Simplicity

I have a calendar for this year called Simplicity. It has very calming, serene photos and quotes for each month. Since it's December and the year is coming to an end, I thought I would write down the quotes so I could reference them.

True elegance becomes the more so as it approaches simplicity.- Henry Ward Beecher

Purpose is what gives life a meaning. -Charles Henry Parkhurst

How many undervalue the power of simplicity! But it is the real key to the world. -William Wordsworth

A day out-of-doors, someone I loved to talk with, a good book and some simple food and music- that would be rest. - Eleanor Roosevelt

Simplicity is the glory of expression. - Walt Whitman

If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, 'thank you,' that would suffice. - Meister Eckhart

The grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love, and something to hope for. -Joseph Addison

The ordinary arts we practice every day at home are more of importance to the soul than their simplicity might suggest. -Thomas Moore

The greatest truths are the simplest. -Hosea Ballou

Simplicity is a jewel rarely found. -Ovid

Teach us delight in simple things, and mirth that has no bitter springs. -Rudyard Kipling

The sunshine of life is made up of very little beams, that are bright all the time. -Conrad Potter Aiken



I always strive to live simply, but it never works. Maybe that will be my 2013 goal.

Been a while

Well it's been a while since I posted in here. I guess that's what the end of the semester does for someone's free time. I always found free time elsewhere but for some reason didn't feel like writing.

I'm done with college. It hasn't hit me yet but I will write about it when it does. My exams were hard and I don't feel like I did well but you never know.

Beautiful Day for Football

MSU Shadows

Today was my final final home game of my undergraduate career. What??? I have always loved Spartan Football. I missed one season and otherwise went to all the other games (except for one this year when I was really sick) It really doesn't matter the weather, when the announcer yells "IT'S A BEAUTIFUL DAY FOR FOOTBALL," you just have to be happy and ready to watch an awesome game. Unfortunately, we lost this game but it was still fun. We had a bad season and lost a lot of close games. I still bleed green. I will always bleed green. It's invigorating to go to football games and be a part of 75,000+ other people in a family of Spartans. Thank you, MSU for this opportunity and GO GREEN!

Julie and Ryan

Julie, Ryan and I at Pablo's

This post is for some awesome friends I have. We went to Guatemala together for spring break 2010 and our group quickly became family. It's kind of funny how close we got. The trip was insane. I would describe it for you, but it's probably only exciting to me. Just know this: 24 hours of travel each way in the rain with everyone carrying 4 bags full of donations to leave there, a different activity to help people every day, climbing an active volcano to roast marshmallows at the top, and seeing poverty in the world. Oh, and riding around standing up in the back of a pick-up truck as our form of transportation. Those were the days.

I recently rekindled my friendship with Ryan and Julie. We've always been excited to see each other and I've seen and gotten to know Ryan a lot better, but I mostly was good friends with the Laurens on the trip. But R, J and I all have a group message and we tell each other about our days. They are the most encouraging people, and I always thought they were crazy but they're awesome. We make each other laugh, constantly say good luck on whatever someone is doing, console each other if a test or application doesn't go as well as planned, etc. I am so happy I'm becoming better friends with these two. So much laughter and love. Ok I'm done. It's so fine :)

Homelessness

I went to another Least of my Brothers and Sisters meeting last night. This time it was about homelessness in Lansing. I really did not know how prevalent it is in the greater Lansing area but it's something close to 4,000 people don't have homes. A lot of the men stay in shelters and families try to stay at Haven House but often can't. It really tears families apart. The reasons for homelessness vary and all kinds of people stay in the shelters. They said even people who have PhDs and multiple graduate degrees sometimes end up there. Otherwise anger, drugs, alcohol, other bad behavior, lack of a job, lack of money to keep their homes, etc. The list goes on.

