breaking my silence with -- what else? -- a list

First off, I'd like to apologize for my unannounced absence. I've spent the last two months alternating my time between freaking out about school, freaking out about work, and freaking out about when Matt might propose (SQUEE WAITING IS SO HARD). I've been slowly accumulating levels of stress/anxiety only previously seen in certain Cathy comic strips.

But the next two weeks are going to be hellish beyond imagining. Those of you who have endured/are currently enduring higher level education can understand the panic and terror that comes along with the last couple weeks of a semester. Finals, term projects, research papers, presentations... after I graduated with my BA I swore that I was done with this world, but this semester I am eating my words. I have SO MUCH to get done before I am home free, and so little time to do it.

To get myself through this, I've been compiling a list of everything I get to do once this is all over. Behold, 

THE THINGS I SHALL DO WHEN I AM FINALLY DONE WITH THE SEMESTER

1) I will get a haircut. My hair is a shaggy horror right now. I need a good two or three inches off the ends, and I want to get my awkwardly-growing-out bangs cut into some sideswept bangs for the summer. Cause I'm not going to try to maintain blunt bangs in NJ humidity. I'm just not.

2) I will play The Sims 3 for as long as I damn well please. 24, maybe 48 hours at a time-- who cares? I WILL HAVE NO RESPONSIBILITIES BITCHES.

3) I will allow myself to obsess over every pre-planning detail of my upcoming cruise with Matt. I LOVE getting ready for trips. I find it almost as fun as actually going on the trip, because I am a big weirdo. But as of right now I'm trying my absolute hardest to not fixate on the cruise when I have so many other things to take care of. But as soon as May 6th rolls around... we're talking itineraries, packing list spreadsheets, new bathing suits and dresses, potentially even new luggage. Okay, I need to stop talking about this because I'm starting to get a little too excited about it. Whew.

4) I will hang out with my friends every day that it is possible for us to hang out. Enough said, I think.

5) I will blog every day. I'm serious. Every day between May 6th (the day the semester ends) and May 15 (the day Matt and I leave for our cruise), I solemnly swear that I will post daily. I have a lot to make up for :)

So there you have it. Right now I'm just a busy girl with dreams of being not-so-busy. I hope I'll be able to check in again before finals hell is over -- my birthday (which is also my blog's first anniversary) is in less than a week, so I'll try to post then. I'll see you on the other side! 

what i'd rather be doing besides schoolwork

learning how to make jewelry

watching Futurama

reading Anna and the French Kiss or John Green's zombie novella

baking brownies in a muffin tin (BRUFFINS)

browsing/choosing shore excursions for the cruise that Matt and I are taking in May

playing with Huxley the hedgehog

taking Pilates classes (or maybe yoga!)

playing The Sims 3

daydreaming about having a literary-themed wedding 

DIY-ing details for my Oscars Watch Party on Sunday

(sorry, IRL friends... my party isn't going to be as cute as Twig and Thistle's)

ANYTHING!

Alas, I am floating in a sea in post-graduate assignments. And I must tend to them. Sad face.

Indulge me: what would you rather be doing right now?

risky business

Oh, my friends. Oh, my friends.

Here's the gist of what happened last week:

My parents went away for four days, foolishly leaving me, a frustrated and bored  23-year-old, alone in the house.

You can bet your bottom dollar that I threw a party.

So here I am, recovering from a hectic four-day extravaganza, definitely wanting to share it with you -- and, of course, I have no pictures. But to be honest, I think the pictures would sort of lie. It'd lend a sort of timeline to the whole experience, a deceptively neat-and-tidy visual representation of what, at some points, felt like a huge clusterfuck.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. Where do I even start?

I guess the first thing you need to know is that my parents' three-story home in the South Jersey suburbs became a boarding house from Thursday to Sunday -- some people, like the BFF and Matt, stayed all four days, some, like April and Dru, stayed just one night. But either way I don't think I really realized how intense and exhausting it was going to be.

