

If you know me, you know I love rings, long, Bohemian earrings, and long vintage-inspired necklaces. As I walked to CVS, I saw a horrible sign that read "Store Closing" in the window, felt my heart crack a little, and then ventured in for what will probably be the last time ever. On the bright side, I found a beautiful, long necklace with a vintage, hand-painted thread spool on the end. And it was 30% off. I also found a wooden-carved "helping hand" necklace that I can't stop thinking about and might go back to get because I loved it so much. Rest In Peace, Asinamali.

6) I love my Buddhist Psychology and Intro to Critical Theory Philosophy classes so much.

While they're both extremely challenging and are definitely my hardest classes this quarter, I'm absolutely in love with them. The required meditation for Buddhist Psych is fantastic and learning about Buddhist traditions is awesome, too. And so far we've only read Marx in my philosophy class, but I really love it. I'm in no way a Communist, or even a Socialist, but I definitely think that Marx makes a lot of fantastic points and theories. Also, his writing is beautiful, so that's a plus.

7) I was offered an interview for a summer internship!

Yesterday, I applied for 30 summer internships, all in either Marketing, Advertising, or Social Media for companies, since that is the career path I am currently interested in. A couple of hours after submitting my resume to all of these positions, I received an email from the Vice President of SocialColumbus.com offering me an interview for an internship position for this summer! I'm so excited and I really hope it works out!

8) I love my Pledge Mom and Pledge Grandma (Read: Big and Grandbig) so much.

There isn't much explanation to this. They're just the best and I love them. 

Crazy always wins.

9) I love my two closest friends, Allie and Sarah so much, too.

Sarah is my roommate (*Roomz), and Allie is basically my roommate too considering the amount of time we spend together. They're there for me on the good days, on the bad days, and on all the days in between. They understand me, they comfort me, and most importantly, they laugh with me. They understand my quirks and love me regardless. They are the best friends I could ever ask for and I love them so much. I can't wait until senior year when we'll all be living in a kick ass apartment together creating even more memories to add to current thousands.

10) I miss my family like crazy.

My nephew Sammy turns one tomorrow (I guess technically today since it's so late now). On Sunday, I FaceTimed into his birthday party to see him open my present to him (a hand sewn pair of moose pj pants and a stuffed fox from Paper Source at Easton). While FaceTiming, I saw my puppy Elliott and wanted to hug him so badly. I saw my niece Maya and my sister and my mom and my brother Sam and sister-in-law Kalli and I missed them all so much. (I didn't see my dad on FaceTime because he is currently doing an academic program at Harvard Medical School, but I miss him so much, as well). My mom and sister recently both sent me adorable cards just because and it made me want to see them even more. I can't wait to go home for a long weekend in a couple of weeks. I love college, but family is the most important thing to me, and I miss them.

Moose pants made by Auntie Syd during the Polar Vortex.

Alright, the sap story is over. These are my observations/rantings/musings from today and this weekend as a whole. I'm gonna go collapse now and get a whopping six hours of sleep before waking up, working out, and studying for the rest of the day. 

Peace out.

Nope, Not Dead.

Hey, hey, HEY! Whaddup casual readers of this blog? Guess what?!

I'M NOT DEAD.

Remember how I said I was going to update this blog at least every couple of days? Well, I still promise to do that, but the past two weeks have been cray cray. Between the Polar Vortex canceling my flights back to campus three separate times, knocking out the power in our house for five hours and sufficiently freezing me to the core, that was enough to prevent me from writing a new blog post.

This is the inside of my window at home. It was THAT cold last Monday. 

Yeah, there was ice on the inside of the window. Awesome.

And this is the view outside of my dorm room. #Chiberia

BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE!

I was lucky to get on one of two flights leaving Columbus for Chicago the Tuesday we were given a snow day. After arriving to campus, I had to lug 90 pounds of luggage from the taxi to my dorm, then thawed for the next couple of days. THEN, recruitment began. Oh, did it begin, I say.

The best pledge family ever. I definitely wouldn't have survived without them.

Now, don't get me wrong. I LOVE my sorority so much. Joining it was one of the best decisions I've made in my life. I do not love recruitment, however. I think the process is rewarding in the end because we end up with awesome new members who are great fits. But the whole "talking to 300+ girls for 5 days straight" is rough. There are inevitably a lot of girls who don't want to be in Chi Omega, and that's perfectly fine! But, why must girls be straight up rude?!

Ugh, it's whatever. Recruitment is over now, we have an AWESOME new pledge class, and I'm suuuuuuuuuper pumped to get to know all the new baby hooties.

Chi O besties.

Willard clan.

She's just the coolest.

We're normal, I swear.

And an 80s-themed rollerskating Bid Night to end the crazy week!

So, there ya have it. My classes are amazing this quarter thus far, I am indeed alive, sorority recruitment is over, and I can exist as a normal person again. Huzzah!

Stay warm, my friends. And keep checking back for more. I promise to deliver.