There was a guy named N (I'm just going to call him that) who was in his mid 20s who came to talk to us. N was badly bullied as a child, got into drugs, alcohol, and violence at an early age and was in prison by the time he was 15. He was in and out of rehab, prison, jail, school, and often burned bridges with his family and friends. He became addicted to heroin and that became his only drive in life: to get high and get more heroin. He didn't care about the diseases associated with sharing needles (Hepatitis C, HIV/AIDS) but just needed to feel better. He has a daughter who he loves but hasn't seen since she was a baby. He was very violent and has a hard time finding a job. People tried to help him but he simply did not want help. He did not want to be alive. He was homeless sleeping on the streets for 3 years in all kinds of weather. He would sleep under some bushes near the river. One day it clicked for him that he needed to get help. He also realized he needed to find God. 7 months ago he went to the mission downtown and has been in a program to get better ever since. It's very structured on prayer, chores, and helping others. I never would have believed the things he talked about because he looks like he's doing really well. Last week, N apparently started thinking about his future, not dwelling on his past. He might want to go to college and get a job. It's amazing to see. He was very mild mannered and said everything he does goes to God.

We also talked a lot about homelessness in general. A lot of people have mental illnesses that the state really doesn't care about so they end up homeless. The people who hold cardboard signs only want money, generally to pay for their drug and alcohol addictions. People are sick, hungry, and some are out of chances to get better in life.

If you see a homeless person, here are a few things you can do:
-Say hi!
-Smile :)
-offer to get them a sandwich or burger,
-never give them money
-talk to them, everyone wants someone to talk to and acknowledge their presence
-also, volunteering anywhere is a great way to help out. Tutoring kids and giving them a dream that they can be doctors, nurses, astronauts, firemen, police officers, etc and inspiring them to get an education and not end up on the streets is huge. Every kid you can help saves a life, and all it takes is your time.

I really want to help these people.

Love

Today the message was all about LOVE. Love others as you want to be loved. Treat others with love always. Show your love to them.

That was the message at church today. The priest then went on to say something along the lines of "When people come to marriage counseling with me, there are two kinds of people. People who hate each other but just need some help. Or there are people who are apathetic toward each other and should find a nice divorce lawyer because apathy is the opposite of love. But for those who need a little water or fertilizer to make their love grow again, I encourage them to find those ways to do that. Sometimes fertilizer is all you need. (*cue giggles from everyone in the church*) Oh, you guys you know what fertilizer is? You need to have a LOT of fertilizer." I think this was the funniest that church has ever been. But I absolutely love this message. Communication, some fertilizer in whatever form you want, and a mutual understanding that this is what you both want is all you need to cultivate the love we all deserve.

So go out and love someone. Love them with all your heart, all your soul, all your spirit, all of your being. That's what we're supposed to do. Love yourself and then show that love to others. Put them first in happiness, well being, and life. And when you do that, you love them.

I know who I love. I could not be more thankful even though I'm bad at showing it sometimes. I try my best and that's all I can do. All you need is love...

Sandy

I really want to help the people affected by Hurricane Sandy. I donated $$ to the Salvation Army and am trying to get my Lansing area friends to help me send a box to someone (my friend Liz or a school I found that's accepting donations) of clothes, blankets, food, etc. It's really the least we can do since, you know, our houses and everything we own didn't get destroyed recently. Although, I kind of want to send something to Cuba or the Bahamas because those are the people who really need the stuff but I'll help however I can. I'd want a random college kid to help if I was in the same position.

Things are looking up!

I've been down on myself because I feel like my life is stagnant. Some parts are moving and people are changing but I feel like my path isn't going anywhere lately. But then I stepped back and realized how it has:

Regarding graduate school:
-signed up for the GRE, taking it soon
-got all my teachers to agree to write me letters of recommendation
-started my personal statement... need to make it better
-filled out most of the application
-went to the registrar office and had them send my transcripts to the place
-narrowed down the list of schools to apply to
-looked at faculty who would be cool to work with at said schools

Regarding a job:
-one might open up in Lansing and would be flexible and I could stay here a little longer
-need to find a new place, but there are quite a few open for fairly cheap

Regarding life:
-emailed about volunteering in different places
-made necessary appointments
-go home and see my nieces as often as I can
-talk to friends and family who make me happy :)
-see friends and family who make me happy
-was chosen to carry the awkward LB college banner at graduation. Woop dere it is.

Things are looking up... finally :)

Whoops

This has been a crazy week, thus the lack of blogging. I have a biochemistry test this Friday and have been frantically trying to get through all of the lectures to learn the stuff. It's not going well... This weekend I went home to see the little girlies that I love. I tried to upload a video of Rosie being Rosie but it didn't work very well. Not a pro blogger yet...

