Saturday, December 31, 2011

Christmas Break: Craftiness Part 2

From the moment I saw the 1995 version of Sense and Sensibility I've been a Jane Austin fan. I absolutely love the clothes, language, and dancing that accompany the time period. Consequently, it's always been a life dream of mine to learn how to dance like Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy. So when I found out that Austin College had an English Country Dancing Club, I was ecstatic.



 



Luckily, my friends also thought this was really cool and so we all started faithfully attending the practices. These practices, in and of themselves, were really fun, and we would have been perfectly content if that was it. However, we soon learned that these bimonthly meetings were indeed practices leading up to a Ball. YES!

{Kelsey, Susie, and I: Winter Ball 2011}



So in light of this new hobby of mine I decided to spend a good chunk of my break making a period appropriate dress. While it turned out a little too Little House on the Prairie-ish for my taste, I'm still happy with the end result. :)




Friday, December 23, 2011

Christmas Break: Meet Doogle

 We've always had a dog in the house. My mom's pretty much a bona fide dog whisperer. She's taught our German Shorthaired Pointer, Doogle, all sorts of tricks. Yes, she loves animals and they love her. 
Perhaps a little too much... ;) 

For example, this is a typical sight at our house. 


When I kicked him off the guestroom bed, he simply went and jumped in mine. Doogle is clearly the favorite child around here.



Doogle. That's a funny name, how'd he get that name, Alena?  

Well, I'll tell ya. When I was in first grade I read some book with a character named "Doogle". Thinking that was the coolest name ever, I asked mom if we ever had a boy dog if we could call him Doogle. (In hindsight, I'm pretty sure that the character's name was McDoogle or something, but Doogle is what I remembered, so Doogle the name became.) Since our family usually stuck to female dogs my mom readily agreed, never thinking she'd have to make good on that promise. SURPRISE! 

Seven years ago we brought home a handsome six month old puppy. Having literally spent the first six months of his life in a barn, the adjustment was...interesting. In the first 15 minutes he spent in our house he managed to knock down the kitchen curtains twice. He wouldn't walk up the stairs, or between the tile and carpet.

But, boy, could he could run. When he was younger, Doogle would run circles around our house at breakneck speed, even after going for a run and two walks earlier in the day. Indiana winters made it a little harder to make sure our rambunctious puppy got enough exercise, so Luke and I would set up obstacle courses with the kitchen chairs for him to run through, or, when he finally got over his fear of stairs, play monkey in the middle, making him run up and down the stairs just to tire him out. 

Yet, despite his brains and brawn, Doogle is terrified of thunder. When it starts to rain he starts to shake and tries to squeeze himself into the smallest space available, like the computer hutch or the tiny space behind the toilet. Once we came home after a storm to discover that he'd locked himself in our shower. Ya.....

The funny thing is, before going off to college I claimed that I wasn't much of a pet person. While this is still mostly true, I must confess that I did, in fact, miss our precious pooch.



Thursday, December 22, 2011

Christmas Break: Ultimate

Monday afternoon I was out battling the masses of hostile holiday traffic (merry and bright? LIES!) in the name of Christmas shopping, when I got a typically quirky mass text from my brother.
"Ultimate Frisbee is amazing! So let's play tomorrow. At 2. Location tbd. Let me know if you can come. Invite other people...Let me know if your friends are coming. Make it awesome. Thanks."
Now, I love a good game of ultimate, so I was pretty darn excited. You can imagine my immense disappointment when I was rudely awakened at 5:30am by one of the loudest claps of thunder I've ever heard accompanied by a good old fashioned Houston monsoon. It POURED all morning, leaving Texas sized puddles in it's wake. 


My little brother remained undaunted. "Sure it's a giant mud puddle out there, and someone will probably end up tearing an acl or something....BUT IT'S GOING TO BE GREAT!" ---and it was. A brave ---or crazy. Probably just crazy, but we'll go with brave for the moment--- few showed up at the appointed time to play the game we love so much and we slid and slipped our way through one epic game of ultimate.  We left tired and considerably soggier, but really no worse for the wear.


Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Christmas Break: Craftiness Part 1

I've been home for two weeks now, and while reading Harry Potter and watching endless hours of pointless sitcoms proved to be quite lovely at first, I quickly discovered that there is only so much time squandering I can take! I needed to do something somewhat worth while to ensure that my brain didn't turn completely into a worthless puddle of mush.  


So naturally I pulled out the sewing machine and got busy. In no time at all I'd turned this tie,

into this necklace. 


For directions and better pictures of other tie-necklaces visit upcycle tutorial: tie-to-necklace. Emily has lots of really cool craft ideas and tons of beautiful pictures to browse through if you're into that sort of thing. 

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Finals Week

So this is finals week, and so far I'm doing just fine thanks. I had two papers due Monday, a Spanish final today and then I have a Shakespeare's Brain test tomorrow afternoon. No big deal. 
No, seriously, I don't feel anxious or worried. I know the material and so, while last week with the writing to two papers was a little hectic, this week has proven to be almost relaxing. 




In fact, I've had enough downtime to do some much needed organizing. Although I knew I'd gone through a lot of paper this semester, all I do is read day in and day out after all, it came as quite a surprise as I gathered up all the stray papers I'd either, read, written, or written on (usually all three) just HOW MUCH paper there really was. 

...and that not's even all of it. And, yes, I recycle.   

...just little cognitive theory for you. Thank you Shakespeare's Brain 



And just in case you're not impressed by all that, here's a picture of me and the girls in our lovely Christmas sweaters. 


Now, as the name suggests, finals week is final, meaning, it marks the end of the semester and therefore the begin of the break. However,  as it is still only Wednesday, the week is not over. So continue to pray for all the college students in your life as we take our finals (while I may not be stressed out, I know plenty of people who are and justifiably so) and pray for me as I drive back to Houston on Friday.
 
 

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Four Months Later....

So I've been doing the college thing for about four months now, and while (as I've mentioned once or twice) I love school and college life, it feels good to be home. People had warned me that it would feel "weird" and "different" coming back, and while there a little bit of that, it pretty much feels like coming back from any other trip I've taken. In fact it's almost weirder to me that everything is still so familiar.

It's almost like waking up from a dream. Things look fuzzy and out of focus at first, but as your brain slowly adjusts to the fact that you are really are awake, everything appears in all their familiar clarity. There are a few new pictures around, mostly of me, and some new chairs, but after one night even those "new" things seem familiar.

I will admit, however, that my room looks awfully lonely without me. 
"Alena, did you leave anything useful here when you went to college?" 
"Nope. Not a thing." 
That's what makes it weird. It still looks like my room, no they haven't turned it into an exercise room or anything like that, but without all the crafting items strewn about, and shoes and clothes scattered carelessly across the floor, my room just isn't very "Alena'' anymore. 
BUT
Home is still where the leftovers are better than anything found in a cafeteria,
Where ice tea is found in abundance,
Where music is constantly playing.....
.....or being played.  
(I never thought I'd be saying this, but actually I miss hearing my brother practice for hours on end!)
Home is where I feel loved.

Friday, November 18, 2011

Going Home!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In five days will pack a suitcase, jump in the car, drive an hour and a half to the airport, and after a 50 minute flight, I will land safe and sound back in Houston. Sure, flying home results in only a slightly shorter amount of travel time, and probably a whole lot more stress, but it doesn't matter, I'M GOING HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Obviously, I haven't been back since I left at the beginning of the semester and so I'm REALLY looking forward to this trip. Not only do I get to see family and friends, enjoy some home cooked meals (Daddy always told us we wouldn't appreciate how wonderful of a cook my momma is until we left for college. Boy, was he right!), but I'll also be reunited with my sewing machine and fully equipped and functional kitchen!!!!! 


