30 day meme: Day 1

Day 1: A photo of yourself and a description of how your day was

I took this picture today, just for the blog, so feel special!

Today I woke up around 6am so I could register for classes. I managed to get into the final 4 classes I need to graduate in May. I'm pretty excited about the end being in sight :)

After I finished registering, I got ready for the day. I was ready early, like well before I needed to leave for class. I decided to go to Starbucks.
There's a barista there who likes me. He was flirting with me when I got my coffee before work on Saturday. And today he gave me a discount on my Peppermint mocha & told me he liked my earrings. Needless to say, I had a pretty good start to my day.

I made it to campus in time to walk to class with Heather. She told me a little but about her trip to California, and then we parted ways for class.

I took about 8 million pages of notes in class. She told us we're getting our next take home test next Tuesday. Thankfully, we don't have class Thursday (Thanks vets!). Me and Bryan discussed our group project and how we'll probably end up doing most of the work.

Then I went home to burn Ciara Taylor Swift's new CD. I had a package waiting for me. She bought me a Jeff Carter Flyers shirt for my birthday :)

I had to go to Wal-Mart to get a bubble mailer & coffee creamer. Then I went to the post office to mail Ciara's stuff.

And now I'm home writing this blog and watching "Intervention."

I have to work later tonight, and maybe I'll get some homework done.

30 day meme

Ashley & Sarah were doing this, so I borrowed it from them. Now that life has settled down a bit, I figured I'd go ahead and take a stab at it. I'm not the best at keeping up with blogger. I can't guarantee I'll write everyday, but I'll do my best!

Day 1- A photo of yourself and a description of how your day was
Day 2- A photo of something you ate today
Day 3- Your idea of a perfect first date
Day 4- Your favorite photo of your best friend
Day 5- A photo of yourself two years ago
Day 6- A photo of an animal you'd love to keep as a pet
Day 7- Your dream wedding
Day 8- A song to match your mood
Day 9- A photo of the item you last purchased
Day 10- A photo of your favorite place to eat
Day 11- What's in your makeup bag
Day 12- A photograph of the town you live in
Day 13- Your favorite musician and why
Day 14- A TV show you're currently addicted to
Day 15- Something you don't leave your house without
Day 16- Your celebrity crush
Day 17- A photo of you and your family
Day 18- Something you crave a lot
Day 19- Another picture of yourself
Day 20- The meaning behind your blog name
Day 21- A photo of something that makes you happy
Day 22- A letter to someone who has hurt you recently
Day 23- 15 facts about you
Day 24- A photo of something that means a lot to you
Day 25- What's in your purse?
Day 26- A photo of somewhere you've been to
Day 27- A picture of you last year and now and how you changed since then
Day 28- Your favorite movie
Day 29- Something you could never get tired of doing
Day 30- A photograph of yourself today + three good things that have happened in the past 30 days

Back from vacation!

But that's not what I'm going to write about today. Maybe tomorrow, or this weekend. My mind just isn't focused on that right now.

I'm in a peeved mood. It really irritates me when I act more mature than friends who are older than me. I feel like I'm more responsible than many of the people I know. It drives me crazy to watch people make terrible decisions and then try to justify them. Just because you're making all these excuses doesn't make it okay.

Now this isn't me getting on my high horse and saying I'm better than everyone else because I know that I make bad decisions too. I'm just fed up with people always talking about money, but never changing their habits. Living paycheck to paycheck is not a healthy way of life. You need to have savings in case of emergencies. Giving up things you enjoy is part of changing this habit. It's necessary. Saying no to going out is okay. Yes, it may suck, and you may be bored, but if you want to be independent, you HAVE to.

I really want to use my business degree to help people in this facet of life. I want to help people because I know that being responsible with your money is hard. I just wish parents raised their kids with a better sense of money. Maybe then we wouldn't have all these problems. There should be classes for parents to help their children understand money. I feel like that would fix a lot of the problems, but the parents have to be willing to change as well. It seems like a vicious circle. I'm just fed up with going over the same crap conversation after conversation. It gets old watching people do the same things over and over.

I'm no model

I did a photoshoot with my friend Heather today. She's doing a project for her art class & having people hold signs answering the question "If you could say one thing to the world, what would it be?"

My answer to this question was "You're not alone."