I called my boyfriend this morning (after not brushing my teeth/washing face because I just snuggled up in my bed and fell asleep. Whoops) and he has an old comforter that he was going to give to an animal shelter. I then thought about something that my friend Ryan told me that he was at a coffee shop and a random homeless man came to talk to him. They had a nice conversation about how important it is to be optimistic because things will always improve. I then got to thinking, I'm cold in my house right now. I have a space heater and lots of blankets to cuddle under. But these people don't. They may not have a warm blanket. So I called Nick and told him we both should bring our old blankets to homeless people. There are a TON on all of the street corners, always asking for a dollar or two. But wouldn't they enjoy a nice warm blanket? I surely have a few to spare. Goodbye, Snuggie, I hope you find a new home. I'm going to wash them today and make them all nice and smell good. I just really want to do this. Especially with the storm going on right now, we have to think about those people who are in need more than ourselves. Keeping those who are affected by Hurricane Sandy in my thoughts and prayers and hope everyone is safe.

Inconsiderate

I think one of the things that puzzles me the most about this world is inconsiderate people. You feel so much better about yourself when you do nice things for other people, right? Why not do small things that make other people's lives easier and not harder. Of course, not everything is this simple. Many things are far more complicated but what I'm trying to say is simple: be nice to people. So one thing that I've written about before but this weekend nearly had me in tears was the fact that boys do not do dishes. If they do, they only do theirs and then it's done. Simple. They leave them there for weeks like it's no big deal. It's someone else's stuff to deal with. But really, it would take you 2 minutes to take that sponge and wipe up the mostly clean dish that the other person left soaking. People are so wrapped up in their lives, studies, video games, and TV to give two seconds about anyone else. I fall into this, too, of course. I don't always help out when needed. But I feel like I do my fair share. I try to not be selfish. Maybe that's the way I was raised but I really hate it. I also don't understand when people don't hold the door open for other people. Like really? You can do that. Just do the little things to improve the world. That's all I'm asking. And clean up after yourself, PLEASE.

60 years

I went to my grandparent's 60th wedding anniversary celebration today. Can you imagine that? Being married to someone for 60 years, having 8 children and who knows how many grandchildren and great grand children with them? They're such wonderful people and it was a great celebration. Just family and friends gathered together to celebrate love. What could be better?

Talking

I went to talk to someone yesterday. He was a psychologist and I told him about my anxieties. I wish he could have helped me more. I told him about all of my worries and how they make me feel. He told me to go talk to someone else. He talked really fast and I felt like I was talking at a snails pace comparatively. He said that talking to someone about all of these things would help me, and that being a senior and not knowing what comes next is a completely normal thing to feel anxious about since you're not exactly in control of your future anymore. All through school you have one more year or one more semester to cushion your time before you enter the real world. Those are scary words. So I might find someone to keep talking to, but as he also said I don't have much time before I graduate and all that jazz. Then I don't know what I'm doing come January. Lalala I'll just stay in college forever.

Drive

Has anyone else discovered Google Drive? It's like an entire external hard drive but on the internet through your Google account. I'm currently uploading all of my documents and music onto there because for some reason my external hard drive won't work with my Mac. So... that's a random helpful hint for the day!

An ode to tailgaters by M.M. Long:

As I drive my car down the street,
I wonder who I may meet
And as I look in my rearview mirror
I can see it so much clearer
Yes, you are right behind me
So close that I cannot see
Your front bumper at all
There isn't enough room for a ball
To fit between your front bumper and mine.
But I know that I will be fine
Because you will be at fault if we crash
Oh darn! Michigan has a no fault law, that gives me a rash
I am leaving plenty of distance to my front
But the fact that you leave 3 inches makes me grunt.
Your driving makes me so nervous- is it right?
Is it necessary for your driving to cause others fright?
Let's say we were driving 70 miles per hour
Do you think you would have enough time to stop or would you go sour?
You might be in a hurry
And slightly in a scurry
But please get off my tail
Or I will loudly wail
I always want to stop quickly
But then I wonder if you're tickly
And if you're paying attention to the road
Or just to where you have to go and bring the load.
If you all could just give me a little more room
That would be great, I would even give you a broom.
But you wouldn't need a broom to clean up the broken glass
Because you are driving better- even when you go fast!
So overall I just want to say
Back off and I will get out of your way.

fears

Long toe nails scare me and are definitely in the top 10 of the list. That is all.

