Summer 2011

It's October, which means several things. 1, it's my favorite month! 2, I'm going to spend the whole month cursing the tucson heat and wishing I was having awesome Fall-filled October like the rest of the world, 3, it's definitely the end of summer and a summer post is way overdue.

Summer 2011 was insane. It was filled with so many amazing once-in-a-lifetime experiences, lots of changes, lots of really difficult times, and lots of really wonderful happiness and love filled times. I swear, every year my summers just get better and better. Now let me rummage through my photos file and facebook to find evidence of all this awesomeness :)

This is how I spent the beginnind of my summer. And a large of my time at home in general, at least before I got my new puppy that makes my older, sweet, perfect puppy feel like she shouldn't spend as much time with me. Internet, puppy cuddles, comfy bed in my nice familiar bedroom :)

My best friends in Prescott are the people I worked with last summer at Mama Edda's. And now 3 or them all live together, so I get to hang out with them all in one spot all the time :) every time i'm in prescott at least. This is from one of the first times this summer I went over to their place. I wasn't planning on staying the night, but then I did. It's kind of a long story with the blanket but basically while I was in Tucson all my prescott friends had a Lord of the Rings night where they all dressed up like LOTR characters. This blanket (and by blanket i mean awesome cape) was a part of one of the costumes. I was cold/jealous/probably a little bit tipsy so we decided I should get to wear it and take pictures and be part of the LOTR group. It was a fun night.

On that same night we played with this plastic dinosaur, sticking it ambiguously into as many pictures as possible. There are probably at least 20 pictures, but I chose this one cause it shows me and one of my besties Natalie :)

 On this day, I woke up at like 11, and decided I was going to work hard all day on getting the youth retreat catering stuff done. at 11:15 I got a call from linn, the boy on the far right, asking me what I was doing. Still in my pjs and having just brushed my teeth, I lied and said I was working on my catering job. He asked if I could get away from that for a few hours and come to frog falls (a swimming hole about 20 minutes away from downtown prescott) I thought about it for a few seconds and ultimately decided that having fun and making memorable experiences would be more important in the long run than spending the whole day working. 2 hours later here I was, drinking blue moon and hanging out with lovely, wonderful friends at a super awesome swimming hole.

 And then there was greece. These are not in order, and they are not my photos. This is at Mystras, an old monastery near Sparta.

I think this is at Pleuron, Greece. With my closest girlfriends of the trip (from the left) Laurent, Jessica, and Jill.

 Jessica and I thought it would be such a fun idea to pick up the ridiculously copious amount of flower petals on the ground outside of the Benaki museum in Athens and throw them in the air. It's pretty obvious in this picture that the girls totally know what's going on and the guys are lost as to what the point of all this is.

 We had to do both a site report and a reading as assignments on our trip. This is me giving my site report on the Charioteer at Delphi, Greece. I am so knowledgeable on this statue it's not even funny.

 One day in Santorini, we climbed down the 587 steps to the dock (i also climbed up them because I was too broke to pay for a donkey or the airlift, but theres no reason you should see a photo of that. 587 steps in 100 degree heat? you try that shit.), loaded up on a boat, and went to the volcano island santorini is next to, and the to the hot springs that are heated by the warmth of the volcano. While treading water furiously and waiting to climb up the single ladder to get back on the boat, we decided to get a picture. the group of people in the back is us, and I'm the sixth from the right.

 One of the most awesome things we did on my greece trip was perform a live reading of The Bacchae at a winery in Santorini. If you haven't read The Bacchae, well you should. Read all the greek plays that remain, in fact. They are all awesome. This is a picture of me reading one of my lines.

 Going back in time. This is at Olympia, in front of one of the many olympic temples. Olympia is small, by the way. just a couple blocks and some ancient ruins. Isn't that weird?

 Santorini again, right after having lunch at a super duper fancy restaurant with an awesome view.

 Back in time even more. Right after arriving in Santorini. We rode a very rocky ferry which made many of the people immediately next to us vomit. It was, um, not incredibly enjoyable. I mostly spent the time with my eyes closed and my ipod on, trying to pretend the rest of the cabin wasn't seasick and disgusting.

 Further back in time. This is in athens, in front of the legendary olive tree that Athena gave to the city of athens in the competition for who the city would be named after.

 Back on the boat in santorini, immediately before jumping into the hot springs water.

 on the almost last day of the trip, feeling very pensive and sad while waiting for the National Museum to open.

 Just a few minutes before I got in the taxi to take me back to the athens airport. So many wonderful friends made, so many wonderful experiences had, so much deep sadness and flittering excitement at this moment.

I flew from Athens, Greece straight to San Francisco California, and then drove to Mendocino, California. The next day, I started work as the head chef for the Mendocino youth retreat which was so much fun, so much work, so exhausting, and one of the best experiences I've ever had. I loved cooking for 30 wonderful individuals and I loved letting my recipes become worthwhile and enjoyed by so many people.

