I wish I could walk home from work.

So, I had a great day at work to day. Then I got stuck in traffic for 2 hours on the way home. Traffic here is horrible! As I was thinking, "I wish that I could just walk home," this song came on the radio. I just laughed and cranked up the radio and sang at the top of my lungs. And after that, my horrible commute was just not as horrible.

I hope you enjoy this as much as I did!

Swamp People

Well, if you haven't already figured it out by now, I'll go ahead and let you in on the big secret: I'm not the most avid blogger. My posts are sporadic at best. Blatantly negligent at worst. I use the same excuse for my lackluster blog performance that I do for my nonexistent exercise regiment. "I just don't have the time." Between school, work, and an attempt at a social life, how can I find a spare moment to devote to the elliptical or to my blog?

The only problem is that this is a horrific lie. And I can't even convince myself to believe it anymore. I have no excuse not to take a minute and record "my life as it happens" as my sister (a much more avid and interesting blogger) would say. You can take a look at her blog here.

So to record my life as it happens:

I just finished my sophomore year about a month ago. There were some good memories and some bad ones too. I had to "settle down" since I was an R.A. and taking some ridiculously hard classes, too. The crazy freshmen antics sadly have no place in your life when you're studying organic chemistry. The good news is that I finished all three of my organic classes and I still managed to hang onto my 4.0. How that happened I will never know. A lot of luck and very little sleep were the main factors, I think.

I'm now in the great state of Louisiana, living with the "swamp people" and interning for a major chemical company. I like it here. It's hot, but right now it's hot everywhere so that's not a big deal. I live in what I consider a super swanky gated community with a roommate named Katie from Mississippi State. She's a sweetheart, but possibly a little too smart for her own good. She graduated high school a year early, so even though she is going to be starting her junior year of college next year, she is an entire year younger than me. And while I think that's amazing to get a jump start on college and the real world, I've also noticed a year can make a lot of difference maturity wise. I don't really have words to describe the difference, but I can just feel it, you know? The difference may also be that she's never lived on her own before either. She lived at home the past two years and commuted to school.

While that may have been okay for her, I just can't imagine what my life would have been like if I had done that. Living on my own, without any parent supervision, really gave me a chance to be accountable and helped me to mature so much in a very little amount of time. I'll admit, I made my fair share of mistakes. Like eating nothing but Ben and Jerry's ice cream for dinner for a whole week. . . my mom never would have let me do that. haha. And now, I see why, because I have gained 22 lbs in the past two years. . . But that's a different story. One that I am currently trying to rewrite the ending to. Hopefully, the next time I mention it, the ending will be: And I worked incredibly hard and lost all 22 lbs plus 5 more. And now, I am a swimsuit model.

Ummmm. yeah right. Like that's gonna happen.

A girl can dream, though, right?

Anyways, back to my life in Louisiana. It's not all fun and games. I work 40 hours a week. I battle the horrible traffic another 12 hours a week commuting back and forth. When I'm not working. though, I'm hanging out here:


I told you I lived in a swanky neighborhood, right? There's not a single alligator here, I swear.

In all seriousness, though, I'm having a great time. It was really hard at first, starting from nothing. I didn't know a soul and I was 12 hours from home. But life goes on. You meet people, make friends and before you know it, your adventure will take you somewhere else. Or just back home. Which is starting to sound better and better all the time. Because if there's one thing I learned so far, it's that sometimes, you have to leave a place before you can truly appreciate what it's worth.

Just some food for thought.

Life Update

So another semester of my collegiate life has come and gone and I haven't bothered to record one moment of it on this lovely blog. Basically my semester consisted of the following activities: Cal III class, working as an R.A., Engineering classes,English class, S.A.A. (I became a member of the executive board! Whoop Whoop!), and Organic chemistry, Organic chemistry, Organic chemistry.

By the grace of God, I managed to keep my 4.0. Though, it may very well be the last semester that I can say that, seeing as I am taking Organic chemistry II and Organic lab this semester. Not to mention philosophy (professional ethics), differential equations, and my engineering classes. That brings my total hours for the semester to 15.

The good news is that I am already a junior with 62 hours. :) Add the 15 from this semester and I'll be done before you know it!

I am in fact alive. . .

The beauty of blogging is that you get to share your life lessons with others. . .

Life lesson no. 1.: NEVER under any circumstances take 19 hours with two labs. I made that mistake this last semester and have been so busy traveling to Hades and back that I haven't had a life - let alone time to blog about it.

Somehow I managed to get through, though, and keep my 4.0. Although, it wasn't without a lot of hard work, and even more tears. Which brings me to Life lesson no. 2: Office hours are your friend. Getting an A was never a problem for me until this past semester, when I faced off against the cal 2 teacher from your worst nightmare. I went to office hours, though and in the end when I was 0.003 points from an A he bumped me up even though he didn't bump up others in my class. Hurray!

