Growing Pains

This past week we went back to good ol' San Antonio for some much needed R&R.  All semester I've been swamped!  If I wasn't in class, I was at work and if I wasn't at work, I was doing school work at home.  In addition to my classes and part time job, I had a TON of volunteer projects:  I worked with international students for most of the semester, worked as a tutor in a second grade class full of kids that I adore, and worked with Special Olympics in addition to working with the special needs baseball league here in town.  Needless to say, I needed a break.  

One of the things that was completely evident to me when hanging out with my friends is that we're all growing up now.  All of my friends have their crap in order.  I hate to pull the peter pan card out but, I don't want to grow up.  

As my mom and I were cleaning my room out to make it "look like a grown up lives here," I realized, I don't live there anymore; I only live there maybe 2 months out of the year.  Then I got to hang out with a bunch of my old friends and they all have a direction and know exactly what they want out of life.  I feel like I'm there to an extent but not to the same extent that they are.  I know that I want to teach and that eventually I want a family but I still feel like I'm 18 years old.  It's weird to think that I'm in my 20s (a fact that I've been avoiding for 6 months now) and that the next decade is where so many new and exciting things are going to happen.  

Mother's Day

I have officially lost my faith in new moms in America.  With Mother's day quickly approaching, I am all of a sudden thinking that in my card to my mother, I need to thank her for not only being a great mom to me these past 20 years, but I also feel compelled to thank her for naming me appropriately.  I'm thrilled my mom didn't name me after a popular character in a Danielle Steel novel or some popular character from a new movie at the time.  For goodness sakes, Dances with Wolves was popular the year I was born, I could have been Runs With Scissors, or something like that.  You think I'm kidding here but the office of Social Security posted the top ten baby names for boys and for girls this week.  Here it is:

Top 10 Names for Boys

1. Jacob
2. Ethan
3. Michael
4. Jayden
5. William
6. Alexander
7. Noah
8. Daniel
9. Aiden
10. Anthony

Top 10 Names for Girls

1. Isabella
2. Sophia
3. Emma
4. Olivia
5. Ava
6. Emily
7. Abigail
8. Madison
9. Chloe
10. Mia

The top name for both girls and boys, are both from the horribly written Twilight series.  Now, don't get me wrong, I love the name Isabella and the name Jacob.  But come on, if I met you and you told me your child was named Bella/Isabella/Jacob/Edward/Cullen/etc. I'd immediately lose a little respect for you.  I'd still be friends with you and I'd still talk to you but I'd be disappointed.  So this mother's day, make sure that you thank your mother for naming you appropriately.  Happy Mother's Day!! 

(List courtesy of Yahoo! news.  Link to full article click here)

Professionalism

Here is a Miss Manners post for the week.

Professionalism is something that I take pretty seriously because I have always presented myself as a professional individual.  I am frequently in situations that require a certain level of professionalism.

Professionalism Maxim #1:  Dress Appropriately

When I was observing in an elementary school class, I was a student observer and there was a student teacher also in the classroom.  I showed up in professional attire: business pants, nice blouse and flats.  The student teacher showed up in a jersey/cotton dress from Old Navy that was WAY too low cut.  When attending a professional event, do yourself a favor: DON'T wear CFM heels, DON'T wear something too low cut, if you bend over and fall out, change your top, DON'T wear a short skirt.  What is short?  If you have to take caution walking up stairs, change, If the slit is so far up that you have to take caution when crossing your legs, change.

Professionalism Maxim #2:  Be Careful with your Facebook

This rule is two-fold.  First of all - let's use caution when posting pictures and statuses shall we?  A status like "SOOOOOOOOO Hungover from last night.....wish I could remember the night"  is inappropriate.  Convey the same message a little more covertly like this "woke up with a headache, hate when that happens"  people who were with you the night before will know what you're talking about and people who weren't won't think you're an alcoholic.  Also, potential employers are getting more and more access to your facebook.  Just DON'T do it.  It's not cute; it's trashy.  Now with the pictures.  Do you have pictures of you drinking underage on facebook?  Take them DOWN.  Not making you look like a responsible person.  Got pictures of you making out (or more) with boyfriends/exboyfriends/etc. on facebook?  I'm not saying don't keep pictures like this, just don't post them for everyone to see.  Take them DOWN.  Got pictures with you (or others) using illegal substances in them?  Take them DOWN.  Be responsible here people!!!

Second part of this maxim:  LOG OUT.  Always log out of your facebook page when on someone else's phone/computer/laptop/iTouch/etc.  Where as you might be a responsible person, you might be friends with immature people.  I'm not saying don't be friends around them, I'm saying be responsible about it.  When you leave yourself logged in on public computers, you are asking for someone to post something dirty and awful.  And please, PLEASE don't post statuses for other people.  And especially NEVER EVER post statuses having to do with bodily functions that are typically reserved for the bathroom.  It does NOT make you look like an adult.  It makes you look like a child.  Seriously, I don't want to read about it, NO one wants to.

Professionalism Maxim #3: Always Smile

There may be times when you don't particularly love your job.  It may be doing a task you feel is below you or dealing with unsavory people.  Suck it up.  At the end of the day, that is what you're getting paid to do so you might as well do it with a smile and make it enjoyable for everyone else around. Now, I'm not saying that you should approach work as a Stepford employee.  You can certainly go and complain about your day to your boyfriend/fiance/husband/children/girlfriends/etc.  You want to switch up the group every once in a while, because if all your conversations at home turn into you complaining about work, your family will start to tune it out and get annoyed very quickly.  If you go out for margaritas and a complain fest, be careful; you never know if the boss's best friend/sister/mother-in-law is at the next table.  For those really terrible days, think about a girls night in with margaritas to complain about the boss.