 Roadtrip back to Prescott with Stewie :)

 I got my perfect, wonderful, adorable pup this summer! Clementine has started to show so much personality and spunk, especially with her wiley age of 7 months. Right now she LOVES chewing on anything she can (she's teething), goes nuts when stewie or i come home, and has gained so much confidence from her socialization- she will approach people, lick people's hands, and explore when i let her off her leash. I have to chase after her to get her to come back sometimes :) when I first got her she would only stay by my heels and hide behind my legs :)

 So, I haven't fully disclosed this on this blog. But stewart and I broke up. No worries though! We are still the very best and closest of friends, we are still roommates, and we still have so, so much fun with each other. Not too long after we broke up though I started dating this boy, Linn. He's very sweet and fun and I met him when I started working at mama edda's last summer :)

 One of the parties we had in the second half of summer was a fancy schmancy party for our friend amanda's birthday!

 Then we had another formal wear party after my friend Natalie got back from Italy. I got there at 8pm and everyone was already wasted and passed out... so me and the 3 people that weren't done for already spent the rest of the night hanging out and taking pictures :) see below.

 above two: me and my girly lauren at said party :)

 We went on a picnic at goldwater lake! I made everyone sandwiches and I even wrote their names on all the bags. Cause yeah, i'm adorable. it was so much fun. We drank a few beers, played with puppy, and had fun on the playground :)

 More picnic :)

 This summer ended, as last year's did, with the VW festival. Stewie couldn't go this year due to his cousin's wedding, but I went with linn and there were lots of other people there that we knew. It was a really great time, and I'm already counting down the days 'til next year :)

It was a great summer, 2011. Thanks for all the craziness, all the good times, all the fun, all the sadness and hurt that let me learn so many lessons. I can only hope that the rest of the year will be as awesome as this summer was :)

hope your summer was just as awesome, and hope this coming fall is even better!

Love,
Em

Fall Fix-Up: School

My friend Jessica has this as a doormat in her apartment :)

 Fall means a lot of things, but for the majority of people under the age of 22 (and a lot of people over the age of 22 as well) it means school. back to hitting the (400 dollar) books, trading sleep for good grades and a social life, playing frizbee on the quad (this really happens at my school. such a cliche.), and counting down the days until the end of the semester.

It's taken me longer than usual to get into the groove of the fall semester this year, probably because graduation seems closer than it ever has before. I've let myself get distracted with trips to prescott, work, and other little things and I've let a few reading assignments or "unnecessary" classes here and there slide.

But no more! It's time to crack down. In this feature I'm going to share a few of my own tips and strategies for how to stay on top of school (without letting it rule your life).

The single most important tip I can offer you is get a planner. One that has ample space for each day of the year from august to may. after the first couple days of the semester, gather all your syllabi and write down the reading assignments/homework assignments/due dates/test dates/etc for the entire semester for all your classes. For really important things like essay due dates or test days, highlight or put a star next to the assignment/test. This way, you'll never be wondering just what you have to do on any given day. All you have to do is open up your planner and it will all be written down for you. Also, it's really satisfying to cross off each thing as you complete it and to know that you have finished all your work for the day. Hell, you could even finish tomorrow's if you felt like it. But we're starting to talk crazy.

Now that you know exactly what you're supposed to do every day, try to actually do it on that day. There are plenty of weeks when I get caught up with various things and then find that I have 200 pages of reading to do for 3 different classes, 2 assignments, and a test to study for. That's way more to tackle than if I'd just done a little bit of work each day. Sometimes it's tough to convince yourself to do homework every day but it really is helpful.

So make the time that you do homework something that you might not exactly look forward to but can at least see as bearable. Choose a spot in your house or dorm or on campus that is comfortable and conducive to studying. This could be a specific nook in the library, a nice, secluded place outdoors, a comfy chair in your living room, or just your desk or your bed. The space should be free from distractions like traffic noise, other students, etc. If you like music while you study, play it. My freshman year in Portland, my favorite way to study was at my desk, with my feet on the heater under my window and a blanket over my legs (I'm always cold) and with my cupper's travel mug full of hot tea and a napkin full of cookies stolen from the bon. Mint tea+Chocolate Chip cookies= best thing ever, especially on a chilly, rainy portland day. This way, the activity itseld (studying) might not be all that enjoyable, but you can please the rest of your senses (music to listen to, something yummy to sip on/eat, cozy surroundings) to make the experience as a whole decent enough.

Planning on a day to day scale is very important, but planning for the big picture is just as if not more important. The first thing I did when I got to Lewis and Clark in 2009 was put together a 4 year plan. I figured out exactly which classes for my major/minor/gened I would need to take to graduate and arranged them in a schedule that made sense and left room for adjustments. The first thing I did when I got accepted to the media arts program at UofA was put together a 3 year plan. With each change I make- wether it's adding a minor, contemplating another major, etc I make a new 3 year plan to figure out how the classes I need to take will fit into my graduating on time. So many students go into college without really knowing what they're supposed to take to graduate on time... which is why the average student take 5-6 years to earn a bachelors degree. Since I've been planning since day one of my college career, it seems absurd that I would ever have to take more than 4 years to graduate- but that's because I took the time to figure out exactly what I'm going to have to do for all my remaining semesters.