Least of our Brothers and Sisters

Last week Wednesday I went to a lecture series at my church called Least of our Brothers and Sisters. It's all about poverty and how we can make small strides to combat it, even though it's been a problem since the beginning of human existence. We watched a 20/20 movie about a town called Camden, New Jersey. Camden (at the time in 2005) was the poorest town with the highest crime rate in the country. The documentary followed 3 kids around for a year. Ivan, age 4 lived with his mother and brother and were homeless. The family bounced around from nasty apartment to nasty apartment and were always thrown out because they couldn't pay for it. Ivan went to kindergarten but had trouble because his mother could barely read. One super sad/interesting part was when Ivan sat down with the principal of the school and they were going through a book to see what Ivan knew. He could count to 3,  identify a few things, but when asked "what are the three meals we eat in a day called?" Ivan responded "Um... collard greens, bread, um..." but the principal talked him through "breakfast, lunch and dinner." So sad that he doesn't even know what meals are, let alone most likely eats about once a day- when he was at school that's when he ate the most and would sneak extra food for his brother. He also had to cover his head with his pillow at night to not hear the gun shots outside his window. This is mind blowing for me.

Another kid they followed around was Billy and he was 17 and the first person in his family to graduate from high school. He was close at one point to failing his english class. He also had to commute 1 hour to a neighboring town every day to work in fast food because Camden didn't have even a fast food job available. He worked 5 hours a day 3 days a week. He lived with his dad, siblings, and his nieces but none of them had a steady income so their house was infested with rats, cockroaches, etc. They barely ate and when they did they used food stamps but when the money ran out they had no food.

Then there was a little girl (I can't remember her name) who was 6. She was the brightest one in the class at first, but as the year progressed her family life impacted her school work. Her mother may have worked, but her dad was an alcoholic who spent all of the family's money on beer and liquor. The parents fought all the time. The little girl tried to tell her dad to get help, and he went to rehab 5 times but really just wanted to hang himself to be dead.

Camden is about 10 miles away from a town called Moorestown, an upper middle class town where 90% of the kids go to college and have cars and their only worries are if they will get into college or what sports team they will make. Hmm sounds like Forest Hills.

It just amazes me that poverty like this happens in the US. Although I feel bad about saying this, I know other places in the world have it a lot worse, but it is still crazy that people don't eat or have access to food or shelter. It also made me feel bad about buying things that I do and about the worries I have. I have plenty of food, water, and a roof over my head. I have a support system that would help me if I was in need. I didn't hear gun shots outside my window and have an education. Most of the people I know are in the same boat as I am. But a lot of people don't see these problems or want to do anything about them. They just want to move up in the world and be the best they can be. I want to be successful, have a nice house and a loving family but I also am realizing that helping those who are less fortunate than me, the least of our brothers and sisters if you will, is really important to me. I've talked about a few reasons why or what I want to do, but I want to figure out more ways to do this. So that's what I will look for in the near future.

The truth.

I think we need a Julia post.

Julia is so cute! She's my goddaughter (baptism is around Thanksgiving maybe) and I can't wait! She just cuddles up to you and squeaks and of course poops on your hand and leg and sock and sweater! Photos:

 I cropped her girl parts out of this photo (those don't need to be on the internet even though they're on Facebook oops) and you can see the "mustard" on my leg. Oh girl. I was just changing her and she just shot me with her poop all over. It got everywhere and that was a good foot away. I still love her. 

 Papa Justin with his daughters. So precious. 

 Me and my nieces Rosie and Julia. So much love

 Sleeping baby love. 

 Nick's sister Rachel with Julia. She loved seeing her and thought Rosie was the cutest little girl. 

 This was my afternoon one day. 

 Haha Rosie and I. She loves phones. "Fo Fo" is what she calls them. 

 It's amazing how tiny her hands are compared to mine. 

