Thank you, Penn (not Penn State)

Students are returning to college campuses around the US, which means that I'm being forced to procrastinate by reading Facebook Newsfeeds, FmyLifes, and Texts From Last Night all about the stupid decisions that they are making. In honor of their bad decisions, I've decided to make a list of things I miss now that I've been out for over a year. Some led to bad decisions, others I just plain miss.

• Day drinking - Now when I pop open a beer at 1pm I look like an alcoholic, in college I looked normal.
• Eating whatever I want - I used to love cheese fries. I haven't had them in at least 6 months.
• Close proximity to friends - It was so much easier walking up a flight of stairs to see my good friends. Now I have to fly all the way up the East Coast.
• Close proximity to, well, everything - Going to school in Philadelphia meant that I didn't need a car. I could walk to the grocery store, to class, to work, take the subway downtown. Now it's a minimum 15 minute drive to get anywhere. Life was so much better when I could go for strolls around campus whenever I wanted to. (Except at 2am when the real residents of West Philly strolled about.)
  
• Parental Funding - Granted, I worked all four years of college, but having my parents back me up with grocery money each month made day drinking and eating whatever I wanted at 3am far less of a financial strain.*
• Lounging on The Green - When you had an hour to kill between classes, you could lounge around on the grass and quickly accumulate a large group of people with nowhere else to go. Lounging to college students is like honey to flies. Who wants to be a motivated, prosperous human being when the sun is shining and friends are amassing?
  
• Making bad decisions - If someone goes out now, gets wasted, and ends up sleeping in their underwear on the couch they're frowned upon. In college, that was a normal Friday night.

I was hoping that I'd be over my four year affair with college by now, but the sad part is that the bitch (pardon my French) ripped my heart out. We had a good, no great, thing going for 4 years and I was just shoved out there door with no more than a piece of paper stating that I'd been there. It's no better than an "I survived Pike's Peak" t-shirt. I want to go back! I want to survive it again, and again, and again.

I'm painfully bringing myself to believe that this feeling, this desire means that I got out of college what I was supposed to. A great experience, great friends, great memories, and a great education. So, as much as I miss it and hate it for dumping me, I have to thank Penn for 4 of the best years of my life.

Hurrah for the Red and Blue!

*I must apologize to my parents, who I'm sure knew about all of these shenanigans. Mom, Dad, your money went to groceries, I swear. A girl's gotta eat.

School Supplies + Mo = True Love

My husband and I stopped into Walmart today on our way to the Post Office. There were 2 things on my shopping list: Skirt hangers & a specific shade of OPI nail polish. Sadly, Walmart does not sell OPI and my quest for the shade "Got a Date To-Knight" is still on. I did find myself a bunch of new hangers which will aid in my never-ending quest to perfectly organize my closet.

Why am I telling you about my mundane, uneventful journey to Walmart? BACK TO SCHOOL SHOPPING. It slaps you in the face as you walk into Walmart, Target, or any major store and makes me wish I could be back in school.

I have always loved back to school shopping. Not the kind of love I have for hangers or chips and salsa, but the kind of love that makes you giddy as a school girl, that makes it impossible to sleep at night, that makes your hands shake as the day Mom has designated as back to school shopping day draws near. This isn't back to school clothes shopping that I'm referring to, however. No, that shopping was left to kids who went to public school and had the option of jeans and fun t-shirts every day. I'm talking supplies. Folders, notebooks, pens, pencils, erasers, colored pencils, pencil cases, everything.

I used to immediately scan my list of necessary items for each class with sheer bliss. What color 1-in binder for Social Studies will I get this year? What color book covers should I get for my textbooks? Do I want to write in blue or black ink? Should I get gel pens to decorate my covers or a stash of Yikes! pencils? Do I get a Lisa Frank folder or a Trapper Keeper? (Yes, I went to middle school in 90s. Jealous, much?)

The options were endless! As I grew older and went to high school, I was forced to fit in and buy less exciting folders and binders. This didn't squelch my excitement for back to school shopping, though. I still heavily weighed the benefits of a green binder for Biology and a red binder for Math. Even in college I spent far too long in the school supplies section of the book store debating whether I wanted a yellow folder or a red folder to carry my notes in.

Now that I'm graduated, I won't get the excitement of back to school shopping until I have children of my own. I hope that at least one of them gets as excited as I do. Then again, if they don't want to pick out their supplies I'll have to color coordinate their Earth Science notebooks for them! For now, I must satisfy my craving for office supplies by stocking up my home office with colorful pens, Moleskine notebooks of various sizes, and post-it notes galore.

Where's Lisa Frank now? The woman knew her target market so well.

Drop in the Bucket

As I said in my last post, I love lists, so it should come as no surprise to my beloved, loyal, numerous readers that I have started a "Bucket List". I have had a lot of time on my hands lately which has lead me to think about what I want out of life. As with most people's "Bucket Lists", mine is rather varied, but there is a large chunk dedicated to traveling (stroll the Great Wall, marvel at the Taj Mahal, check my watch with Big Ben, smile with the Mona Lisa, hike to Machu Picchu). I want to see as much of the world as possible before I die.



Sadly, I have some hindrances to these dreams, including a fear of flying and travel anxiety. I have a few weddings dotted along the East Coast to go to in the coming months and I'm already worried that I'll miss a flight or lose my luggage! Luckily, my husband is extremely level-headed and can talk me down from almost any irrational rant I'm on at the moment.

For the next few months, the weddings will be my traveling and I will have to put off my globe trotting dreams and cross something else off of my list. My list is patiently sitting in a notebook next to my computer waiting to be freed. Eliminating travel from my possibilities leaves me with many options. I could go skydiving (ha!), take salsa dancing lessons (need a partner), go vegetarian for a month, or become trilingual.

I have already begun my attempts at learning another language (French) and have a basic knowledge of Spanish, so option #4 is slowly on its way to being crossed off. Skydiving is on the list more for comedic purposes and I'm waiting on the return of my dance partner to sign up for lessons. It would appear that my best option is to attempt a dietary change. If you know my eating and cooking habits then you will understand that this should be a simple change. I'm not the biggest cook and my preferred meals tend to vary between pasta, PBJs, and grilled cheese sandwiches. I definitely don't have it in me to go vegan (I love cheese far too much!), but I think I'm up for the vegetarian challenge.

As with most everything I do, I'll start with some research before taking the leap. I don't eat tofu, so I'll have to find recipes that don't focus on it. I have already requested a packet from PETA on going vegetarian. I'll keep the world posted on my efforts once I begin this Bucket List Bullet. Wish me luck!

Mr. Koala and I have some bucket work to be done.

List Love

I have created a list of things that have made me happy in the past few weeks. I thought I'd share not only this list, but my love of lists with the world.

• My husband - He keeps me sane in an insane world.
  
• My dog - Shadow is a cozy cuddler and a constant cache of cuteness. (I adore alliteration.)
  
• Rain storms -A sudden deluge of cleansing water and a glorious concert of light and sound.
• Skirts - Easy, breezy, free.
  
• Dog toys - There is nothing more adorable than the full body wiggles that ensue when a new toy is gifted to Shadow.
• Air conditioning - Too hot. Too humid.
• Museums - Being surrounded by history reminds me that someone came before me and someone will always follow.
  

Those who know me know I love lists and organizing. It's very therapeutic to have a better idea of what's in your life or missing from your life in that moment. You can remind yourself of those things that make you smile or release tension by finally admitting to what's bothering you. To do lists help you remember what needs to get done so you can keep things in working order and help you prevent your life from imploding on you. When in doubt, make a list!