Looking at the results when I googled "academic tips", I got a lot of the same old thing that you probably don't need to be told. "go to class prepared", "take thorough notes", "do the reading", you know. The thing is, I don't think the same tips are applicable to every class, and I think if you try to do the same things for every class you will end up wasting a lot of unnecessary time. During the first couple weeks of class, pay attention to your professors' teaching styles. Some may really expect you to remember important details from the reading, while others may assign the reading but then go over everything you need to know in class. Some may take attendance every day and expect you to take detailed notes, while others may post their lecture notes online and simply expect you to show up on test day and know the material. Obviously in a perfect world where we all have unlimited time and brain power we would do the same amount of work for all these classes just in the name of learning. But it's college, and we all know that college is part academia, part having fun, meeting people, experiencing new things, and exploring life as an adult. We have jobs and social lives and we certainly don't want to spend these four years with our noses in books the whole time. So adjust your learning/studying style depending on the teaching style of the class and the professor. If doing the reading does nothing more than tell you exactly what the teacher is going to say verbatim in class the next day, maybe just skim it. If the lecture notes are given online, don't worry about writing down everything word for word- just supplement the given notes with additional things the professor might say in class. This will save you a lot of time and effort without really compromising your gpa.

Those are my favorite tips, but here are a few more short ones:

-establish and look towards goals. Even if it's just getting through the semester or getting to graduation, know the steps you need to take to get there and feel accomplished as you take them.
- taking forever on a project or revising a paper a million times doesn't necessarily mean it's going to be better, and doing something all in one sitting doesn't mean it's going to be bad. Some of the best grades I've gotten were for essays I wrote in three or four hours the night before they were due. I went through the next morning and just made minor wording/grammar corrections before turning it in. Find a way of writing/doing assignments that works for you and don't let all those people tell you that you have to have at least three drafts or have to spend at least two weeks working on a paper for it to be good.
- Don't take it too seriously. Yeah, it's college, and it's your future, and it's expensive... but a few missed classes or assignments here or there are not going to matter in the long run. One failed test will not be the end of you. Just do your best not to let it happen again but don't freak out if it does. In the end it's the time you spent outside of class that you're really going to remember, not that one time you got a D on an essay.

What are your tips for staying organized and clear-headed in school? Interestingly enough my only class of the day today was cancelled so I'm going to do all that homework I put off last week ;)

<3
Em

Fall Fix-Up Feature

As of last friday, it's officially fall. which means officially time to start a new feature I thought up. It's like spring cleaning, but it's fall so it's fall fix-ups! My life has been feeling really jumbled and crazy lately, and one day while lying in bed feeling sick and crappy and overwhelmed I decided it was time to reevaluate things. To make a plan, to divide my life up into categories and focus on each one to get back to a calm, happy, clear-thinking state. And then I thought, this would be a great thing to blog about.

Fall might be kind of a weird time to do this kind of thing, but if you think about it it totally makes sense. Fall is when I'm thinking about the future- about registering for spring classes, about figuring out what I'm going to do after college, about finding the friends I really want to spend the next year with, about finding a job for the school year. It's a time of new responsibilities and settling down and getting back into the groove of things after the crazy whirlwind that is summer.

There are 13 weeks of fall. Each week will have a theme, and I'll be posting at least one post (probably on sundays but we'll see) that corresponds to that theme. The posts will be about ways to improve/declutter/understand/work on that part of your life in an effort to be happier, healthier, and less stressed. I think it's going to be a really, really good thing.

Here's what we've got to look forward to:
This week I'll be discussing school. This is a good topic for this week because I'm beginning to pick out classes for next semester and I'm deciding whether or not I want to change my major. but we'll get into that more later. The other topics, in no particular order (it will be a surprise each week which one I choose to discuss) are:
work
friends
relationships
family
money
housekeeping
cooking
style
entertaining
exercise
nutrition
creativity

are you excited yet? I know I am. I'll have the very first chapter of this series up later today so stay tuned :)

Happy autumn lovemuffins, Enjoy your cool weather if you've got it, I'll be sweatin' it out in the 90s down here in southern AZ.

<3
Em

This

is my weekend. i'm so, so, so excited. I'm leaving for prescott after I get off work at about 11:30 pm on thursday, so it's going to be crazy but so worth it to get up there and see all my lovemuffins! and then spend a wonderful weekend in jerome.

if i was...

this is something silly and random that has been floating around the blogosphere for a while. I used to LOVE filling out those facebook notes, and before that myspace survey bulletins, and even before that chain email surveys! god does that make me feel old. i even sent a real live paper and pen and stamps and envelopes chain letter once. oh, geez. anyways. it looks like fun, and due to all my previous survey loving experience, i couldn't resist.

