New School Year!

credit.

A new semester is upon us. I'm a Tuesday into my second week back at school (and my third week back in the country after a kickass summer in Europe) and I can hardly believe it.

[Although, considering I am sitting in a lecture about Google right now typing this should say something as to my state of mind.]

But anyway! I've set a few goals for myself this semester that I think are doable. I didn't want to be TOO ambitious because, you know, I'm busy, but here they are:

1. Wear sunscreen every day. Seriously, guys. The liberal media has been telling me this for years. But I am totally going to do it now. I've been wearing SPF45 on my pale, pale face since I started college (three years ago!), but it is time to make a bigger commitment. Neck, chest and arms every day. I even bought the non-smelly, nice SPF70 Neutrogena kind. [Pricey, but I consider it an investment in my future.] You may balk at my pastiness, but I will be laughing at YOU when I have lovely skin at the age of 80. It's science, look it up.
2. Schedule my priorities. I took a class over the summer that did a mini-unit on the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, and I have already forgotten six of them. BUT. One thing I do remember is this: "Schedule your priorities, don't prioritize your schedule." No more letting stuff pass by because I'm "busy" with something else. Newsflash: I am not a high-ranking official or a doctor or anything. My work can be rearranged to make way for real priorities. Which leads me to...
3. Spend more time just doing stuff that I like. Life is short, y'allz. Last semester I had the crappiest courseload, and the misery was compounded by the fact that I never got to see my friends and just hang out. Now, I'm making time.
4. Try stuff around town I've wanted to do but never done. Rock climbing? YES PLEASE.
5. Dress pretty. Seriously. It makes me feel awesome. I'm aiming for dressing super-cute at LEAST 3 days a week. Because I can.

P.S. Is it cheating to say I am trying to blog again? This is exhausting.

Oh, wait, I still have a blog?

Aw, don't be sad. (photo credit)

Yeah, I know that just about zero people read this blog, but I wanted to let the internet know that I'm putting this blog on hiatus for the summer since I will be in London. But I will be writing about my 3-month adventures there at my new blog A-OK In the U.K. Check it outtttt.

Don't be too sad, internet.

Love,
Amelia

Madre, te amo.

Me and my awesome mama.

So it's mother's day, and I thought I would write a post about how cool my mom is.

Aside from giving me life and all that, I have so much to thank this woman for. She taught me to be myself, no matter what, and to never back down from what I want. To be smart and honest. She taught me how to make pancakes and how to perfectly wrap a present.

She's funny, she's smart and beautiful and kind and generous and I hope that one day I'm as cool a mom--nay, as cool a lady as my mom is.

Love you mom!

List of the Week: Awesome things I wish I could do.

photo credit

I think I'm a moderately talented person. What I mean is, I think I can complete most tasks I'm given with a certain degree of competency. And I've got some things that I can legitimately call "talents"--like how I can turn a phrase like nobody's business and how I am pretty good at baking and I am good at picking colors that go together and I am also hilarious.

But there are some talents that, if I found out you had one, either A) you would become instantly cooler to me, or B) I would be so jealous of you that I would hate your guts. So here are the awesome talents and awesome things I wish I could do:

1. Speak another language fluently. My English is pretty good, sure, because I am forced to use it in everyday life. But my Spanish is just passable enough that I could probably read street signs if I were in a Spanish-speaking country, and I could probably ask for a sandwich and directions to the airport, but that's about it. I am so impressed by people who can speak two--heck, three!--languages fluently.
2. Read music and/or play a classical instrument. I'm looking at you, piano and violin. I once read somewhere that if you haven't learned to read music by age 7 it will always be a foreign language to you. I guess this sort of goes with number one on the list. But piano and violin are such beautiful instruments that require such great skill to play that I consider anyone who is proficient in either to be pretty much a genius.
3. Gymnastics. Okay, you can bend your body any-which-way you want, AND you can flip through the air? Amazing. But I will never be able to do this, because I am a giant. And not flexible.
4. Sing. Really sing. There are some people whose voices are so spectacular, they could just be humming and I would be bowled over. I did musical theater throughout high school and middle school, so I met many people with great vocal abilities. I am still totally jealous, considering my own tone-deafness.
5. Run/bike/swim long distances. Endurance is one of those things I know I'm never going to have; it's just not in my nature. But those people who run marathons or do triathlons are superpeople.
6. Draw. This is something I legitimately wish I could do because I'm doing a lot of study in Web and graphic design and having some real drawing/artistic ability would be quite helpful. I have friends at art schools who constantly blow me away with what they can do.

Maybe with some hard work, some of these goals are attainable, but for now I am content with envying my friends who CAN do these things.

List of the Week: Foods that are Gross and/or I will Never Eat

(image via this is why you're fat.)