Julia Michelle is named after my grandma Julia (shown above) and her loving godmother (ME!!) and people say her name is beautiful. I'd have to agree :) 

She is a week and a half old and very healthy. She sleeps most of the time except when her mom wakes her up to eat and change her diaper (bully!) She can even sleep through Rosie screaming so that's amazing. Rosie is doing pretty well but has been crying and throwing more temper tantrums to get attention. She's so concerned when the baby cries. She puts her hand over her heart and says "baby baby" and has this face that melts your heart. We just have to tell her that mommy and daddy have baby Julia and she's ok. Rosie also wakes up whenever Julia cries. My poor sister hasn't been sleeping much but she seems to be ok. Rosie also kisses Julia on the head and strokes her and says "nice" in her deep voice and it's the most adorable thing ever. Ok. I love these little girls. It's true :) 

Dish drainer

I think my biggest pet peeve in the entire world involves dishes. I absolutely cannot stand when people put dishes in the dish drainer (or if you're fortunate enough to have a dishwasher) carelessly. I have yet to live with a roommate who doesn't do this, so maybe I just care too much about it. For instance, plates neatly stack together and can fit nicely if you stack them next to each other in those little slots. They dry fine if they're close together. And think about how much easier it is to put them away if they're all stacked next to each other?!? Bowls can hug each other (slash spoon?) and fit nicely together too. Ugh I just unloaded the dish drainer and everything was carelessly thrown in it and everything was still wet even though it had been drying all night. It was awful. I'm literally still cringing. Plus most of it was still dirty. And one of my roommates doesn't exactly put things away he just leaves clean pots and pans on the stove. BOYS.  The kitchen is cluttered enough as it is so put things away and it will look cleaner! When it comes to the dish washer, the top shelf is for mugs, glasses and cups as well as plastic things that would melt if on the bottom shelf. The bottom shelf is for plates and bowls and if need be other things to fill up the dishwasher so you can run it. For some reason I don't like washing things like pots and pans in the dishwasher. It freaks me out. And the counters need to be wiped down after cooking anything. I don't trust them most of the time. They're dirty with bacteria and who knows what food particles. Ew.

I think I need to live alone or with one person who I can teach these rules to so I don't freak out every time I'm in the kitchen.

Posting a lot today.

I emailed an organization called La Isla Foundation that my friend Bethany told me about. They are based in Nicaragua and do public health work in a town that is plagued with chronic kidney disease because of the pesticides and water conditions. Does this sound perfect for me or is it exactly what I want to do? Yes. Yes yes yes. I told them about my availability and desire to volunteer/intern after I graduate in December. Honestly it would be great to escape for January and February away from the winter, but I am also leading an Alternative Spring Break trip in March to Alabama so will need to be around to prepare for that. We shall see. I'm just excited to have found a place that I could work on my passion.

Brands

I don't really know when it happened, but I have slowly started wearing more "brand name" clothing. When I was in middle school, I had gozillionares in my class and other kids could wear American Eagle clothes (woah...) while I had my Old Navy Outlet clothes and felt supremely inferior. Now I find myself wearing mostly brand name stuff and I'm not sure if I like it. Like right now, I'm wearing a Patagonia quarter zip fleece, Victoria's Secret underwear, Levi's jeans, Smartwool socks, and Sperry shoes. I walk around with my Apple computer in my North Face backpack and my new iPhone 5. I feel fake.

I think for the next year or so, I'm going to try to buy less name brand stuff. Really, I don't need to buy anything for about a year in terms of clothes so maybe I'll make that a goal, or if I do to get them at Goodwill. I see so many people walking around campus wearing ridiculous clothes and carrying ridiculous bags and backpacks. Is it worth it? Why do we as Americans feel the need to spend so much money on clothes when there are bigger problems that need our money? I do find that my brand name stuff lasts longer than my other stuff but still, is it worth it? My fleece is warmer than other coats I have. I guess this goes with my quest to be less materialistic (except for some reason when it comes to home goods).

Goal: for the next year, I will not buy clothes unless I need them. Let's see if I can stick to this.

As Graduation looms nearer

I'm graduating in December and this is a really scary thought. I was talking to my friend about it yesterday and we realized that if we graduate in December and start grad school (or in his case medical school) in August, we have 8 months to spare. We both agreed that we need to work, but who would hire someone for only 8 months? Surely a restaurant or something, but we both want something more science-y, academic and mentally challenging. It's really scary to think about what the future holds. I have a lot of friends who graduated in May and they're all off doing completely different things. Some are back at home, looking for a job and readjusting to family life. Some went to grad school or medical school. Some have stuck around East Lansing or their college town to relive the glory days. And some are doing completely different jobs around the country. I really want to go abroad somewhere and learn about the water problems in those areas. I don't know how that will fit into grad school interviews and all, but I'd like to find an organization where I can go for a month or 2 and just live the dream there.

