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...