• If I was a month, I would be October
• If I was a time of day, I would be twilight
  
• If I was a direction, I would be East
• If I was a planet, I would be Venus
• If I was a piece of furniture, I would be a book shelf
• If I was a poet, I would be Sappho, without the lesbianism ;)
• If I was a gemstone, I would be an amethyst
  
• If I was a tree, I would be a weeping willow
  
• If I was a bird, I would be a dove
• If I was a tool, I would be a screwdriver
• If I was a flower, I would be a lilac
• If I was a kind of season, I would be spring
  
• If I was a musical instrument, I would be a flute
  
• If I was a word, I would be 'ambiguous' (but not in a bad way, necessarily
• If I was a feeling, I would be passionate. passionate love, passionate anger, passionate creativity, everything.
• If I was a fruit, I would be a nectarine
  
• If I was a sound, I would be a quiet wind
  
• If I was a body part, I would be finger tips
• If I was an automobile, I would be a baby blue convertible (like nancy drew!) but a hybrid one.
  
• If I was a place, I would be Loutro, in Crete, Greece. The place i felt most connected to in years.
  
• If i was a jewelry, I would be an anklet
• If i was an age, I would be 26
• If i was a weapon, I would be words
• If i was an animal, I would be my darling clementine 

It's... Fall?

If you know me at all or have read more than like 3 posts on this blog, you'll know I'm a fall girl. I am all about autumn. I will talk your ear off about pumpkin patches and hay rides and knit skirts and leggings and scarves, and I will feed you pumpkin breads and stuffed squashes and hot toddies until you want to kill me and go live in bermuda or antarctica or somewhere where it is never fall, ever.

But even I have raised an eyebrow at all the fall-stuff that is trickling into the latest of the interwebs. Halloween cupcake decoration DIYs? Beef and beer stew topped with garlic bread? Cmon people- I can appreciate an icy beer here or there during these sizzling months, but beef? stew? garlic bread?! I've got at least another 2 good bikini months left so what the hell are you doing?

I love fall, but I'm not one to cut summer short either- unless it gets to be November in Tucson and it's still 85 degrees and green. Either way... fall will have it's time. the web loves fall. spice bread recipes, knitting patterns, thanksgiving cornucopia diys- bloggers eat that shit up. but for right now, it's still SUMMER, damnit. So I say we turn up our noses at all the autumn stuff flooding our blogs and tumblrs and pinterest boards and embrace all things summer!

Sangria is a total summer thing. It's perfect for garden parties, bbqs, or really anything at all because it's delicious. make some, stat.

I love using zucchini to make healthy "pasta" salads. you really can't tell the difference as far as taste and texture go, and you cut the calories by an absurd amount. This pesto pasta sounds delicious, refreshing, and oh so healthy :)

I'm kinda caprese-ed out, but if you need to get your summer fix of tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil drenched in olive oil, check out this recipe for cute little caprese appetizers I posted last summer.

Now is the time to be wearing flowers in your hair. I really want to go buy some cute fabric and plain headbands and make a million of these adorable rosette hair accessories!

I think this is the cutest idea for a tropical themed summer party. I'm one of those people that believes wreaths can be a year round ordeal ;)

go enjoy what's left of summer! take a roadtrip, go camping, take a beach/pool day, buy short shorts and bikinis and flirty yellow summer dresses. eat fro yo for dinner. lay on the grass and look at the stars. drink lemonade on porch swings. It's summertime, baby! and the livin's easy :)

<3
Em

Irrational Fears

hello lovelies,
I'm afraid I've been terribly busy- in the past three days I've cooked around 40 recipes (many of which are self-created), calculated the calorie count for each recipe, and the written each recipe down. Right now I'm in the process of typing all the recipes up and simultaneously converting them to serve 30 people. This whole catering for a small camp thing is a lot more work than I expected! Especially with my greece trip fast approaching. I have a whole slew of things I have to do for that as well, but I've had to put it on the back burner for now.

Anyways, this has kept me from blogging regularly. Also, I have been doing the wardrobe challenge but have been way too busy (and bug bitten the first few days) to snap/upload photos. I will probably do a collective post at the end of this week to show you all seven of my hipster-ed out outfits.

 I did want to stop by for just a few minutes today and talk about irrational fears, though. Do you have any? I have a few that I can think of and probably several more that I can't. They're so silly, and I usually don't let them bother me but they are often in the back of my head. I suppose as long as they aren't interfering with my life it's ok. Here are a few of my more ridiculous ones:

1. I have an irrational fear of walking in front of a grocery cart. If I go shopping with Stewart and he's pushing the cart, I can't walk in front of it without being terrified that he's accidentally going to push quicker than I'm walking and run over my ankles. Death by run over ankles. It's terrifying!
2. Whenever I am carrying a tea pot with one hand by the handle, I get worried that the handle will break off and the entire pot of tea will come crashing to the floor and ceramic and boiling water will go everywhere. I'm sure the manufacturers of tea pots are smart enough to make handles that are strong enough to avoid this issue, but it still scares me.
3. If I go to the bathroom- at my house or anyone else's house- and the shower curtain is closed, I have to check behind it before doing anything else. There could be a murderer or a drunk kid or a giant spider behind there! It's so much easier for people to just leave their shower curtains open. Less aesthetic, yes... but also way less stressful for me and all the other crazies out there.