Everything culminated in a boozy party on Saturday night, which I was hoping would be raucous and full of debauchery, but it was actually pretty tame, and I'm glad that it was, because I had enough of a mess to clean up on Sunday morning without having to mop up vomit. I mean, people got drunk. I'd say that many were buzzed and some were inebriated, but no one was trashed. I certainly wasn't. I was too stressed out about whether people were having fun, or whether we had enough food to go around, to do more than nurse my drink.

When the night was over my mind was buzzing and I felt pretty insecure about how much of a success the whole endeavor had been. I'm still sort of on the fence about it.

Some parts were fabulous like,

1. the mornings -- when Matt and I stayed in bed chatting and flirting before we'd go downstairs and make breakfast for everyone.
2. doing party prep with the BFF  -- baking/icing cupcakes, juicing a million lemons and limes for the atrociously bad margaritas, throwing on makeup at the last minute before everyone got there -- it's a little taste of what it would have been like to be roommates.
3. when my sister semi-ironically iced Matt by hiding a Smirnoff Ice in an oven mitt and basically forcing him to look inside.
4. Sunday morning, when me, Matt, my sister, her friend, the BFF, April, and Dru all miraculously woke up around the same time and proceeded to spend the next four hours lounging around, eating bagels, and watching 16 and Pregnant. 

And some parts were decidedly unfabulous, like 

1. when I got woken up in the middle of the night because my sister's friend thought she was having a medical emergency. It freaked me right the hell out for about 11 seconds before Matt jumped in and defused the situation much better than I would have.
2. when I realized that I didn't have any idea where I would hide the trash and empty bottles, which resulted in me and Matt fighting over whether or not he should have to drive around my town and find a dumpster to hide them in.
3. the moment that I suddenly remembered that I'd completely forgotten that I was supposed to register for Spring 2011 classes this weekend. I was so upset that it almost ruined my whole weekend.  

But we didn't have to go to the ER (thank god, because not a single adult that stayed in the house this past week has health insurance). And I didn't have to make Matt go on a dumpster-hunt, because we figured out a legal (well, more legal) solution to the problem. And it turns out that registration started late Sunday night, so I hadn't even missed it at all, and I was able to get into all the classes I wanted to get into. And although I was still cleaning the house right up until my parents came home today at 5:45 PM, I managed to get the house back in working order. 

I don't want to jinx anything yet (my parents have only been home for a couple of hours, so it's too soon to tell), but I think I might have pulled this off. I'm exhausted and I'm going to sleep for the entire day tomorrow, but I think I pulled this off.

Freakin' sweet.

stave it off, 1-2-3

It's been a sort of gross three days or so (we're neck-deep in hurricane season here so it's been rainy and windy since Sunday) and although I wouldn't say I have Seasonal Affective Disorder or anything, four straight days without sunshine can get a girl down. While I did my fair share of wallowing yesterday (with Matt over a couple of beers) and it does have its merits, I'm trying to refrain from excessive self-pitying as much as possible. So in order to stave off the cloudy-weather blues, I'm focusing on exciting things that are coming up. I think you know what that means.

IT'S BULLETED LIST TIME

• My co-worker Alice (not her real name, but she'd approve) and I just got the go-ahead to plan and run a Harry Potter Palooza Party in November and we are SO EXCITED. And we JUST CAN'T HIDE IT. Children of the library, prepare yourselves for butterbeer (non-alcoholic, of course), pretzel stick wands, Quidditch relay races, and a library-wide dragon egg hunt! (Like I said, SO EXCITED.)
• I'm in the process of re-arranging, re-organizing, and re-decorating my bedroom in my parent's house. I'm talking new bedspread and linens, new headboard, new desk, extra storage, the whole shebang. Because unless someone steps up as an anonymous benefactor and decides to deposit several thousand dollars in my bank account on a monthly basis, I'm gonna be living in that room until I finish graduate school. And while the World of Van Gogh theme that I chose 9 years ago worked for me when I was 15, I'm kind of over it now. Dammit. I hate it when my parents are right.
• AWESOME NEWS ALERT: Matt gets a whole week of paid vacation time starting in March, and to celebrate the first vacation he's had in two years, he and I are stealing away on a 7-night cruise to the Bahamas. Yeah. It's like. I don't even. I've never been to the Bahamas and I've never been on a cruise and I'm beyond myself with excitement. It's not until May, but that won't stop me from obsessively researching every aspect of cruising, or imagining myself lying out on some white sand beach, or fantasizing about eating steak and cheesecake at midnight before going bowling and nightswimming and then ordering BLTs via room service. 

