What I'm Lovin'

My sister has done this several times and I have always wanted to join...but it was always thursday when I thought about it. Well, it is actually wednesday so here goes!

1. Matt Wertz's new album Weights and Wings. I'm obsessed. It is the perfect spring time music to enjoy driving with the windows down.

2. Cookies and Cream: I have recently discovered two of my favorite desserts have amazing combinations of COOKIES and CREAM. #1: Sweet Wishes Cupcakes. It is a chocolate cupcake with an oreo inside a cupcake! Ahhhhh-mazing. #2: CHOCOLATE cookies and cream ICE CREAM from the LSU Dairy Store. It is a little shop on campus that sells dairy products that are produced by the LSU Ag department. Now this is not your typical cookies and cream ice cream. It is chocolate ice cream with cookies and cream. Changed my life a little bit.

(Beautiful photo that my boss took on campus)

3. The Quad: This weekend I had a friend visit me from home. I was showing him around campus and we walked to the quad. It was a little after noon and it was a quiet Sunday afternoon. The lighting was magical. The beautiful arches were filled with magnificent streams of light and the azaleas were in full bloom. Azaleas will always have a special place in my heart. Shreveport is covered with them and they will forever remind me of home. I don't visit the quad very often, so it was a special reminder of how much a love my university.

(I love my little sisters!)

4. ZTA: This weekend was filled with several wonderful ZTA events. I had formal on Saturday and Family Day on Sunday (crawfish yum!) After all of the festivities were over, I had to watch skit and preference tryouts for formal recruitment in the fall. I got to sit and listen to a few girls sing some of the songs that we use during the last round of recruitment and it gave me goose bumps! It was another great reminder of how special our sisterhood is to my life.

5. My amazingly supportive friends and family: I am fairly positive that this has been my busiest and most stressful semester to date but it has also been one of the most enjoyable! Due to the love and support of my friends at school I have been able to survive all of the chaos and find the joy in each day. My family is always understanding and willing to drive hundreds of miles to come visit me because they know how happy it makes me to spend time with them. I am so thankful for all of the opportunities I have been given. I know I go crazy some times...but I wouldn't trade it for the world!

Watch out world! I'm TWENTY-ONE!

In the event you were unaware, I love birthdays. Last week I turned twenty-one and it was a wonderful day! My entire family made a trip down to Baton Rouge to celebrate the weekend before my birthday. We started off the day at Alex Box Stadium for an afternoon baseball game against Wake Forest. The only tickets that they had available were standing room only...but we were sneaky and got really awesome seats!

Then we checked into our hotel and got ready for dinner. For almost a year, I have been wanting to go eat at Juban's. It is a nice restaurant in town that is known for their seafood. It was delicious! The absolute BEST part was the banana's foster CHEESECAKE.

Awesome, right? Right.

It was super fun to get all dressed up for the night!

THEN, my sister and brother-in-law drove back for my actual birthday! I took them to the Chimes for dinner so they could experience a typical Baton Rouge restaurant. Then we went to a painting studio where they teach you how to paint a picture of your choosing. It was by far the absolute best way to spend my birthday! My mom sent tons and tons of food and decorations for the party. It really made the day super special (and the cupcakes were beyond delicious)

In other news...I failed to complete my list of "21 things before I turn 21." So now I am going to spend the next year attempting to check everything off that list by the end of my 21st year! So stay tuned!

2010: A year in review

This year has been a long 52 weeks. Each week seemed busier than the last. There was not a lot of time for sleep (except when I slept through my alarm and was late to class/work) Looking back overall it was a pretty good year. Worked hard, learned a lot and had some fun mixed in there too. Looking forward to all that is in store for 2011!

January 1, 2010:

I spent last New Year's Eve with my wonderful

friends Stephanie and Chris in Hawaii!

January 8, 2010:

Began my office as Public Relations Chair for ZTA

February 6, 2010:

Leah and I found out that our video won

the Forever LSU Student Video Contest

March 4, 2010:

ZTA Step Team won 3rd place

March 10, 2010:

Spontaneous trip to see John Mayer in NOLA

June 5, 2010:

Sister got married!

June 7, 2010:

Started my first real job as a graphic

designer for the Forever LSU Campaign

July 14, 2010:

Repelled down a 200 foot cliff

August 23, 2010:

Began my second real job working as the Art Director for the LSU Foundation

September 23, 2010:

Became a GRAND-Big and Auntie! My Zeta Family is wonderful :)

November 7, 2010:

Accepted position of Vice President of Recruitment for ZTA

(these are all of my binders that I received when I was selected for this job!)