Do you guys have any irrational fears? I'd love to hear about them. Cause, you know, there's nothing more amusing than finding out about someone's bizarre/OCD side :)

Love you all! Hopfully back to regular posting soon :)

<3
Em

20 things to do in my 20th year

 It's just a week and a day since my 20th birthday, and I've come up with the brilliant idea of writing down 20 things to do or experience before my 21st. ok, so... I didn't exactly "come up" with the idea, per se... i may have stolen it from the lovely lady over at Yes and Yes who came up with 32 things to do in her 32nd year. But I'm not going to steal any of hers! At least not intentionally. I'm not even going to look at what's on her list. I'm going to make mine first :)

1. Eat a habanero. This could be raw, whole, or cooked in some dish. No ditching the seeds though.
2. Do a one week fast- whole fruits and veggies on days 1, 2, 6, and 7; fresh fruit and veggie juice, water, and herbal tea on days 3 and 5, and water on day 4.
3. Drink ouzo in Greece
4. Get a puppy
5. Sell something handmade
6. Create the perfect chocolate chip cookie
7. Rent and actually use one of those silly work-out DVDs.
8. Make beer
9. Hike Pima Canyon, go camping there.
10. Create a sauce/condiment and name it MSoss.
11. Write a song
12. Go to Summerhaven at the top of Mt. Lemon, ride the ski-lift.
13. Take home-ec, make all the projects.
14.Spend a whole day without using my car (just walk, bike ride, etc)
15. Make this mac n cheese
16. Learn to play a new song on the piano- a recent, alt-folk song which I will also sing to.
17. Go on a grocery trip and attempt to use coupons to save an absurd amount of money
18. Take a photo a day for a month.
19. Beat Stewart at chinese checkers (this is his favorite game in the universe, and I have refused to play him at it since I met him in high school, because I want to get freaking awesome at it before I play him)
20. Make and record music with the people I love.

I may turn this post into a new page, so that I can cross things off as I go and keep track. I may also make a post for each thing I accomplish. This was really fun to write! If any of you feel so inclined as to write your own list of things to try/do, be sure to give me the link so I can check it out!!

love,
em

Get High... on life!

So everyone knows today is 4.20, and stoners across the land are playing hookie and rejoicing in hotboxed rooms full of clouds of earthy, pungent smoke. If you're like me though and you have a quiz which requires memorizing 40 sets of names/dates/3 significant facts on thursday as well as an interest in drugs that expired around the same time you graduated high school... then you might be opting not to take part in the day's festivities. At least the burn-your-throat, cough-up-a-lung, can't-do-anything-productive ones. But that doesn't mean you can't still get high... on life! I'll hold for a groan at my corniness.

...

Alright, done? ok.

I won't take credit for this idea... I was actually inspired by it because when I was a wee 15 year old sophomore in high school, two of the seniors in my drama class came in on April 20th wearing tee shirts with all kinds of activities puff-painted on to them along with the words "high on life". I don't really remember what the activities they had come up with were, although I do know one of them went out and got a tattoo. Anyways, I thought it was a really cool idea! You can have fun and get amaaaazing adrenaline/endorphin highs without touching the green stuff- so if you've got too much to do/prepare for today or you just plain aren't interested in going the drug route, set aside time for one or two of these activities so you can still say you got high today ;)


1. Can you handle spice? Some people hate the slightest hint of heat (it's genetic), but others can't get enough. If you can handle spicy food without proclaiming it inedible, up the ante today and cook/order some food thats got a real kick. I use jalapenos like they're going out of style, and I'm also no stranger to dried chilis such as arbols, anchos, guajillo, new mexican chili pods, etc... but I'd love to add some fresh habaneros (40X hotter than a jalapeno!) to that mix. Spicy food ups your metabolism and acts as a stimulant, so it not only helps you burn more calories, it feels awesome because it sharpens your senses and has an 'awakening' effect!

2. Is it April Showering where you are today? Playing in the rain was SO MUCH FUN as kids, wasn't it? I see no reason why it can't still be. Ditch the umbrella and go outside and enjoy the rain! Dance around, splash in puddles, recreate this iconic scene:


3. If it's dryer out, pack a lunch and go to the nearest swimming hole. The water's bound to be freezing, but jumping in will make all your nerves buzz! Don't think about it, just do it.

4. If spicy food isn't your thing, try doing a fast. If you've never fasted before you could do a raw foods fast (just fresh fruits and vegetables) or a juice fast (pure fresh fruit and veggie juice... none of that corn syrup 5% real juice crap), or if you're a fasting pro you could do a water fast. Your body will feel so clean and fresh and alive at the end of the day!