Hoppy Easter!

Every Easter, for as long as I can remember, Mr. E. Bunny would leave clues in plastic eggs for us to find our Easter baskets! Waking up on Easter morning was one of the most exciting days of the year for us!  I was always up first to scope out where all the eggs were hidden.  All the eggs had a little note that was quippy and cleverly crafted by my father.  I'm pretty sure that Easter is the only day of the year that I've ever been able to read my father's handwriting because he always tried so hard to conceal E. Bunny's true identity.

I was really bummed this year when I found out that I wasn't going home for Easter.  Between my parents visiting last weekend and me going home this coming weekend, it just didn't make sense to go home for Easter.

I was disappointed that I was going to miss out on things like dyeing eggs with my parents.  Since we weren't celebrating Easter as a family on Easter this year, our Easter celebration started last weekend with our Easter baskets from our parents last week.  I got a Lemon Parfait Vera Bradley beach towel (my mother loves to feed my Vera Bradley addiction!), candy and a few other things!  Then, we got a box in the mail from my Aunt!  She sent us a box filled with easter grass and all these really neat eggs in shapes like cupcakes, ice cream, etc.  Each egg had a piece of candy in it!  The box was a really nice surprise this week!!

To make Easter special for my sister and I, I decided to make a quiche.  Homemade quiche can be a fairly involved task but I thought it was totally worth it!  This morning I woke up super early to take a shower and get the kitchen ready for me to make the quiche!  I used the Pate Brisee recipe from marthastewart.com and it came together pretty well!  I probably could have put a little more water in it but overall it was pretty good! For the filling, I made it up.  I combined a few different recipes and it ended up something like this:

7 Eggs Beaten
1.75 cups of Heavy Cream
1 Medium Potato - peeled and cubed then fried in butter in a skillet
1.5 handfulls of Mild Cheddar Cheese
6 slices of bacon chopped fairly large

Beat the eggs and add the heavy cream and whisk together.  Once crust is cooled, add the potatoes, bacon, and cheese to egg mixture.  Pour mixture into crust.  (I had extra filling and it spilled over the crust into the sides.  To avoid this, either use a larger pie plate and use more crust OR reduce the eggs to 6 and the  heavy cream to 1.5 cups).  I baked the quiche at 400 degrees for 30 minutes and pushed a knife through the top and it was still really runny so I put it back in for another 5-10 minutes.  After letting the quiche rest for 30 minutes, We cut into it and ENJOYED!  My house now smells wonderful and I can't believe how delicious it was! Also, it reheats really well!!!!! Hoppy Easter to all of my readers!

Ignore the messy plate, this was my second piece!!

ACCEPTED!

I've got some thrilling news all!  I mentioned it in a past post but here it is:  I got ACCEPTED to the Special Education program!!! WHOOP!!!!  I couldn't be more excited and will find out all the details of the program at a meeting on Monday!!!!
In other news, The semester is done in about a week and a half!  WHOOP!!!
Also, Tuesday was Pull Out Day! Yes I know that sounds incredibly dirty, but it's not.  Here at Texas A&M, we have this thing called WHOOP.  When something that you like is mentioned or you're happy about something you WHOOP.  This extreme privilege is reserved for upperclassman.  Well, on Pull Out Day, the whole class gets together (I was there in spirit since I worked) and sophomores can officially "pull out" or WHOOP!
WHOOP!!!!!

fRustRaTEd!!!

So I am more than a bit frustrated.  Let me tell you why.  I have some complaints about people on facebook and it's as simple as that.  I've got one person who keeps sending me invites to facebook events and let me tell you, I don't live in the same state as this person.  Also, you're probably thinking, "Just block them from inviting you" well, I've tried that and it's not working for some reason :(  Also there is some super selfish person on facebook who has made it his birthday for the past two weeks straight.  Rude and selfish if you ask me.  Forget about clogging up my new feed with people wishing you a Happy Birthday? It's just selfish.  Then there is a certain someone who posted a facebook status about how thrilled they are to be a part of the class of 2013 at Texas A&M and so glad that they finally have the ability to WHOOP.  But they don't attend this university.  Also, RUDE.  Okay, mid day complaint about selfish people is done.  By the way, I unfriended them all :) So hopefully no more facebook complaints!!

Is Just Too...

I'm working a special even on Saturday that requires me to look nice.  I've got to wear business pants, a nice shirt in the shade of maroon or white and flats.  You'd think I would have all of these things but I most certainly do not.  All my pants are too long because they're meant to be worn with heels and I don't ever wear white because, HELLO! I spill.  I also don't wear flats hardly ever because I like my heels.
My journey for these items starts with a cute edgy boutique: Merge.  I walked into the store and was not greeted.  In fact, I feel like I'm being judged and ignored.  Apparently I was TOO mainstream for them and not edgy or fashiony enough.
Then I see the store Avenue.  I know that it's a plus size store but so is Dress Barn and I loveeee Dress Barn.  So I walk in and was greeted.  I looked around for a few minutes before I was asked "May I help you with sumthin?"  I asked if they had any maroon shirts and the lady said "No, and if you were lookin for yourself, honey, this is a PLUS size store.  None of this would fit you."  Okay, so now I'm TOO thin, TOO young, and she was TOO rude.
I head over to the mall where I'm either TOO broke, TOO classy, TOO pissed, TOO fat, or TOO big for everything.  I ended up having to spend more money than I had planed but oh well I guess. :/  Now I'm TOO buzzed to care so everyone else can kiss it today.
I generally try to keep the self loathing posts to a minimum but work was less than pleasant, as well as I had homework I was deeply trying to avoid.  Oh well, the day is done.

P.s. a post about my acceptance to the special education program is coming!