On that same note, Life lesson no. 3: Whoever brought back the A- must be punished. I hate those things with a passion, seeing as I spent the last semester skirting the A/A- border in a couple of my classes. Ex. French 223, which requires a 94 to get an A. Really, a 94?! Does that not seem unreasonably high?

Enough about academics, though. Let's move on to my over-achieving extracurricular life. I was blessed enough to make it into SAA. I love the opportunity it gives me to serve past, present, and future students! I was fortunate enough to work the Billion Dollar Campaign Update luncheon and attend the dinner as well. I got to meet the Chancellor and Lelan Statom, as well as many of the generous donors that have made our great education at UT possible. :)

I look forward to working more with SAA next year, as well as working as an R.A. in the best building on campus. I prefer not to disclose which building for cyber safety, but we all know who's the best. :) haha.

I have a story to tell. . .

Hello all! Hope you have been well. Things are good on my front. I made it through my first round of exams and my S.A.A. interviews. The results are in on the exams, but I don't here back from S.A.A. until next week so keep you fingers crossed, kay?

Now I have a story to tell. It's about a "friend" who is a shopaholic. Her funds are low and she just discovered the most perfect necklace in the world. The only catch is the price comes out to be around $250 when it's all said and done. I know, I know. It must be one heck of a necklace, huh? Well, judge for yourself:

This overwhelmingly beautiful necklace is now available at coach.com. It hurts your heart a little bit, doesn't it?

So to afford this necklace, my "friend" needs to sell a bunch of her useless stuff. First up, her VOLtastic Coach Op Art bag. It's on the chopping block for $50, so if one of you Vols wants it let me know. :) I won't lie; it's fake, but it's a really good fake. It comes from a pet and smoke free home. I have never carried it. :( I am selling it for the same price I paid, not because I don't want it but because I want the necklace more. Here's a pic:

I guess that's all!

P.S. I also have a Sociology 120 book for $50, if interested.

Better Now Than Never

If I don't blog now, I won't get a chance for the rest of the day, so I figure that it's better now, at ten in the morning, than never. So far, my day has been an epic fail. I woke up 10 minutes after my Cal II class started, decided to go anyway. I got there and then decided that I better not walk in 30 minutes late to a 50 minute class. So, I listened to the remainder of lecture through the door, like some big creeper. The whole scene had a Goodwill Hunting vibe to it and I almost laughed myself silly. :) I'll get the notes from a friend tonight. Or should I say tomorrow since it will probably be past midnight when I get around to it?

Really though, my Monday's just too busy. Basically, they go a little something like this: Wake up exhausted from the weekend. Start the Morning off right with math at 9 a.m. Continue with a string of constant classes until 6:30, at which time I get out of lab, grab a bite to eat, and then head to my Massey Hall Council meeting. After that, I head to my usual spot on the third floor of the library and study for the coming week. This week, I have a Chem quiz on Wed. at 8 followed by my first Cal exam at 9. I don't know how professors always manage to collaborate and put all your tests on one day. I would be impressed by their organization if I weren't so stressed about keeping my 4.0. haha.

Anyway, I guess what's really stressing me out this week is my extracurricular line-up. On Tuesday, I have my next round of R.A. interviews. Basically, it's just a 45 minute orientation about the selection process, but I still need to make a good impression. Then on Wed at 5, I have my first interview for S.A.A., the most competitive organization on campus, enough said.

Oh well. . . at least it's the first day of a new month and I got to do one of my all time favorite things: rip last month's page off my desk calendar and tear it to shreds. Of course, I have to do this when my roommate is gone so she won't think I'm insane. haha. Really though, I find that it's a big stress reliever to get rid of last month's worries.

I guess that's it. :) Hope everyone has a wonderful Monday,

Consumer Warning

Sunday is laundry day and doing laundry at college always stinks. Inevitably, the dryers are broken and the washers are full. Meanwhile, you're struggling to balance an overflowing hamper, a bottle of detergent, fabric softener, and a box of dryer sheets.

Honestly, there's no avoiding the first two, but supposedly there's a new product to eliminate the third: Purex's Three-in-One Laundry Sheets. So, I tried them and was amazed at how easy it was to just toss them in with the load and be done forever with detergent, softener, and dryer sheets. But. . . there's on old warning: "If it sounds to good to be true, then it probably is."

Well, once again the old adage proved correct. Unfortunately, these super convenient sheets ruin all of your clothes. They spot everything and as if that wasn't bad enough they also stain all of the armpits brown. Yuck! So, I just wanted to post a consumer warning. If you're planning on using these laundry sheets, be prepared to be disappointed.