5. Get a tattoo. If you've been thinking about it for a while and you've just been putting it off, get it today! I don't have any tats because I'm not entirely sure I want any, but if you've made the decision and just haven't gone for it... today's just as good as any.

6. If you decided to go swimming today (#3) and you're feeling extra brave and crazy, go skinny dipping! just make sure you're in a secluded area where no one you wouldn't want to see could.

7. Cut class or take the day off from work. If you hardly ever do this, it'll be exciting to be off doing something fun when everyone else is hard at work. Although, you might run the risk of your coworkers/professors/fellow students assuming you ditched in order to get high on something other than life ;)

8. Find a cliff. Sit on the edge. Check out the stellar view.

9. Have you ever had pure espresso before? It's not for everyone (and if you don't like the taste of normal coffee, forget about it), but it'll give you a buzz that you can't get from your regular cup of joe. And it's so fancy, in that tiny little cup!

10. Buy something absolutely sinful at your local patisserie/cupcakery/chocolate shop. A square of fudge or a little box of truffles or a decadent fruit tart or a cream cheese frosting laden cake. Eat it and don't feel guilty, not for a second.

11. Fish about 5 pennies out of your change jar, go to the nearest fountain or coin pond, and make a wish for each one.

12. Doing good deeds can be a great way to make yourself feel wonderful. My favorite method as of late has been putting spare change in people's expired parking meters, or leaving some extra time in mine. Spend 25 cents, save someone 25 dollars. And honestly, how great does it feel when you snag a spot and find that you already have 30 minutes paid for? I'll tell you how great it feels. It feels freaking excellent.

13. Exercise. I can't express enough just how great sweating gallons and getting your heart pumping to the speed of sound feels. If you can get over the whole "but exercise is boring and i'm tired and i don't want to and it will hurt" thing, do it, if only for 30 minutes. You will feel awesome.

14. Find an open mic. Do something. Stage fright is scary, but performing is exhilarating and I promise you that the minute that spotlight blinds you you will feel nothing but adrenaline and excitement.

15. Sit in a very hot, very still, very silent hot tub/bath. It is both relaxing and stimulating. You will feel so clear-headed once you're done.

16. Drink a pot of jasmine tea. It's delicious and it will give you a gentler, more serene buzz than a pot of coffee.

17. Get a haircut. This might not sound like a very exciting activity, but revamping your style and uncovering a whole new look can have a big impact on how you feel about yourself!

18. Same goes for furniture. Rearrange everything in your room/house, if only just for today. You'll feel like you're living in a whole different house.

19. Go out dancing! Maybe bars and clubs aren't your usual scene, but it can be fun to get dressed up and go out every once and a while to shake your thang. lol. Dancing is sooo exhilarating and your adrenaline will be racing for hours after you've finished.

20. Stay up all night. This might not be practical so don't do it unless you don't have much of anything to do on Thursday, and definitely don't make a practice of it... but staying up all night makes you go right up to the brink of sleepiness and then surpass it. I've heard of people who drink Nyquill and then don't let themselves fall asleep... this is the same thing, but without the Nyquill (I do NOT recommend using it for anything but it's original purpose). The few times I've stayed up all night, I find that surprisingly when the sun rises I no longer feel sleepy but energetic and buzzed and excited for the day.

21. Do something that isn't like you at all. Only once can't hurt! For example, if you never drink, buy one of those mini airplane bottles of tequila and take a shot, complete with lime and salt. If you hate sports, go to the park and give shooting hoops a try (by yourself, if you're terrified of looking like an idiot like me^^). If you're a die-hard carnivore, look up a vegetarian recipe and try your hand at it. If you hardly ever go anywhere other than work-home-school, look up a tourist information site about your town and check out some of the sites or great restaurants you never bother to go to. If you're always with friends or family, make everyone go out and do something else for the night and take over the house. Blast your favorite music, cook/order your favorite food, walk around naked, whatever just do something that you never get to do/would think to do. you might just realize you really enjoy it!

22. Go to the zoo. Honestly, if you don't have kids, how often do you actually think to go to the zoo? The zoo is super cheap usually and it can be a ton of fun.

23. Go to a concert, any concert, and dance like it's the best music you've ever heard. mosh pits aren't for everyone but if you think you can handle it they will definitely get your heart and adrenaline racing!

24. Do something you've been thinking about doing. Have you been playing with the idea of starting a blog? today's your day- just do it! How about quitting your job, reupholstering a chair, starting to draw, going for runs? Don't put it off any longer, make today the first day of the rest of your life.

25. Tell someone what you think. If you've got feelings and emotions bubbling below the surface that you've been trying to keep hidden, let them go today! Don't be rude of course, but get whatever's on your chest the hell off of it. You will feel so light and free.

26. Go out to an abandoned stretch of road, where it is highly unlikely that there will be cops, pedestrians, or other cars. Roll down your windows. Turn up your music. Drive, fast.

 27. Stand on your head. This might sound silly, but the blood rushing to your head is an intense feeling, especially when you right yourself again! If you need to, lean up against a wall while you do it and see how long you can hold the position.