I'm aware of the fact that things will be different when I get back. Planner that I am, I've already starting thinking about what I wanted to pack for the week and it all suddenly felt really weird to me. While it's be said that home is where your heart is, I'm pretty sure it might as well be where your stuff is. Home is supposed to have everything you need, the fact that I need to pack like I would any other trip in order to go home, is just strange. 


Even stranger is the fact that I'm actually looking forward to these changes. I can't wait to see what's new and different, and while it may be a little disconcerting, I'm taking comfort in the fact that I'm  different too, and, no, I don't just mean the nose ring.


That's all to say, Clear Lake, I can't wait to be back and I'm looking forward to seeing you all and the story swapping :) 

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

I. Love. College.


College is a social word. I would imagine that the word “college” brings to mind images of good times with friends, walking to and from class, books in hand in crisp autumn air; maybe even a party or two. (Ya, you know you know who you are!)  At least, that’s what I automatically think of when I hear the word. Your mental pictures may be different, but they still represent that particular and specific lifestyle we know as college. As early as I can remember I’ve been told and taught that the college years are some of the best years of your life, so when I went off to college I expected to like it. So the fact that I love college doesn’t really surprise me. 

What DID surprise me, and continues to do so, is how much I love SCHOOL. Of course endless slumber parties (aka dorm life), and extracurricular activities are fun, but, for me, going to class everyday is just as exciting. 

Sure it's a LOT of work.I feel like I spend pretty much every waking moment reading or writing something. (Duh. That's what's college is for you're thinking, but I didn't want you to get the idea that all I'm doing up here is running around having adventures and eating waffles! ....even if I do spend a fair amount of time doing just that. :) )

I like being able to ask questions, and having questions asked of me.  

As a big picture person, I find it really cool how all my classes connect. A concept disused in my leadership class can be explained by a theory learned in my Justice class, which then applies to Shakespeare, and then carries over to how you interpret Blake or Dostoevsky!  And on top of all that, I’m constantly surrounded by really smart people who are equally eager to make these connections.  But more importantly, there’s this fundamental desire to understand how the ideas and concepts learned in the classroom can be applied to our world now


That's why I'm loving college.

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Round 4: M&M

"What did you guys put in there!?" 
Well random guy in the cafeteria this morning, Susie and I decided to add a little color to our breakfast. I mean nothing else starts a morning off right quite like artificially colored candy covered in chocolate syrup.   Sure....it did leave a bit of a rainbow in the waffle iron (oops), but you know what, it was totally worth it. :D

This is actually Susie's. Her's looked much prettier than mine :/

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Round 3: Peanut Butter

So....you can't really tell from the picture (which is disappointing) but this is a peanut butter waffle and although it was super easy to whip up it was DELICIOUS.  Second favorite so far, right behind the first day's banana. 

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Round 2: Strawberry Cream Cheese

Today I warmed up some strawberry jam in the microwave. Then I layered that with some cream cheese to make a waffle sandwich of sorts.

Monday, October 17, 2011

Breakfast Challenge:Waffles

I. Love. Breakfast.
It's my favorite meal of the day and I'm pretty sure I've skipped it all of 10times in my life, and that was only under serious duress.

Now, you see the problem is that breakfast in the cafe can be pretty boring. So I have been issued this challenge: Using this waffle iron, and this pre-made waffle  mix, combined with anything else that be found in the cafeteria, create several different types of waffles. 


Day #1: Banana Waffles
Mash about half a banana in a bowl combine with waffle mix. Add a bit of cinnamon and nutmeg and TADA! Banana waffles.

Just like banana pancakes....only not...



Sunday, October 16, 2011

Saturday Mornings

               I went to bed Friday with the intent of sleeping in Saturday morning. Now granted that for me that meant till like ten, but wouldn't you know it, Saturday morning I found myself wide awake at 7:23.  Disgusting right? :)
               I wasn't surprised though. You see,  mornings and I have always had this passionate love affair. There's just something totally intoxicating in the fresh dawning of a new day.  I simply cannot resist the urgent beckoning of sunshine peeping through my window. 