Ahhhh. That's much better. Now if this stupid weather doesn't let up, I think I'll be able to handle it.

But seriously, Weather Fairies. Make it stop or I'll smush you.

it's aliiiiive! ("it" is me. i'm alive.)

Wow. Here are the main reasons I've been so bloggily absent recently:

1. My relatives from the Philippines stayed at my house from last Saturday to this Sunday, and we had to entertain them 24/7. Which meant lots of late nights, exhausting shopping excursions, day trips into Philly and New York, and extravagant restaurant meals that left me food-comatose and totally useless. Also, I had to sleep on the couch all week, and although our couches are very comfy, they're not really great in the way of lumbar support. I didn't get a lot of good, quality sleep. Is what I'm trying to say.
   
2. My computer is eight kinds of broken. First of all: VIRUSES. AUGH. What kind of an evil creature is lurking in his or her basement creating stupid, terrible viruses that do stupid, terrible things like hijack your web browser so that you can't Google anything and every so often a message pops up saying that I won a prize and it won't let me do anything unless I accept it and give the website my very personal information? To this person I say: Die. Die a horrifying and painful death. Second: I got the dreaded Blue Screen of Death the other day. And we all know what that means. I might as well just throw it in the garbage right now. Third: My computer is Very Elderly. It's on its last legs. Actually, I don't even know if it has legs right now! Maybe it's just dragging itself along on its front legs! 

This is way funnier than it should be. Please, someone else tell me this makes them laugh.

So the fate of my blog is up in the air until I can figure out what do with with my sad, old computer. I'm thinking I'm just going to throw in the towel and buy a new one. I need one for grad school, anyway. 

Anyways, I just wanted to pop in and say: Hey! I'm not dead! And I've been keeping up with everyone else's blogs even if I haven't been commenting, I swear! Is anyone out there? Hello? ::taps microphone:: Hello??

POST MANIA

The past week or so has been so so crazy and I've had so little time for anything that I actually like to do, so I'm resorting to blogging in between setting up for programs and checking out patrons and cutting out construction paper seahorses.

(RUN ON SENTENCE MANIA)

(Also, who has two thumbs and loves being a youth services librarian assistant? ::points to self:: This girl.)

(That joke is a lot funnier IRL. I swear.)

(PARENTHESES MANIA)

So, I wanted to talk about what's been keeping me away from my lovely little piece of internet real estate, and what the plan is for when everything dies down. You know what happens next, right?

BULLET LIST MANIA!

Where I've been:

- Cleaning and cleaning and cleaning and cleaning. My room, my bathroom, the basement, the den. My relatives from the Philippines are coming to stay for a week and my mother wants the house to be immaculate, I guess so that we can impress them with how quickly our family cleans the house under duress. Because, come on. They'll totally know we only dust the piano when we're having houseguests.
- Picking up tons of extra shifts at work. She works haaaaard for the money!
- Gearing up for this weekend, which is my cousin K's wedding. She's the first cousin to get married on this side of the family, and everyone is going totally sheepshit. The whole process has just been harrowing and never-ending. It's going to be this huge ordeal that involves staying at a hotel in North Jersey with my parents for a whole weekend, and now have to hand out programs and bubbles and candy and my mom doesn't like the shoes I'm wearing and I still have to find a strapless bra to wear with my dress and I don't want to do karaoke at the rehearsal dinner but they're gonna make me and AUGH can't we just show up to the wedding and then leave afterward I FEEL LIKE I'M TAKING CRAZY PILLS.