28. Find the nearest sauna. A lot of gyms have them, and they will usually give you a day pass for a few bucks. Sit in the heat and enjoy the wonderful feeling of sweating out all your toxins.

29. Buy yourself something pretty, just because you want it. Don't think about the money for just today. Money can be made. Impulse buys are usually not a good thing, but you deserve to treat yourself every once in a while! Don't feel guilty about it. Don't overthink it. Just do it, and enjoy it, and feel great about it!

30. Start composing a bucket list- a list of all the things you would like to do/accomplish in your life. Then see if you can cross one or two things off today!

 
Whew! hopefully those 30 things will keep you busy and off the dope for today ;) haha. what kinds of things do you do to get your adrenaline racing?

Happy fo-twenny yo.

Lovely Sunday

*Yawn* what a wonderful, relaxing, busy, and fun weekend. Stewie and I had our date on Thursday night and stayed up late late late watching the movie Groundhog Day. Have you seen it? It's a 90s Bill Murray film and neither of us had seen it since we were really little... My parents have it on VHS and I remember staying home sick from elementary school and watching it and thinking it was SUCH a good movie. And it really is. I love revisiting things from years and years ago.

Saturday was really lazy and relaxing (like, stayed in my PJs until 4:30 pm lazy and relaxing), but also pretty productive! I had a human geography and global systems paper to write (and if you were wondering, yes, it is the dullest class in the entire universe) and I was absolutely DREADING it. We were supposed to take our first paper from the semester and revise it/add a whole new concept to it and I HATE doing that kind of thing because when I write papers I usually just write the whole thing out in one sitting and then don't look at it again until the next morning when I reread it and make changes as I see fit. It's always worked for me. I hate spending hours revamping a whole paper... but I decided to get it done and 7 hours later it was. And it's beautiful, let me tell you- 3 pages of figures and tables, 7 pages of text, and a whopping 9 different sources. I better get a good grade on this thing >.<

Stewie convinced me to watch the first two episodes of battlestar galactica after I had finished writing my paper and picked him up from work... And I have to admit, I didn't hate it. It's still not really up my alley but I'm willing to keep going.

But today, sunday, was the really fun and productive day. I took stewart to work and decided to stick around the mall and do some shopping. I was in desperate need of a new wallet, since my current one looked like this:

and since I knew it was unlikely that I would be able to just buy a wallet, I decided to allow myself to spend 20 dollars (woo big money! lol... if only. 'tis the life of a jobless college student). I ended up spending 30 dollars, but I'm not complaining because it was money very well spent! Sometimes it can be really depressing "shopping" during these times, because I can't really afford anything even though everything looks so cute... so my shopping routine is basically just me wandering through rows of cute stuff fantasizing about being able to buy it and then checking the price tag and quickly hurrying along on my way. But today, that depressing routine was mixed in with some excitement at some really sweet deals! I'm not one to flaunt my things around for the world to see, but in this case I think it's pretty awesome that 30 dollars covered all of this:

That's a grey cami, sunglasses, a wallet, 3 cute hair clips, and two gorgeous gorgeous wintery/fall colored dresses- perfect for tucson. yaaaay.

After the mall, I went out to walmart to pick up some yeast and then came home to bake two loaves of fresh bread. I like to bake/cook on sunday so that I have lots of stuff to eat during the week :)

Since then I've been cleaning, doing laundry, messing around online, and putting off homework... I'll get to that after I pick stewart up in a couple minutes. It's been a really great day and busy busy week and I'm excited to start the new week tomorrow- only 3 days of class! Hope your weekend was fun and best wishes for your monday :)

Love,
Em

Halloween Countdown Day 3: So Now You Have a Pumpkin.

You may be asking yourself, "What now?"

Well fear not, I'm here to guide you through a painless, stress-free pumpkin experience.

lol.

Pumpkins are so versatile, aren't they? Bake them into pies and breads, roast them with butter, blend them up into a soup, and of course carve strange faces into them and set them on your porch.

I wish I had time to go through all the different things one could do with a pumpkin, but that would take waaaay more than one post. Today, I'll just be going over the use that everyone is probably seeing the most of these days: pumpkin carving.

Halloween Countdown Day 4: Creepy Cocktails!

  Whaaat? But I thought today was the pumpkin post...

Yeah, it was, and I was pretty darned excited for that post. Unfortunately Stewart had to go and go to work on me, and it's not like I can carve these pumpkins up myself... so that's going to have to wait for tomorrow. Oh well. That just means that for now I can give you some super cool drink recipes!

Halloween Countdown Day 5: Creative Costumes!

So, you may have gathered from the title that this is the first day of a Halloween countdown. If you've been reading this blog, you've probably noticed that I LOVE holidays. I also love countdowns, like the one I made for St. Patrick's Day earlier this year (and yes, each word is a different post). My FAVORITE holiday of ALL TIME, however, is the one happening this Sunday... Halloween!