There are some foods I just won't eat. Don't try to make me, seriously, or we will have a major problem on our hands. These are some of the foods that I will refuse, no matter how dire the circumstance or fancy the company:

1. Hot dogs. This one's pretty self-explanatory. No one really knows what's in them. I suspect it's--pardon my french--animal junk. As in, down-there parts. But I really don't want to know, and I won't eat them. (Although, I went vegetarian for Lent/at least the month of March, and I'm liking it. I think I'll keep it up.)
2. Saurkraut. What is that stuff? It smells like the devil's foot-cheese.
3. Shrimp. Tastes weird, yeah, but it's their shape--like they were surprised when the big net came and got them--that really puts me off. Plus, you have to cut out a big vein full of their feces before you eat them, and that's just icky.
4. Mayonnaise. It's part oil, part egg, all gross. Plus, it looks like it would sound weird. I know that's strange, but think about it; it has a similar consistency to that silly putty you could buy in the plastic Easter eggs as a kid. They made that fart-like noise when you pushed down on them. That's how mayo would sound in a similar situation, I think.
5. BLT's. Friends have heard my rant on this on numerous occasions. BACON IS NOT AN ADEQUATE SANDWICH MEAT. There, I said it. Making a sandwich entirely out of sandwich accessories is not okay. Would it kill you to add some turkey to that? THAT would make it a sandwich. It's not gross; it just makes me so angry.

What are some foods that you refuse to eat?

The decision has been made.

I have picked an apron!

And the winner is....


...the blue cupcake one!!!

I feel very good about this decision.

You, you, you Otto kno-ow!

(click image for full-size)

I saw this posted outside of the HUB today on campus, near the doors. I don't know either of the people involved in this note, but let's just say I wish I did.

Submitted it to passive-aggressive notes. Hope it gets up there! Yes, internet notoriety, YOU WILL BE MINE.

List of the Week: Places Where I Can Always Have Fun

There are certain types of places that can lift my mood almost without fail. They are silly, but then, so is my idea of a good time. I've never been one for "da club," so I have to make my own fun. Therefore here is my list of a few places that always entertain me:

1. The zoo. Any zoo, any where, any time. I love animals. And, while sometimes I get sad if they are in cramped up cages, most of the zoos I've been to have taken pretty great care of their residents. I like animals of all sorts. Hairy, scaly, fishy, it doesn't matter. Although, if they invented an entire puppy zoo, I think I'd have to move there. Too much cuteness for words. I wouldn't be able to stay away.
   
2. A Dollar store. I seriously have a hard time resisting a bargain. And I love to find crappy junk and make it not crappy. Give me a couple bucks and I will decorate and re-organize your whole kitchen, for realz. Plus, buying a pack of those mini candy bars and throwing them in the freezer is so good.
3. My grandma's house. I think most kids with a grandma enjoyed trips to her house. There were candy dishes on almost every available surface. And so. many. tissue boxes. Seriously, I've never seen so much Kleenex in my life. And grandma is always happy to see you and tell you that you look lovely and how she missed you like crazy and all you can think is "Yaayyyyyyyy, hugs!" I love Grandma.
4. Denny's. I spent many an evening in my high school years at one of these open-all-night, grody old places. Getting french toast at 1 a.m. is always a good idea. (But maybe not for your waist line. But who cares.) And I had some of the best times/conversations of my life there at age 16 with my old friends.
5. Anywhere with a slide. Whoever decided to attach a flat piece of metal to some tall stairs was a friggin genius. Throw in a couple of swings and some giant metal bars to climb on, and I'm game. Let's go.
   

As you can see, I am basically 12. But if that's a bad thing then I don't want to be good.

(Actually, being 19 and acting 12 is way fun; actually being 12 sort of blew.)

Where can you always have fun?

Apron Madness!

Bake and Destroy! just posted a bunch of sweet apron sites, and I've been looking to get me a sweet apron for a while now. I found some on one of the Etsy sellers she posted called Boojiboo and I'm totally going to buy one but I can't decide which. Help me out!

Pink cupcakes with Brown Trim: because cupcakes are the best thing to bake/eat.


Pink cupcakes with hot pink trim: Can't decide if it's too much pink for me.

Blue cupcakes! Cute. This is one of my top choices so far.

Black with bird cages: This is my other top choice.

Blue with yellow flowers: Pretty. But too old-lady?

Lavender flowers: Also pretty. And girly. And, possibly, elderly.

White with trees and orange trim: Oh, I like this one a lot, too! Jeez. How am I going to pick?

Owls: Everyone knows I enjoy owls.


So those are the top contenders. I have no idea what I'm going to pick, but they're all pretty so I know I'll end up with something good.

Off topic:

Annoyance of the week: Built By Wendy sample sale was a couple weeks ago. I ordered this super-cute flowery top-thing for $10 (with shipping it ending up being $21... steeeeeep.), was all excited, found out a few days ago that it's sold out! They returned my money and everything, but still. Totally lame. I have been let down.