- Fostering my D&D obsession. Despite my initial concerns, D&D has proven to be so. Much fun. It doesn't hurt that we're playing with our really good friends, of course, but there's an aspect of fantasy role-playing that really satisfied something in me. I think it speaks to my inner child who never got tired of playing pretend.

Where I'm going:
- The wedding, obv. Despite all my ranting, I'm sure it'll be fun and/or memorable. And my cousin Maven (not her real name, but she'd approve), whom I haven't seen in years because she lives in the Philippines, is staying with us next week, and that's gonna be totally awesome.
- A Phillies game with Matt, my BFF and some of her friends from college. I haven't been to a baseball game since fourth grade, but how hard could it possibly be to understand baseball? Some guys take turns hitting a ball and running around in a circle. That's the gist... right?
- Down the shore, again, before the oil creeps up the East Coast and coats us all in a Film of Doom.

Also, in July I'm going to do the 30 Days of Me meme and Bloggerstock (which I was signed up for this month but epically failed at remembering to do), and I've got all of these plans for my blog that I've been brainstorming but haven't gotten the chance to implement because at the end of the day I just want to eat sorbet and read Fables and pass out. I just need to get through this weekend. Here goes nothing.

graaaaaaiiiiins

And NOW I will stop talking about high school and prom.

Everything that's new with me:

- I recently decided to go meatless for a while, for ethical/moral reasons and whatnot. I don't want to get all preachy-teachy about it, but I will probably share my rationale at some point.
- I also recently stopped eating dairy because I've developed a pretty wicked allergy. It wasn't pretty, people.
- So now I'm incidentally vegan. It's insane, but it's working -- it's only been two weeks, and feel like Superwoman!
- My boyfriend is understandably troubled by this sudden lifestyle change. Apparently when he told his co-workers about it, they were like, "You know what this means, right? YOU'RE GONNA HAVE TO BE VEGAN TOO, SUCKA!" I beg to differ.
- WizardCon in Philly is this weekend and Linda Hamilton and Bruce Campbell and Sir Patrick Stewart and James Marsters are all going to be there BUT I HAVE TO WORK WHYYYYY. Seriously, I've heard WizardCon Philly can be sort of lame, but this was supposed to be my big chance to kidnap make out with meet Spike from Buffy!
- I have to mention the Flyers. They're in the Stanley Cup and tonight's game is do or die and they JUST tied it up in the third period and this is giving me gray hairs. I'm quickly learning that being a sports fan takes years off of your life.

I'm almost caught up with bloggy stuff! I still have to pass on the Super [Effective] Commenter Award and answer the award acceptance survey, and I'm about to start the 30 Days of Me meme that the awesome Heather just started today, but that's going to have to wait until tomorrow. Because the Flyers just went into overtime and I think I might be having a heart attack. Hopefully the Flyers will score soon so I can go to the emergency room? Wish them (and me!) luck.

[Update: Flyers lost. Now my heart is broken. Oh, well. Tomorrow is a new day.]

bits of tid

1) My sister's senior prom is today, and since my prom experience sucked, I'm living vicariously through hers. She's already way ahead of me, as her hair is super classy (whereas mine was too short to do anything real with) and her dress makes her look like Vanna White (whereas mine looked like it was SO TWO SEASONS AGO [probably because I had bought it the year prior]) and she has realistic expectations about what the night will be like (whereas I had watched too many John Hughes movies and am still waiting for some hottie in a white tux to plant a surprise kiss on me in the parking lot at the end of the night).

2) I finally got a haircut and I feel like a new woman! After a brief period of experimentation with other stylists, I went back to my favorite, Jen. And I'm so incredibly glad. She... completes me. She gave me the rocking-est piecey, funky bangs ever. I didn't even know I could pull this shit off. Pictures soon to come, maybe.

3) I got this awesome award from Heather. Seriously, people, these AWARDS. I can't tell you how much I appreciate all of them. This one is called, adorably, the "Super Comments" award, which definitely sounds like a Pokemon trance mode. And check the graphic, yo. Witness the majesty of the Mighty Panda Bear:

Passing the award is my favorite part of this whole process. I'll be tagging some super-effective commenters on Saturday!