Also, I just got an email that students can be speakers for graduation. I have zero idea why I'm considering it, but I am. I have a mediocre GPA compared to others, way less extracurricular activities besides my study abroad, and haven't always loved school as much as others seem to enjoy school. But I love MSU with all my heart. Hmm. Thoughts?

Own place

I cannot tell you how excited I am to have my own apartment/house/place of residence. I like having roommates, but for some reason lately I just want to have a place I can call my own. My own dishes and way of putting them away, my own cleanliness, my own way of decorating. I think part of this stems from the fact that I live with 3 boys, 2 dogs (husky and husky mutt that shed soooooooooooooooooo much), a turtle, 2 snakes, and various other critters. The house is just... dirty. From the dog hair and dander to mud and leaves that come into the house, it's just... dirty. There's literally a layer of filth over everything. I don't even let the dogs upstairs in my room but there's always dog hair everywhere. It's not a bad house and I have my own floor and space that I am in 95% of the time I'm at home, but it's just not the ideal living situation. Whenever I go into stores, I scour the clearance section to find house ware items. Oh plates are on sale? If I had my own place I would need plates. Or look at that pot and pan set? That's a good price. Too bad I already have pots and pans at my current house. I don't know why I'm going through this, but I'm almost excited for grad school so I can have my own place. I almost want to live alone even though it will be more expensive and although I get afraid whenever I'm home alone, I think it would be a nice change of pace.

Give it all away

Does anyone else get those feelings? You know, those feelings that you just need to give everything you own away? I get these feelings often. I think how much simpler life would be if I could rid myself of all of my material possessions and live out of a backpack. Then I realize I'm very practical and have been called a boy scout with my preparedness for any situation. I pride myself on this. But I guess I could carry band-aids around with me and still have less stuff in general.

Whenever I get those feelings, I start with clothes. I look through everything I own but then I get sentimental. "Oh, that shirt looks really good on me," or "I will use that one day." But will I really? Do I need that many shirts and pairs of sweatpants? I love the smell of clean laundry so wouldn't washing a limited amount of clothes more often please my nose? I also love buying things. I think it's American. But I'm cheap. Or I get donations from my sister and they're always the clothes I wear the most often.

I have a little crawl space attached to my room that's filled with boxes. Boxes of memories. Boxes of baby stuff (yeah, I still have every Congratulations! card from when I was born and a few random momentos of my infancy.) Also there's a box of scrapbooks from when I was about 13. Then I have a box full of "high school memories" aka my high school diploma and graduation cap, photo albums, cross country spikes, etc. Then my college box has nearly every note I've ever taken. I always think "Oh, I'll use this again in the future!" But will I really? Shouldn't I just recycle them and look up the information online if I really need it? I'm far too sentimental to get rid of everything, even though I REALLY want to.

Perhaps one of these days I'll get around to getting rid of it all. I really want to now that I've been writing about it. I should do something else right now with my time, though. But getting rid of everything would simplify life and make room for more memories. It would also make moving way easier.

Go ahead, take everything from me.

Pinterest love rant

I don't know why I love Pinterest so much. Well yes, I do, but it's because it has so many ideas that I would have never thought of on my own. This summer I made a lot of Pinterest crafts, and I will put pictures of them up soon. It just amazes me how fairly cheap items can be made pretty by a coat of paint or some twine.

Mason jar that I hot glued twine I bought from the dollar store. It took a while to wrap around and the glue is kind of chunky but it looks really cool. I added a white ribbon I had and it's a great pen and scissor organizer! 

This project was a work in progress for a while. I painted an image of a trail going through the woods but it looked sloppy. Then painted it white, then yellow with Rust-Oleum Summer Squash yellow spray paint and added this quote that my boyfriend tells me a lot. I love the splash of yellow!