               Austin College, like most other college campuses I would imagine, is pretty much dead on a Saturday morning. I don't mind. I enjoy my quite mornings. Saturday mornings have become a haven in my hectic week. It's a time when I can really clear my mind and recharge.
               I love our campus in the morning light. In fact it's in the morning, as the sunshine begins to chase away night's sleepy shadows, that our campus looks the most beautiful.




               When I wander Saturday mornings, I'm always amazed by all the new things I see and discover.  On this particular Saturday morning, I was enchanted by our silly squirrels! I swear this little guy was posing for me.
 



Then I saw the roses....
Having grown up in the north, the fact that flowers bloom all the way into October is still a really big deal.


                
              
            "Some people are better at night. I'm better in the morning. Like a flower that opens with the sunlight and closes with darkness." (Micheal Eigen, Ecstasy). That's me! I really do love mornings. There is something magical and beautiful about them and I'm addicted.

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

A Little Lunch-time Adventure

As most of you know, Mondays and Wednesdays are my busy days. Now the good thing is that my two favorite classes are Monday/Wednesday, but unfortunately I also have classes back to back from 10-3, so I don't really get a chance to eat lunch on Monday/Wednesday. The first week or two I tried the whole not eating thing ---ya that didn't  work well at all. So generally what I end up doing is making a mad dash from my leadership class to the cafeteria where I proceed to scramble to get something to go before I run off to Spanish, usually all in about 8 minutes. Well today my leadership class got out a few minutes late, literally only about 5 minutes. No big deal right? WRONG. Remember the value of five minutes. Loosing those five minutes meant that I now only had 3 to get food and get to class. I opted for lunch. No one wants to listen to my tummy rumble for the next two hours, I reasoned, and besides being a minute or two late to Spanish wouldn't be the end of the world. 




So at 12:24 I grab my chicken sandwich and mac and cheese (which are both actually really good here) and start to book it to my 12:30  Spanish class. I have my lunch in one hand, ID and Dr. Pepper in the other and am 100% focused on getting to class ASAP. I was feeling pretty good, 12:28 and almost to the building, this was going to work out fine after all, no big deal. 


Then I was introduced to my new bff Mr Mudd puddle. Before I knew what was happening, I was completely off balance and slipping ankle deep into a nice big mud hole. The next thing I knew I was standing covered in Dr. Pepper with my left foot ankle deep in mud. FANTASTIC.


I cleaned myself up as best I could and finally arrived at class....at 12:40.
BUT I did get my lunch.

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

HECK YES WE'RE AWESOME!

So Kelsey, Susie and I have been following this youtube vlogger who goes by the name "manchildtrollhair." He's Canadian and hilarious and we love him. 


Anyway, tonight, right around 11:00 I was chillin' in bed, about to go to sleep when I hear this blood curdling scream, "WHERE'S ALENA!?" Two seconds later..... "SU-SIE!!!"

My first reaction was that someone, somewhere on our floor was dying. So naturally I jumped out of bed, flung open my door and tore down the hall looking for the mysterious victim. When I ran out into the hall I was surprised to find, not someone dying, but rather Kelsey --breathless with macbook in hand-- running up and down the hallway yelling something about hair and trolls and letters.


It was then that I remembered how we had spent last Friday morning when our class magically was canceled and we found ourselves with an hour of unexpected free time to squander: watch manchild of course! As we were sitting there watching his videos, he mentioned how he would now be adding a "fan mail" section to the end of his videos. Being HUGE fans, the three of us decided to drop him a line in hopes that maybe, just maybe he might read it and MAYBE oh, just MAYBE? he'd actually use OUR letter in one of those videos.

Well he DID read our email and he DID use it in his latest video! (Which more than excuses him for pronouncing my name wrong. I mean come on, he's not the only one who can't pronounce ALENA.) Dreams do come true my friends.

