You feel like paradise...

It always makes me smile a little when I see videos like this:

These marines are so brave and admirable. They're risking their lives to make sure that ours at home stay safe. Knowing that they can blow off steam like this and find the courage to be silly even in these circumstances is amazing.

Thank you for your service, men and woman of 266 Rein.

Here is my confession...

Ahhh, the smooth vocal stylings of Usher.

Anyway, my confession isn't really so much of a confession as it is a statement of fact. I don't update here that often. Recently, my life is being consumed by my journey to get into/make it to law school, which I've been detailing on my OTHER blog, Twenty-Something Law Student.

That's what's going on. Check it out if you want.

PS - This song has been stuck in my head for two days!!

Pretty.

Lolz

OMG I love this site.

Jennifer Garner and I have so much in common!

Jennifer Garner talking about OUR undergrad on the David Letterman Show. :)

Vacation for one.

I am, by nature, a VERY social person. You might even call me a social butterfly. My mom says I never met a stranger, and more than one person has expressed admiration for the way that I make people feel comfortable enough to open up to me right away.

Plus, I love to talk. That helps.

And so, naturally, I'm normally surrounded by friends. I'm social at work, I go home and talk with my family, and then I go out with friends and either sit and chat with them or meet new people wherever we go. It's really nice.

It was a little strange, at first, going to Dallas completely by myself, without any plans to meet up with anyone while I was there for a long weekend. I got my own hotel room, went out to dinner by myself, shopped by myself, and watched some trashy television by myself. When my friend called, she seemed appalled (or at least very surprised) that I would go out to a restaurant by myself and sit at a small table alone and order and eat my dinner without any hurry to get back to my hotel room. And that's when I realized that, while I definitely couldn't do it every day, going on a mini-vacation alone can be completely GLORIOUS.

There was no one I need to chat inanely with, no one that was expecting me to entertain them with funny anecdotes or random facts, no one that I needed to listen to and counsel sagely. In short, it was a WONDERFUL break from a wonderful life.

I like people. I like being with people, having people laugh at me or talk to me. I like listening to people and solving problems for them, or just lending a sympathetic shoulder when they need one. I like meeting new people, getting to know someone better, smiling with strangers at bars, and spending time cultivating friendships.

But for four days, being alone, worrying only about your own thoughts and your own peace of mind, is really incredibly healthy and incredibly restorative.

I've got to do this again.

My hat's off to THIS guy.

Can we all take a moment to watch this and laugh?

On the bright side, that hat was FABULOUS.

The difference a campus visit can make

When I was deciding where I wanted to go for my undergraduate degree, leaving California never even came up. I mean, hellooooooo? I'm already in the state that everyone wants to come to, why would I leave? I applied to a few schools outside of California just for kicks, but never really considered going to Vanderbilt or Lewis & Clark...I was Chapman or bust (I had a LOT of friends there, and loved Orange County)! My dad was SO MAD when I said no to Cal!! I just hate Berkeley (the city).

Anyway, I spent a couple of weekends here and there traveling to different schools around the state, checking them out -- Pepperdine, Biola, Point Loma, Santa Clara, Berkeley, Santa Barbara, Riverside, UCLA, USC, etc. They were all nice (except Cal), and I probably would have enjoyed any of them (except Cal).

But then I decided to take up the offers extended to me by a few different schools for travel reimbursement, and take a trip out to the midwest to visit a few schools there. The whole time I was planning the trip I was thinking, "this is such a waste of time!" But, my dad insisted, so I packed my carry on and boarded a plane to Cincinnati. I had really had high expectations from a school called Hiram, because they recruited me SO hard and I knew a few people who had gone there and REALLY liked it. So the plan was to visit this little school called Denison near Columbus first, then drive up to Cleveland to see Hiram and Case Western.

Well, Denison was great. I was cold the whole time (HA! It was the first weekend in April. Little did I know how cold it could actually be!), but the campus was AMAZING. Beautiful, green, rolling hills. Yellow and red brick buildings, the most wonderful sense of community that could literally be felt in every facet of life I experienced while there. I sat in on a class, I talked to students over lunch (Dad was really impressed they had both Coke AND Pepsi machines, I recall), and just got a feel for the campus.