Found this lamp at Volunteers of America, a local thrift store for $3. It had a hideous pink horse lampshade so I threw that away and found this one for $6 at Meijer. Spray painted the base with the same yellow (note: I am obsessed with this color, as you will see) and I love the result! I just need to get better at spray painting and not making it drip...

 My grandma gave me this little box which I spray painted yellow (oh really?) and then used a spray adhesive (Elmer's brand) and stuck pieces of twine to it. Also spray painted this ugly trash can yellow to make it more fun!

 I bought a picture frame and some river pebbles (why didn't I just find them on the street... no idea) from Michael's and hot glued the pebbles on the frame. It took a while and I tried to vary the colors so there weren't too many whites or blacks, but I really like the result. The light was on when I took this picture but it's my favorite one of me and my fella.

I had this old picture frame that wouldn't work on a table top (the little stand was too short or something) so I took that off, put a piece of scrapbook paper in the frame, took the glass off, added push pins and hung it on the wall for a cute necklace organizer.

Most of these crafts I found on Pinterest or just got inspiration from the old random things I had lying around. Reusing and repurposing is the best way to go! I really want to make a laptop case but my sewing skills are lacking and school has started and I didn't do it all summer so... that may not work.

I dress way cuter now that I have Pinterest to give me ideas. How to tie scarves? Yep! Add a little necklace or ring for decorative appeal? Ok! How to combine the different pieces of your wardrobe? I already kind of knew these but I love the ideas people come up with. Also, Refashionista.net is a fantastic website of a girl who only bought clothes from thrift shops or donations from family and friends for a year and would do some sort of sewing project with them. She made some REALLY ugly pieces beautiful again.

Also, two of my favorite things about Pinterest are 1) how to save money tips and 2) cleaning product tips. As a college kid, I'm always looking for ways to save money. Whether it's from recipes for food (chicken fried rice) that you could get from a restaurant or make for a fraction of the price at home, or how to save on utilities, where to get discounts, cheap date ideas, or random websites that simply list how to save a dime, they are all SO helpful. I also really like all of the natural cleaning products that people use. Things like hydrogen peroxide, vinegar, baking soda, and BLUE Tide can be used to clean everything in the house. These are way cheaper and safer than bleach and other cleaning products and apparently do really well at cleaning! I have yet to try them, but once again frugal me is looking forward to trying them!

Ok. I love Pinterest. So many ideas. The end.

A post that isn't about babies

I'm sitting in Wanderer's Teahouse in East Lansing, MI drinking my Moroccan Mint tea and eating a vegan no bake cookie. I'm trying to study and watch Biochemistry lectures but I'm too hyper to study. I don't know why I got the vegan cookie. I sometimes understand the idea of being a vegetarian and vegan but then I think how delicious meat is. I saw a bumper sticker last week: "Meat is murder. Yummy, delicious murder." 

I can tell you one thing I don't want to do: be a biochemist. I like the idea of using chemistry to do things that involve biology but all the chemical processes are not the most desirable to learn. I need to force myself to learn them anyway. I feel like that's what most of undergrad and school in general is about. Forcing yourself to learn things you don't necessarily want to but what some other person decided you needed to and that those classes have to do with what you're interested in. Some of the classes I've taken are completely unrelated to my major but I loved them. I guess I don't like memorizing, except for Organic Chemistry but that's a definite exception. I don't know. I'm just complaining for no reason. Education is good and I'm learning a lot. 

I promise I have more interesting things to say. I just am realizing how much I have in the next week and a half: 

Friday- Stats test. Have I been paying attention in class? Negatory. 

Sometime this weekend- going home to see the babies (I can't stop thinking about them) 

Next Wednesday- Prokaryotic Physiology Exam. I should probably study... 

Next Thursday- Geography HW due. Shouldn't be too bad and I get to be creative! 

Next Friday- Biochemistry Exam. Dun. Dun. Dun. 

Sometime: write personal statement, fill out grad school apps, study for the GRE, take the practice GRE, get letters of rec done. This whole applying to grad school thing is tedious but I'm actually feeling like it's the right thing to do. 

Ok. PRODUCTIVITY is going to commence now. 

Get used to it... I'm going to talk about Julia

Rosie and I gazing at Julia. Rosie was mostly just petting Julia and saying "baby baby sister" I love this picture. 