It's simple, but powerful if you've ever struggled with what you're going through or your place in the world. And in my almost 22 years on this earth, I've struggled with a lot. I felt like I needed a profound message, but this one worked for me, simple as it was.

After we looked through the pictures, I realized I didn't really like any. I feel like I looked fat and uncomfortable. Just another struggle with body image I guess. I just don't think I'm photogenic.

Heather said the ones where I was sitting and holding the sign were good, so I guess they'll do. If I like it enough maybe I'll put it on facebook if she sends them to me.

Jackie's and Heather's pictures look great though. They're both beautiful. I have gorgeous friends :)

I loved her idea for this project though. Everyone has something they want or need to say, and this gives them the chance to share. I wish I was creative like that.

Is my best enough?

I know I'm a good friend, but every once in awhile things happen that make me wonder. I'm always there for my friends, no matter what. But sometimes I wonder if I'm there in the ways they need me. I don't always have the right words to say or know what I can say to make things better.

One of my friends recently went through a divorce. Having never been in that situation, I've found it really hard to know what to say to try to take the sting off a little. She's been there for me, and has always known what to say to me when I've had guy issues. Now that she needs me to return the favor, I'm worried I can't do as good as she did.

Is there ever really a right thing to be said in situations like this? I've found myself asking myself that question and coming up blank. I'm doing the best I can, and saying what I think needs to be said. I just hope I'm not letting her or anyone else down as a friend. I've got huge expectations for myself not only in life, but in my relationships with other people.

What's next?

The future is currently scaring the crap out of me. If you know me at all, you know that I'm a creature of habit and not a big fan of change.

So, my upcoming graduation from college has me freaked out. It's taken me a long time and a lot of hard work to get where I am, and now that the end is in sight, I've got all these reservations. If I'm being completely honest, I really want to be a stay at home mom, but seeing as how I have no husband or kids, I have to do something else. In my last post I said I think I've figured out what I want to do: financial planning. Now I'm worrying about how to get into that field and get certified to do it.

I've been at my current job for almost 4 years, and it's scary for me to think about starting over somewhere else. In some ways I'm still that scared teenager who was afraid to start her first job and can't imagine not living at home.

The changes that are bound to take place in the next year of my life are pretty serious. I'll be a college graduate, looking for and hopefully finding a full time job, looking for my own place, possibly moving to another city, and God knows what else. I'm afraid to be thrust into the real world and forced to grow up. Everyone says it will be fine, but no one really knows. So many things could go wrong and throw my entire life out of whack. That's a lot of stress and worry for an almost 22 year old.

I've been looking forward to graduating for so long that I forgot what was going to come after. Life after college is fast approaching, and each day I'm getting more anxious.

It's a beautiful life

I had planned on doing the 30 day meme that Sarah & Ashley are both doing. But since I leave for the cruise in a week and a half, it'll have to wait until I get back. No blogging on the cruise! Pretty excited to get away for a week. We leave the 9th for Jacksonville, and the ship leaves the 11th for Key West and the Bahamas. Excited is an understatement. Even though I'm going with my parents, it's going to be awesome I'm missing the Preds home opener & a Blues game, but I feel like this is the better end of the deal. There will be many more hockey games. Plus if this cruise is as awesome as I think it's going to be, another one may be in the plans for spring break. California (San Jose) was the original plan for spring break, but it's actually pretty chilly there in March. So, we're going in a different direction, and not making spring break about seeing hockey games. As long as I'm somewhere warm with a drink in my hand, I'll be happy!

I'm also looking into going to Wisconsin for a weekend sometime in November. My grandfather isn't doing too well, so I probably need to go up there and visit. It's been awhile.

School is going just about as well as could be expected. Having 3 online classes is definitely a challenge, but I'm doing ok. The stress levels have been getting pretty high, but I've gotten pretty good at managing.

I think I've figured out what I want to do after graduation: financial planning. I don't want to deal so much with the investment side, but helping people make budgets for themselves would be fulfilling. I may have to get a different job while I figure out the certification and other requirements for it, but it's nice to finally have a direction to take my degree after struggling with the decision for awhile.

Sarah told me I need to blog more, so I need to find some inspirations for topics to write about. Life updates was a good place to start. But my life isn't exciting enough to write about every day.