Then we left to drive 2 hours up to Hiram. And I liked it! I really did. But the whole time I was thinking, "wow, this is so not worth moving to Ohio for." Our original plan was to stay in Cleveland for an extra night and check out the area, but I remembered seeing a poster for a musical (Sondheim's Company) that was running that weekend at Denison, and my dad and I decided to drive back down to Columbus the next night, rather than stay at Hiram, to see the play and go back to the campus.

Well, on the way back to Denison, I realized the strangest thing. I was SUPER excited to be going back. It felt like I was going back to a place that I just naturally fit in to. It's cheesy, I know, but I felt like I was going "home." It was at that moment that I realized, "wow, this actually IS totally worth leaving California for." I hadn't felt that feeling at any other school that I had applied to or visited, not even the schools in California. Not even the school that I had been dreaming about attending for two years.

The only reason I went to Denison was because of my campus visit. It was highly ranked, a great school, and had wonderful academic and extracurricular opportunities for me - but ultimately, it just felt right. And I never, ever, not for one single moment regretted choosing Denison.

Well, that's a lie. My senior year I took a semester off and lived and worked in Santa Barbara. It was 72 degrees when I left Santa Barbara in January, and -18 when I landed in Columbus. I think I probably regretted it then. But, I digress.

There is no way that I would have picked Denison without visiting campus that weekend. And there is no way that I would have been as happy with my college experience had I not been at Denison.

Sometimes, even though logically you think you should go to a certain school, you just feel a connection with a different school, one that maybe isn't what you were thinking. And there's no way that you can get that feeling without having that campus visit. So even though it might make a small dent in your bank account (or a big one, or wipe out your bank account all together), you should consider visiting schools that you're considering spending the next couple years at. At least then you won't have that second-guessing later down the road.

Trust me, it will be worth it.

You can't sit with us!!!

Wait, really?!

Okay, there are some pretty tacky royal wedding tchotchkes out there, but THIS really takes the cake.

It's a 5'9" refrigerator. A refrigerator. Where you store your leftover pizza.

Cuteness overload.

OMG, so adorable!!!!!

Oh, wow.

So, I love dogs, but this is a little ridiculous. A coal baron in China has paid 10 million yuan (about $1.5 million, eek!) for a Tibetan Mastiff.

I mean, he's cute, but reeeeeeeallllllly?! OVER A MILLION DOLLARS FOR A DOG? That's just ridiculous.

And China, ever the "one-per-household" enthusiasts, have recently enacted a one dog per household limit. There must be thousands of domesticated dogs in the country that need to be adopted or face euthanization.

I hope that dog is insured.

Strawberries and Champagne Cupcakes

This past weekend I made some cupcakes for a friend of mine who has been DROOLING over certain pictures I put up on facebook a few weeks back. While I remade a batch of the grasshopper cupcakes for him (per his request -- I prefer not to look back, haha), I also tried a new flavor combination: strawberries and champagne.

Really, what's more romantic than strawberries and champagne? They're FAMOUS for going well together, and if you can put frosting on them? Well, it just makes them THAT much better!

The grasshopper ones are on the right, if you couldn't figure it out.

Anywho, they actually turned out really well! Not too sweet, which is good for the people who don't like going into sugar shock when they bite into a dessert, but still delicious! Next time I would probably put double the amount of strawberries, though...

LOLs

Voldemort strikes again!

Craftiness - Book Page Wreath

Look what I made this weekend!

It's an upcycled book page wreath! Super easy, and super cheap! You can just take any old paperback book you have lying around (or if you can't bear to tear one of your own up, then you can buy a trashy romance novel at the 99 Cent Store), and buy a floral foam form of a wreath - also at the 99 Cent Store - and get to (hot) glueing!

This particular wreath form was not round all the way around, it had four sides. At first I was a little worried that it would make it too boxy, but it turned out fine! It cost me less than $2, too, so I like that.

I used about 3/4 of one 300 page book...I glued pages around the form first, so that the annoying green foam wouldn't flake anymore and you couldn't see if through the paper. In total, I spent about 3 hours on this project during a House Hunters International marathon.

Happy crafting!

I. WANT.

All together now. "Awwwwwww."

I want a goldendoodle!

Master Cleanse?