December 15, 2010:

Got lost and took a FERRY over the river and

through the woods to Lauren's Grandmothers house I go!

December 31, 2010:

Celebrated the New Year with home cooking,

ice skating, fireworks and yahtzee.

Missing In Action

"I know this dream I'm chasing very well might go and be the death of me." — Ben Rector

Ben said it perfectly. I believe that this perfectly sums up this season of life for me. Crazy. Busy. Intense. OUT. OF. CONTROL. But it is the life I love and who knows . . . maybe it will kill me, but I think it's worth it ;)

So, to the few people out there in the world that actually care about the minute details of my life . . . I apologize for my lack of posting over the last few weeks. My life has been . . . busy to say the least. I will do my best to give you a little recap.

Fall Break October 21-24

This weekend was marvelous. Just marvelous! I started off the weekend with a relaxing drive to Shreveport on Wednesday night. Sometimes this drive can be draining and lonely, but on this occasion it was especially enjoyable. I rediscovered a playlist on my iPod that perfectly suited my mood. It was great to have four hours of solitude to clear my head. I spent Wednesday night at home hanging out with my puppy and catching up with the family.

The next morning I SLEPT LATE! This is a very rare occurrence in my life these days, so it was much appreciated. After a restful sleep I hit the road again to spend a few days with my sister and her husband. It had been several months since we had spent one-on-one sister time and it was exactly what we both needed. I was able to see her house (with furniture in it this time!) and it was so cute! She is such a perfect little housewife. We went shopping, made glittered pumpkins for her fall table and ate LOTS of yummy food.

Next stop: House of Blues for the Ben Rector concert with my long-time friend, Khristen. The concert was wonderful in every way and I even discovered some new music! Jillian Edwards was the opening. . . opening artist and she is incredible. I CANNOT stop listening to her album. Spent the night with Khristen's family and then headed back to Shreveport to spend a little more time with my family. It was a perfect weekend :)

EC Elections

My beautiful roommate, Gina, and I after the last round of Recruitment 2010.

The next major focus of my life for the last month has been preparing for officer elections for the Executive Council for Zeta Tau Alpha. I have been selected as the next Vice President of Recruitment and Membership for my chapter! I spent almost three weeks slaving over my 13 page application and preparing for my interview and I am very excited to get to work! I will be responsible for planning every aspect of Spring and Fall Recruitment and Recruitment workshop.

This is a very big position . . . and honestly I have NO clue what I am getting myself into . . . but at the same time I am looking forward to tackling the challenges ahead. I think that this position will afford me many opportunities to grow as an individual and as a leader; and I am looking forward to see where this next year will lead me. I am buckled in and ready for the ride!

Cornerstone

SPOILER ALERT!! If you are directly related to me...PLEASE don't look at the digital edition! I have hard copies and want you to see the real version first :) so please ignore the following:

Open publication - Free publishing - More cornerstone

The publication I have been working on all semester at my internship is finally completed! It was very surreal to actually see it in print. I have been working on this project for months and months and it was a great feeling of accomplishment to hold it in my hands and know that I designed the entire thing — cover to cover.

Portfolio

The final aspect that has consumed my life is school. This week has been especially out of control. We had a project due every day this week AND our junior portfolio is due tomorrow. It has been a week of very little sleep but it is all worth it because I am very happy with the outcome of all my projects. This semester has been challenging for me. I have been stretched to the max and significantly uninspired with my work. This week I created some of my best work and I no longer feel like an EPIC fail this semester. It was such a relief to finally put together work that I am proud to put in my portfolio!

NoCOFFEE November

On a completely separate note . . . I have embarked upon noCOFFEE November. I have now made it 12 FULL days without ANY coffee! And if you only knew how much of a challenge this is...you would be impressed :) I have created this challenge for my self for several reasons:

1. The amount of caffeine I consume on a regular basis shouldn't be legal.

2. It is ABSURD how expensive coffee is. I am trying to save money and see how much of a difference it makes at the end of the month. (DAD: this one is juuuuust for you! :) haha)

3. I genuinely feel better when I drink less coffee and more water.

4. I like a challenge ;)

Well I suppose that about covers it! I will do my best not to fall off the face of the plant again any time soon!