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

4th North

I live on the 4th floor, and while I was less than excited about the fact at the beginning of the year, I've come to realize that living on the 4th floor does have it's advantages....

Caruth 4th floor may have smaller rooms, but they're COZY AND UNIQUE. They feel homier to me.

SEXY LEGS and built in EXERCISE . I rarely take our sketch elevator and the 4 (on laundry days 5) flights of stairs are definitely helping me fight the freshman 15.

I have AMAZING NEIGHBORS.

Living on the 4th floor allows you to open your window CREEPER FREE.  3rd floor and below, you can hear  and see everyone outside and they can see and hear you. AWKWARD.


Speaking of windows, we have a GREAT VIEW. It makes me really happy. :)

 I've also gotten a little wiser over the past few weeks. For example, I now know that.....

Saturdays are LEFTOVER DAYS in the cafeteria (or caf as we refer to it). If you ever get the soup, EVERY DAY is leftover day.

You don't do LAUNDRY on a Saturday.....EVERYONE does their laundry on a Saturdays. 

FRENCH-TOAST STICKS  turn any day into a GREAT day.

Rooms are for SLEEPING
libraries are for STUDYING

Unless you want to fight the ENTIRE FOOTBALL TEAM for a chance to eat, the pub (the restaurant-ish place on campus) is OFF LIMITS around 7:00

and last but not least

coffee has a lot of CAFFEINE, which can be your best friend.


Thursday, September 22, 2011

19

BUT WHAT IF I DON'T HAVE ANY FRIENDS?????

Although I dislike "what if?" questions, I think this is one that haunts every college student before moving away. I can't say I was ever REALLY worried about it, SOMEONE has to like me right? But it was a doubt that lurked somewhere in the back of my mind those last few weeks at home before moving away.

No more.

I've mentioned before that I've met some absolutely wonderful people here at AC but today they proved just how truly wonderful they really are. Yes. Today was my birthday and, honestly, last night I was feeling a little down. As I revealed to a friend that night, it was kinda freakin me out being away from home on the day that for the past 18 years I've ALWAYS  spent with my family. How do you even celebrate birthdays in college? For the first time since I've been gone I was feeling homesick and so instead of looking forward to my birthday with excitement and anticipation, all I could feel was this sense of anxiety and fear.

That feeling of loneliness was still pretty heavy this morning when I woke up and started getting ready for my day. I was glad that I hadn't been thrown into the fountain at midnight like some of my friends had threatened, but I was still bummed that my special day wasn't going to hold anything particularly special.  Guess who was wrong?

When I opened my door, I was greeted by a about 1000 post-it-notes that my fabulous roommate and hall friends had made for me.


When I got back to my room after class, I found that my friends had been hard at work and that my door was now even MORE colorful.



AND THEN some sneaky friends of mine kidnapped me to go on a Target/Starbucks run so that Brianna could round up everyone in the basement for a surprise party!

Oh, I got friends all right, and darn good ones too.

 

Thursday, September 15, 2011

5 minutes

In high school five minutes didn't mean a whole lot to me. It was just a worthless, awkward increment of time. Now, five minutes equals anywhere between 4-7 pages of required reading. Five minutes holds the key to being on time, tardy, or absent. Five minutes can mean adequate sleep or exhaustion. Five minutes is roughly one and half youtube videos, two sentences of a paper or blog post, and one coat of nail polish.  Shoot, those same five minutes are often the deciding factor of whether or not I get lunch between classes. (There isn't a break in my schedule on Mondays and Wednesdays. Thanks, I appreciate your sympathy.) Five minutes is a lot of time.

Before going off to college I had very little respect for those unappreciated, awkward increments of time. 5, 10, 20 minutes, they were never enough to start a new project, but they were also too long to sit and do nothing. No more. Over the past three weeks I have begun to learn just how precious a commodity my time is.