I went home yesterday to go see Julia. I got in the room and almost immediately snatched her from my brother-in-law. She is beautiful and a wonderful little girl. She is healthy and happy, loves to be held and loves to eat. That's honestly all you can ask from a newborn. She has this little short hair all over, is so soft, and definitely has that wonderful newborn baby smell that everyone always talks about. Her little toes are wrinkled and purple but are still adorable. She sleeps most of the time unless she's eating. She doesn't like when we change her sharty diapers. She even sharted when my hand was on her butt. I love her anyway.

Last night I was in the car with Rosie and she was going over her day. She's 19 months, so her mind is a little scattered. I asked her who she saw today and who was in her family. She said "Daddy, Momma. Sister! Baby sister!" I mean it was more like sisssssta but it counts. It's amazing that she just gets it that she has a baby sister. Then this morning I showed her pictures of Julia and every single time she said "sister! sister!" and loves her. The most adorable. Rosie towers over little Julia but it's amazing how fast they develop.

I'm enthralled.

Julia

Julia Michelle on her birthday

October 1, 2012 at 4:42am in Grand Rapids, MI a little lovebug named Julia Michelle was born. I cannot wait to see her. She is so cute and is a cute sleeper and this is how I will spend my night. Loving her and taking care of her older sister, the trouble maker who loves the beach.

First post!

One of my friends started a blog recently all about her life and thoughts and I realized I need a tangible way of sorting out the crazy thoughts that run through my brain. I have a few months left of my undergraduate career and they are going to be crazy. I had to go an extra semester past the normal 4 years because I tried a different major that I soon realized wasn't for me. I also had to fit all of my science classes around my study abroad since I couldn't take any there, so that also added time. I'm now in this weird limbo between being done with college and ready to move to a different place and being glad that I have this extra semester to figure everything out everything I want to do.

Any day now, I will be an auntie for the second time and I cannot wait for the little snuggle bug to come out and cuddle with me. I get to be the godmother. I don't think I can express how much I am looking forward to this. I have no idea what the future holds, but I have lots of thoughts and questions that still need to be answered so I guess I'm looking forward to what lies ahead.

I guess one thing this semester has done is to reaffirm what I want to do in the future. Although I'm too afraid to actually take the leap and do something about the problem, I know my passion. It's really strange to find a passion. I feel like some people easily find their passions- whether it's art or music (those seem to come easily for some reason) or some kids love nature and science, others want to know everything that happened in the past, and some are passionate about the future and what could be out there in that blazing, hazing mixture of stars and planets and the universe. My passion came to me on March 4, 2011 around 4:30 pm near exit 21 on I-75 just north of Cincinnati, Ohio. There's a patch of trees just past the exit that must have magic fairies that scream your passion at you. That voice inside my head that keeps me up at night just had a simple phrase to tell me that fateful day. It said "You should do something to get clean water for the people in the world who don't have access to it." That was it. I had been thinking and praying and asking lots of people what I should do. Some said "Be a doctor!" Others said "Be a teacher!" "Be a pharmacist!" "Be a physician's assistant!" "Be an artist!" But those don't appeal to me. They're awesome careers and professions for some people, but just are not for me. As I thought about it more, clean water is something that I completely take for granted. We all do in the United States. It's something we expect, not something we hope for. Not something we walk miles per day just to carry heavy jugs of to wash and eat and keep our families semi-healthy. I then did my research and found that ONE BILLION PEOPLE in the world don't have access to clean water. Can you fathom that? ONE BILLION is a huge number. We're always amazed when a person has a net worth of ONE BILLION dollars. It's 1,000,000,000. Then I learned that TWO BILLION people live on less than $2 per day. It's hard to find anything in the US that you can spend only $2 on- candy, lottery ticket, stuff from dollar stores and the dollar section at Target just to name a few. Learning all of this absolutely blew my shoes off my feet.

That ^ is that inspiration for this blog's name. I need to go do homework (it's Sunday afternoon already) but hope this blog is semi-interesting. I think I need to write down my thoughts and sort them out. This might get semi-journaly but that's ok. It's my blog! And of course I will post pictures of my new niece when she is born... and talk about her all the time and her big sister Rosie who was born on my big day of inspiration and passion. Here's a picture from this summer of Rosie. She's going to be such a good big sister!

-Michelle