It's funny because when I was a kid I'm sure my favorite holiday was something more like Christmas, where you get to wake up early and open presents and drink lots of hot chocolate. Halloween was less exciting, since I usually had to go to school that day and all you really do as a kid is dress up and go get a ton of candy. Now that I have the ability to be more creative with my Halloweens though, I can't get enough of them!

Reasons Why Autumn is the Best Season

I'm one of those people that loves notebooks. Seriously, I have a million of them. When I go into a book store, I can't leave without at least looking at the display of pretty books filled with all those wonderful blank pages. It doesn't matter that I already own a bunch that I haven't gotten around to writing in yet- if I see one that catches my eye, I have to buy it. I'm sure I'll never run out of things to write, or places to write them in.

Since I also like to be organized, every notebook ends up having a theme. I have a journal that I take with me when I travel, one for at home, one for in my purse (for when I need to jot down random ideas, shopping lists, or quotes I don't want to forget), one full of poetry, one full of stories, and of course there's a whole slew of those black and white composition books which were my #1 choice of journal throughout middle school and early high school. There are several binders, too, but we won't get into that.

The Little Things

I sat around for the last few days feeling utterly unmotivated and rather glum. My DARLING roommate decided to invite her boyfriend to come stay with us for a few days(I found this out by reading something he posted on her Facebook, not by her actually telling me). He was supposed to be here from this Thursday (tomorrow) until this Sunday. Only, Last Saturday night my roommate walked in and announced that he was actually going to be arriving the next day (last Sunday) and staying until this Saturday. No checking with me beforehand (like she's supposed to do), no willingness to maybe, y'know, have him get a hotel for a few nights of this busy week in which I had a 10 page research paper due AND a midterm, no witnessing my shock and irritation and realizing she had crossed the line, nothing at all. And so, for the last three nights I have been sharing my room with my already tiresome roommate and her camo-duffel-bag-toting, neon-orange-hat-wearing, godzilla-roar-snoring boyfriend. I can't believe it's only Wednesday.

Wine, Cheese, and Chocolate

I just finished watching Julie and Julia. I adore that movie. The first time I saw it was last summer, when S worked at a little movie theatre and we spent a whole afternoon and evening watching movies for free, taking a break only to go out to dinner at my favorite Indian restaurant. I hadn't seen it in it's entirety since then because, although everyone admits it is a good movie, most people don't want to rent it for a movie night or spend the money to buy it. But me, being a foodie, cooking blog geek, and new blogger myself- imagine my delight when I discovered it had been added to Netflix's list of instant movies!

Julie and Julia is a great movie for aspiring food bloggers and chefs alike, because that's exactly what it's about- two women who love to cook and are able to fill a void in their lives with food. Isn't that what a lot of bloggers and casual cooks are doing? We want a hobby, something that makes us happy and brings new dimensions to our lives. Plus, it gives me hope. If Julia Child didn't know how to boil an egg when she got married and Julie Powell didn't get readers until 60 days in, just imagine how far I can go. At least I'd like to hope ;)

St Paddy's Countdown: Day 1 and Spring Break!

So... This is going to be a terribly sad and boring entry for the time being because I left my beloved camera/USB cord in Arizona... so, until I get it in the mail, Girl of a Thousand Faces will be tragically devoid of pictures. Still, I didn't want to get out of the swing of writing so after giving it a good 5 days to see if a temporary cord would magically turn up, I opted to just suck it up and write an entry anyways.

As you know, I was in Arizona for spring break. It was amazing! Spending lots of quality time with my family, boyfriend, and friends in the glorious sunshine with a car to drive and a kitchen to cook in- what more could I possibly want or need? Needless to say I did a LOT of cooking (and movie-watching, and lounging around, and sleeping... not blog writing though! S and I both lapsed into lovey-dovey too busy for the computer mode.) and got to try out a few new things. For instance, the colcannon I made with my Grandma's mashed potatoes- AMAZING. I'm both happy and disgruntled to say that the two casserole dishes I made of it (incredible how adding a head of cabbage makes a mashed potato recipe grow in size!) disappeared entirely before S and I had a chance to eat more than a couple servings of it.

10 of My Favorite Things on the Web

This has been a very busy time, because I'm filling out a leave of absence form (I'm going to be spending next fall going to school in Arizona), managing classes (it's midterm time!), working for my school's phonathon, and getting ready to head back to the desert for spring break this Wednesday (my flight leaves at 6:30 in the morning!). Somehow in the middle of all that I still find time to slack off and spend hours upon end on the internet watching dumb videos, writing blogs, and clicking the stumble button on my browser hundreds of times. I would consider myself a pretty well seasoned stumbler, and I've found some pretty cool things on the internet that I can resort to when my laziness reaches the point where I can't do any "real" work. Below are some of my favorite net finds. Some of them are strange and you might not like them unless you are also an easily-amused college girl with far too much time on her hands. However, a lot of them will probably be useful or amusing to a wide demographic- so check 'em out and see if there are any you've never seen before.