So, tomorrow is my birthday. And I plan on eating a lot of champagne cake and having some major drinks. Woooo!

However, for the last week I've been considering doing a Master Cleanse to jump start the new diet I'm (hopefully) going to be starting and sticking to for the next several months before law school. For those who aren't aware, a MC is where you drink this concoction of lemon juice, maple syrup, cayenne pepper and water, and nothing else, for several days (anywhere from 10 to 40, apparently). It was designed and published in 1964, but made popular by Beyonce, who said that was how she lost so much weight so quickly for her role in Dreamgirls.

The problem is, to me it feels like anorexia. Of course you're going to lose a pound a day -- you're not eating anything! But, if I look at it as a 10 day fast (I love food way too much to do a full 40 days), I think it's doable. And then I can do a week or two week raw food diet to totally clean out the junk in my system before I start gung-ho on my new healthy lifestyle.

My healthy lifestyle will involve a one-month bootcamp with my sister that I purchased a while back (before I became a victim of the economy), and I think I should do the fast and then get back to real food before I do the bootcamp, because no way will I be able to exercise if my only energy is coming from maple syrup.

Has anyone tried this Master Cleanse with good results? I've seen a lot of videos with positive results on youtube, so I figure it can't hurt to try.

Tiger Mom Says

Tiger Mom was on Colbert this week...HILARIOUS. Mad props to my sister for DVRing for me so I could watch that segment.

Ohhhhh, iPhone

I'm such a GLEEk

I love Glee.

I know it's clichéd, and would be more appropriate for a tweeny-bopper than a twenty-something (former) professional, but I just can't help myself. I love it!

I have all of the soundtracks and CDs and singles, I've watched every single episode at least twice, my sister owns the DVDs and I've pretty much shanghaied them, I have a little "I love Finn" tattoo on my butt cheek, and I took a day off work and traveled two hours to go see them film the season 1 finale in LA.

And while, for the most part, I really think the original songs are much better than the Glee versions (you will never top Steve Perry himself singing "Don't Stop Believing") I have to say that the mashup of "Thriller" and "Heads will Roll" (by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs) on the episode after the superbowl was PHENOMENAL.

Love.

LOLs

Voldemort is my new favorite person to follow on twitter. HILARIOUS.

Victim of the Economy = Life in Upheaval

Well, as you can probably tell by the title of this post, a little over a month ago I became a "victim of the economy" -- as in, I was laid off from my job.

It came completely out of the blue and I was totally shocked, as were a majority of the people I worked with (including most of my superiors). I definitely shed some massive tears when I got home that night.

But, I'm not the kind of girl to take things like that lying down. After a few days of (gloriously) sleeping in until noon, I started looking for more employment. Which, unfortunately, made me feel like even MORE of a victim of the economy.

There is seriously NOTHING out there! It's all "self-start your own business" or "we need traveling magazine subscription sellers." Um, no thanks, I watch 20/20, I know what happens in those sorts of situations. Plus, when I do find something serious, no one wants to hire me - I'll be leaving in July or August for law school, my salary history is higher than a lot of entry-level jobs, and I've got a college degree and 2 years work experience in a variety of fields which, apparently, makes me TOO qualified for several lower-level positions that I SWEAR I'd take (at least until July -- or something better came along).

So, for now, I'm working part-time at the KCBA, where my mom is the executive director (ahhh, nepotism at its finest) and I'm able to at least get some stuff done for the organization. Unfortunately (again - I'm using that word a lot these days), this situation is a VERY temporary one, and I know the work will run out in about three weeks, so from there on down the line I'm going to be seriously looking for work.

I've worked in an office now for two years, so another 9 to 6 position isn't necessarily the thing I'm looking for. I've got my whole life to deal with those hours. I'm thinking waiting tables or bartending might be some quick cash for the next five or six months.

Ugh. I hate being unemployed.

On the up side, my parents got a new cable subscription. We weren't allowed to have more than 20 channels (and only 12 we'd actually care to watch) while I was growing up, because my parents felt it was a distraction that we didn't need. Now that everyone has flown the coop (and two of us have returned to the nest) my parents relented. 3 flat screen HD tvs, two DVRs, and 1200 channels later, I've discovered new heights of laziness.

It's AMAZING.