I've always been good a managing my time, but I will be the first to admit that time management at the college level is a far greater challenge than most freshman realize. At home, you have a foundation of family schedule's to work with. In college, it's all up to you. You manage your time, every last minute of it. No one cares if you stay up till 1 or get up at 4 to finish an assignment. No one is bothered if you skip lunch or *gasp* class. (Relax, I've been attending my classes faithfully.)

A popular saying goes, "Good grades. Social Life. Adequate sleep. Pick two, welcome to college."  While this silly saying is kinda ridiculous there is some truth in it. Yes. Some days I don't sleep as much as I should. Some days I choose to go to dinner with friends instead of studying. But by the same token, there are just as many days when I choose to forgo a fun outing with friends in order to study or get some much needed rest.  So as I've begun to learn how to make the most of 5 minutes, I'm also learning how to balance my time, every last minute of it.

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

The Next Four Years


***As part of my freshman seminar class, we had to write an essay about what we expect from ourselves and Austin College over the next four years. Here's what I wrote.***

What I Expect From Myself and Austin College in the Next Four Years.
                Just a week ago I embarked on the final leg of that long journey between childhood and adulthood.  Like any explorer, I begin with a preplanned and well charted course.  I have had enough education and experience to plan much of this course, using bits and pieces of others’ experiences and knowledge to further prepare for the adventure known as “college”. Yet, like all explorers, I recognize that my planned course is subject to change.
                 This is uncharted territory after all. Unforeseen obstacles will undoubtedly force me to alter my calculated course, compelling me to look at my new world with new eyes.  As I discover new interests and passions, my course will change direction.  I may even arrive at an entirely different destination than I originally planned, but that uncertainty is what makes this adventure unique.
                Over the next four years, I expect to be challenged and stretched as I continue to explore and expand my world. I expect to review and reconsider what I have known, wrestle with the new and unfamiliar ideas I encounter, and, in the end, walk away with a broader, deeper understanding of the world.   
                Along the way I will acquire the tools and understanding needed to be a successful and active member of society. Not one who sits passively by, but one who actively engages in the world around them.  If, at the end of these four years, I reach my destination without discovering a way to make my world, the part I interact with everyday, a better place, I have failed.  What my major is, how many “A’s” I earned , where I get my first job—all of those things will not matter if I do not have the power to generate positive change around me.  
                At the end of these next four years, I will be a different person. My perspective will be different, my beliefs will be solidified; my passions revealed, my potential discovered. That is the real purpose of this journey.

Friday, September 9, 2011

Just a Little Sparkle


Well today was exciting. I AM NOW CARUTH HALL PRESIDENT!
Oh wait right. You guys want to hear about the new addition to my face.


Well....




I've been playing with the idea of getting a "nostril piercing" for quite awhile. (Actually I had decided a long time ago that I wanted one, but was always too chicken to see it through). So this afternoon, with the overwhelming encouragement from a few friends, I decided that today would be just as good as any other. (Besides, aren't these the sort of crazy things your supposed to do in college???)


After the decision to put a hole through my nose had been made, the first thing we mature, responsible college students did was to google "tattoo parlors in Sherman, TX".  That's how we found this lovely place called Modified Design. Ya, that's right. One quick phone call later, my three friends and I were off.


Let me just say, I have never been that nervous in my life. The feeling was similar to the top of a roller coaster. I made the choice to be there. I want to be there. But it is scary as all get out while your riding. I have also never felt more out of my comfort zone. Here we were four little girls in the middle of a tattoo parlor in the middle of Sherman. It was just great.
Lindsey: the photographer/videographer

Hannah and Susie. I was nervous. They were delighted.



Cody was cool though. He answered all our questions and explained everything. AND he was good at what he does. It didn't really hurt. I thought it would, but I've had shots that hurt WAY more.



Anyway that's pretty much how it went down. I'll post the video Lindsey took, but I personally find it kinda boring. However, I DO think you all will appreciate the wall art and just seeing how ridiculously nervous I was.  The first video is the warm up and the second is the actual dirty deed. (don't worry there's no blood and you'll probably be amazed how fast it went. I was.) 



And yes. I am pleased :D