Anyway, I'm (not really) watching Dancing with the Stars, waiting for Castle to come on (no, not that Castle.) It's a pretty nice show--Castle, I mean, not DWTS. (Anything that forces Lil Kim to wear clothes is obviously an act of the devil. Not that I enjoy seeing her lady bits all hanging-out and whatnot, but at least when I hear she's been publicly indecent I know some things are right in the world.)

I'm going to go drown under a pile of homework now. Catch you later, internetz.

Girl's got skillllz.

I like to cook. Really, I do. I wish I had more time, money, resources, skills, metabolism and I could cook and bake and try new things to my heart's content.

But I don't have those things, so I make do with the opportunities I have.

The BF is going away this weekend [to the Super Bowl, no less, which is in Tampa, two hours south of here] so tomorrow night I'm making him dinner. But I don't get out of class until 5 p.m. so I had to do some preparations today. [Shopping, etc.]

I won't tell you what I am making [because no one reads this blog, save the person I am trying to surprise], but I will tell you that it involved a food processor. And no less than 10 seconds in, I broke said food processor.

I have no idea how, or exactly what happened, but the damned thing just would not work. So I used a blender instead.

I do not recommend making that switch.

Anyway, I will give details on my cooking tomorrow or Friday because I came up with some awesome stuff to make that I think will be really good. I'm good at cooking with vegetables. Not so much with meat [because I don't really eat it enough to know how to cook it well] and not so much with baking [because the details sometimes escape me. It's like chemistry], but veggies, I can do. I've been eating them long enough that I understand their individual flavors and textures and cooking reactions much better than other foods.

----

In other news, the rain makes me a hermit, and I mostly refuse to leave my apartment if it's raining. That makes going to class pretty hard. But, I go anyway because I'm very studious [read as: guilty] and I don't like to miss stuff. But otherwise, if the weekend or evening rolls around and I don't absolutely have to be somewhere, I just won't go out. The rain is icky.

Plus it does awful things to my bangs. The horror!

I did NOT watch Lost again tonight, but that is because I had more important things to do, number one being the Jeopardy online test. I think I only got half the questions right, but I knew waaaayyy more than I expected. If you haven't done so yet, register because tomorrow is the last day to take it. Just make sure to read the details about time zones and all that.

I guess they think that, if you're smart enough to go on Jeopardy, then you should be smart enough to read the instructions for a test on the internetz.

Nothing else exciting happening. BF is going away this weekend, like I said, which will give me ample time to study for a test I have on Monday, but will also give me ample time to miss him, like I always do when I don't see him. Like right now.

Unless I'm doing something crazy interesting.

Which I never am.

Anyway, hugs and kisses and all that. Stay in school. Don't drink and drive.

xoxo

"Lost," in Translation

So Lost (a show you might not have heard much about because it's not very popular) premiered its fifth season last Wednesday. Now, I am probably one of the few people in the TV-viewing world who has never seen an episode of this show, but I was cajoled by my boyfriend and one of my roommates into sitting in the living room while the show was going on.

I, being the shining, upstanding student that I am, thought that I could read my finance textbook and get some work done while the two of them were absorbed in the Survivor-meets-Grey's-Anatomy-meets-Sci-Fi-Channel-Original-Movie nonsense on the screen. Plus, I could make the BF happy by watching a show HE likes for once (but really--who doesn't like America's Best Dance Crew?).

But I have this problem where, if a TV is on in my presence, I will watch it, no matter what kind of idiotic crap is on. (Everybody Loves Raymond reruns? Another E! countdown special? Sign me up!)

And, holy crap you guys, Lost is effing crazy.

I know I should have picked up on that from the zillions of people who have geeked out over this show in my presence, but I really, REALLY didn't think that it could be true. But, dear God, it is.

In the course of two hours, we had several of my favorite plot elements in all of filmed entertainment:

• Time travel
• Flaming arrows
• Crazy eyes
• Haz-mat suits
• Paranoia
• Science
• Monsters, maybe?
• Joaquin Phoenix beard
• Murder
• T-shirts with adorable animals on them
• And so much more!

Any one of these things would have been individually awesome but combined it was like an explosion of candy, glitter, and confusion, all of which make for great entertainment.

I don't know if I'll end up watching another episode because it really didn't make much sense to me, but you never know. I might end up watching all of the past four seasons to prepare myself for yet ANOTHER television obsession.

In other news, I'm taking a break from watching online lectures to write this and now must go back to what I was doing. In the one I was just watching, the IT guy who was filming accidentally turned his mic on and said "I [BEEPED] up!" but they bleeped it before putting it online. Also, a couple of homeless people apparently tried to get into the lecture hall because it was cold that day and they caused a minor ruckus outside, so the prof took a break to tell them to leave.

I'm telling you, finance is way more interesting when stuff like that happens. Or when we talk about credit cards and embezzling, because those are two of my favorite hobbies.

xoxo