4) Until then, I'll be down the shore with my BFF. It's our first shore trip of the summer so we're not going to get too fancy or quirky with our activities: we're gonna walk the boards and frolick in the waves and squish our toes into the sand and bask in the sun and just do Beach Stuff. I'm so excited.

Have a happy Friday, have a great weekend, and DFTBA. 

look! more flowers!

OK, let's pass this award to five bloggers, before the weekend is over. (I know it's 2 AM, so technically the weekend is over, but goddammit, today isn't over until I go to sleep!)

So here it is in all of its glory: THE SUNSHINE AWARD. BEHOLD.

The Sunshine Blog Award is awarded to bloggers whose positivity and creativity inspire others in the blog world. The rules for accepting the award are:

1. Put the logo on your blog or within your post

2. Pass the award to 5 bloggers

3. Link the nominees within your post

4. Let them know they received this award by commenting on their blog

5. Share the love and link to the person from whom you received this award

6. Share 5 things about yourself

So! First things first: my five. I tried to adhere pretty hard and fast to the concept of recognizing people for their positive attitude and their creativity, so I hope this award is meaningful for those of you who I've linked. And the award goes to:

1. Heather of Boyfriend Challenged. Because she's hilarious and because this post made me want to stand up and cheer. It's basically the "We Are The Champions" of single ladies.
2. Ally of Fourth-Grade Nothing. Because I always look forward to her posts. There's a real satisfaction that comes from learning way more than you needed to know about Strawberry Shortcake.
3. Ethony of Wicca, Tarot, Photography, Books and My Life. Because I've just been to her online photo gallery and it makes me want to try harder to create beautiful things.
4. Amber of Nostomanic. Because her blog is sheer, blinding brilliance. If you don't believe me, just go read her current post about the untapped potential of The Goblin King's bulge. Then we can talk.
5. Ashley of You're The Charlie Browniest. Because you know that one friend you have who can turn the most mundane thing into a hilarious anecdote and/or rant? She's the internet version of that.

Later today I'll be posting five things about myself. For now, I'll just say that if you haven't checked out any of these fine foxy ladies yet, then go right now or I don't know if we can be blog friends anymore. I'm serious. OK, I'm only a little bit serious. 

Thursday Five: Smooth Sailing

It's been one of those pleasant, busy weeks where Some Things Go Wrong but, by and large, Things Are Pretty Good. Nothing groundbreaking (no graduate school acceptances, no Publishers Clearing House knocking at my door with a giant check) but nothing too devastating either (no funeral services to attend, no dogs bringing baby bunnies into the house as a gift). Just smooth sailing, small pleasures, and personal victories. It's a good week to participate in MannLand5's Thursday 5 for the first time.

The graphic:

Did I ever mention that I love daisies? They're my favorite wild flower.

The rules:

Today's the day where we (those of us that want to) post 5 things that have made us

Joyful

Giddy

Excited

Thankful

Jubilant

or

Just plain ol' happy this week!

And then you link back to Keely, of course. (whose blog I just discovered via this meme).

And here's my five.

1. So I feel kind of like a fraud for being excited about this, but THE FLYERS ARE MAYBE GONNA GO TO THE STANLEY CUP WHAT. Being Matt's girlfriend basically necessitates becoming a Flyers fan, so I've started to really warm up to the sport over the years. The playoffs have been really fun to watch, and it feels weird to suddenly be a sports fan, but the more I think about it, the more it's just another branch of geekdom. At least that's how I'm going to look at it.
2. Ever since I started listening to Book One of Harry Potter on audiobook in the car, I actually look forward to driving around. I haven't re-read any of them in years, and I've forgotten so many of the details and how straight-up good it is. It's honestly like I'm reading the series for the first time.
3. My Very Geeky Friend from the library just turned me on to Fables. I really love fairy-tale retellings and anything having to do with inserting characters from mythology and classical literature into modern-day settings, and from what I can tell so far, that's what Fables is all about. So I'm really excited. Also, same Very Geeky Friend invited me to her weekly True Blood/Buffy Night -- it starts in June when season 3 of True Blood starts ... so I have until then to get completely caught up on the series, I guess...
4. I have one sentence (...fragment): Neil Patrick Harris guest starring on a Joss Whedon-directed episode of Glee. Ultimate win.
5. I found out that I got an award from the awesome Nikki of City Soliloquy! Thanks Nikki, if I could give it back to you, I would. I'll be passing it on to 5 more bloggers tomorrow. Hooray for spreading the love!

