Wednesday, June 15, 2011

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!

Sunday, June 12, 2011

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.