A little life update

So as some of you may know, as of August I am officially serving in the Americorps for a year. I will be working at Hoover Elementary in North Mankato, MN as an Elementary Literacy tutor through the MN Reading Corps (which is a program of the Americorps)

My living stipend is minimal, so I will still be putting hours in at Barnes & Noble to keep on top of my bills, etc. It's going to be an incredibly rewarding experience though, and it will look wonderful on my resume. I also get a $5,300 ish grant to put toward my student loans!

Go with the flow

Last night I headed down to a local coffee shop (the Coffee Hag - if you're ever in the Mankato area, definitely stop by!) to watch a few local musicians (Betty and Ocho) perform. According to facebook a few of my friends would be there, so my initial plan was to just head down and figure I would run in to someone. As luck would have it one of my dear friends Hannah hit me up on Facebook chat asking if we could go together as a date, and we agreed to meet up a little before the show started.
The Hag was mostly empty as we first sat down, but others began to trickle in, including a few of the friends I had expected to see. We got invited to stop by the after party, which was going to include pina coladas and dancing to an 80's cover band. Since it was going to be 10 before the show was over, and I needed to be up at 6:30 for work, my initial thought was no, but then I decided "why not?" Worst-case scenario I would end up totally hungover and dragging myself to work at 6:30 am feeling completely like shit and barely conscious, but since I only work for an hour or so, it would be THAT big of a deal. Best-case scenario I'd have a great time, meet some new people, and get to listen to a new band.
I'm certainly glad I went, because I fully enjoyed the pina coladas, some awesome guacamole, and dancing in the basement to It Came From the 80's. I met some new people, had a fun time with friends, and went home at 12:30, sweaty from dancing in the hot basement, but in a great mood.

The moral of the story? When you have an opportunity, take it. Usually the worst-case scenario isn't even that bad, and what are the odds of that WORST happening anyway?

Summer....

Well, I finished finals last week, and summer is here! Although temperatures got near freezing the other night -- silly Minnesota, did you forget it's May?

I had tons of friends that graduated this weekend, congrats to all of them! And congrats to Jenna and John on their marriage! MANY, MANY happy years to you two!

For mother's day today, my little kitties got me a giftcard to the pet store -- hmmm, I wonder what sort of purchases they had in mind? Well, I don't know how they saved up money for my gift, but I'm pretty sure they got some help from daddy ;)

This week marks the start of my summer. I'm still on the hunt for a job, so I'm going to have a lot of free time until I re-join the ranks of the employed... any suggestions for books/music?

Wow

Despite my best efforts to actually update this frequently, I apparently suck... So, to keep you occupied, here are some pictures of my cats:
<--- Why yes, I AM walking my cat on a leash/harness. On my car.





And in the second picture...





<---- my cat, in a shoebox sized plastic tote. He enjoys squeezing into as small of a spot as he can.

KITTIES!!!!

As some of you may know, I LOVE cats... I first moved to college in 2005, and had to leave my cat behind. I've never really lived anywhere that I could have pets, so I went cat-less for quite some time, minus the one terror of a cat that my roommate had. And when I moved into my current place, I was told "no pets". Well, one day not too long ago I noticed that my neighbors had a cat and a dog... wtf? So I asked the landlord about it, got approved for kitties. Step 2, get the roommates approval. I was afraid to ask (I have a rejection issue...), so my wonderful boyfriend talked to all of them for me, seeing as they are his friends anyway. Well, the result was a yes, which led to me immediately driving to the pet store to adopt the kitties that I had been looking at for 2 weeks. Filled out the paperwork, and got approved that same night (boy am I glad the humane society works at 7 on a Saturday night!).

And here they are... My 2 adorable little boys -- little gray bookends :)











They don't know it yet, but they will be headed to the vet sometime soon for a check-up and a declaw (none of my roommates are fond of kitties clawing the furniture, or us for that matter!). But I've bought them LOTS of fun toys and some tasty treats -- probably spent more money on them lately than on myself!!

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month...

Here is an article that I wrote for Associated Content about ways to support Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. Here are some of the things that I will be doing to observe this month, as well as ideas on how you can do the same things.

Hand out pink ribbons:

It's cheap and easy to make pink ribbons for yourself, and extras that you can hand out to family members, coworkers, classmates, etc. All you need is a roll of pink ribbon (¼” or ½” works best), and a package of safety pins. Cut a 3” piece of the ribbon. Fold the ribbon so it makes a loop on the top, and the two tails cross each other in the middle of the ribbon. You can find detailed instructions here.

Hold a pink themed bake sale:

Bakes sales are a great fundraiser – everyone loves fresh baked cookies and brownies! Get together a group of friends or coworkers to make a few tasty baked treats, then offer them for sale at your office, on your campus, or outside a local store (many stores are willing to let you set up a table outside of the entrance if the proceeds are benefiting an organization. Try to make some of the baked goods pink themed – you can use pink frosting, pink sprinkles, or make ribbon shaped cookies. After the bake sale, donate the proceeds to breast cancer research.

Purchase items that benefit breast cancer awareness:

There are a few groups on my local college campus that design and sell shirts each year that benefit cancer awareness. I like to purchase and wear all of these shirts, and try to encourage friends and coworkers to do the same. There are also many products that you can purchase from grocery stores, etc that donate a portion of the proceeds to breast cancer research.

Donate online:

I am also planning on making a direct donation online to support cancer research. The Susan G. Komen Foundation supports breast cancer research. The American Cancer Society supports cancer research of all types. I donate to the American Cancer Society, as well as participate in the Relay for Life, but which organization you donate to is entirely up to you. Visit each organizations website to read more.

The end of neglect...

I know that I have said this more than once, but this time is REAL! I'm going to quit neglecting my blog and start writing again :) I would say that I'm going to write every day, but that's a lofty goal. I will say, though, that I would like to write at least 3 times a week. I have lots of things that I would like to write about, I just never seem to have the motivation to actually do it.....

I can't promise much. Half of my blog posts might contain useful information, the others will probably be pointless ramblings about my life or cute stuff that I found while out thrifting. I also might bore you with current projects that I am working on.

There also will be a severe lack of "theme", unless you count the random ramblings of a craft-addicted, nerdy, eclectic recent college graduate to be a type of theme.

Some things you may be lucky the hear about....

• video games that I like
• movies/tv shows that I watc
• craft supplies that I buy
• things that I buy at thrift stores and garage sales
• stuff that I make
• new hobbies that I try to learn
• activities that I do
• depression
• finding a job
• cool websites

So there you go.... Go ahead and bookmark my blog, and come back to read all the amazing-ness that will be here!