what i'm wishing for

Ever since I got into grad school I've been unnecessarily celebrating whenever possible. Yesterday my sister and I went to the Cheesecake Factory and I dropped like 70 bucks on lunch just because I felt like eating a special "CONGRATULATIONS" meal. I went to the mall with Matt on Tuesday and bought myself 5 new pairs of underwear from Victoria's Secret, because underwear is obviously essential to the graduate school experience.

What I'm trying to say is that I'm in an "I'm worth it" kind of mood lately. And when I get into that kind of mood, I get really, really materialistic. I start remembering all of the things I wanted to buy that I couldn't afford or didn't really need that are somehow suddenly worth getting now because hey, I'm awesome!

And because you care, this is my "Suddenly Worth Getting" Wishlist.

An Erin Condren Life Planner. When I was in undergrad my planner was my lifeline. But since I graduated, things have been pretty low-key and thus I haven't really needed one lately. But things are COMPLETELY different now. I'm going to have assignments! Meetings! Registration deadlines! Not to mention a pretty hefty work schedule! I need a planner to sort all of that stuff out. And clearly I need a planner that can be customized with my name and the photo of my choice and comes with nifty stickers and bookplates and 2 matching notepads that costs three times as much as a planner from Target or Staples. Clearly. [Edit 5/8 @ 11:32 AM - I went ahead and bought one because they happen to be on SUPER UBER SALE right now. Hooray for semi-impulse purchases!]

A new iPod and a new iTrip. Hey, I'm going to be a commuter student, and it's a one-and-a-half hour drive all the way up to campus. I'm going to need something to play my audiobooks and my music so I don't go crazy on the way there and the way back. Because let's be honest, the radio just isn't cutting it these days. I've listened to "Eenie Meenie" by Justin Bieber feat. Sean Kingston way more times than I care to divulge here.

A Flip Mino HD video camera. I ... uh. When I walk to class, I'll need to, uh. Film myself. So I can remember how to... get there. Okay, I can't really think of a reason why I'd need this for grad school, but I've wanted one for years.

An Apple MacBook. This is the big one, the one I'm very seriously considering. My little old Dell has been a such a trooper, but I really do think I'm going to need a new laptop for grad school. And I've been thinking about making the switch to Apple for a couple of months now. The dealbreaker was yesterday, when a bunch of my co-workers overheard me saying that I wanted a new computer for school and they all recommended Mac. They said that on the youth services track, they'd had to do a lot of multimedia projects that a Mac would have been perfect for. I'm hoping to be able to scrounge up the money to buy one by July or August. And I'm also hoping to panhandle at my parents to help me out a little -- but my dad thinks Macs are disgustingly overpriced, so I'm not sure if that's going to go over well.

I'm curious -- what's on your wishlist these days?

Alternately: Do those of you who use Macs have a good solid list of pros and cons when it comes to working on Apple computers?

And even more alternately-er: Did anyone go to a midnight showing of Iron Man 2? What is the verdict? I'm thinking of suggesting that as our Friday night date and I wanted to see if people liked it. [Edit 5/8 @ 8:39 AM - We went to go see it  and we loved Robert Downey, Jr. and the sidelong Avengers references, and we didn't love some other things, but it's a superhero action movie directed by the guy from Swingers so I'm not being nitpicky.]

Have a kick-ass weekend everybody, and DFTBA.