Awesome Memories

Well, my second Spring semester as a grad student is almost over and I’m rather sad to see it end!  I have had so much fun this Spring—from science field trips such as boating on a stormy day, visiting tide pools and petting swell sharks (yes, I did pet actual sharks, and no, I wasn’t scared!), to my friends and I laughing over discovering what is probably one of the first “yo mamma” insults ever in one of our Renaissance plays The White Devil by John Webster…it all has been an absolute blast!  Sure, I experienced stress, just like I do every semester (this time around was perhaps a little more stressful than usual because I took five classes, two language, one English Lit and two more for my teaching credential, all of them work-intensive, and on top of all of this I also worked 20+ hours a week).  But all of the stress I went through was totally worth it because of all the laughs and good times my friends and I shared.

As I have told my girls, all I remember of last semester is darkness.  But new and bright light came back into my campus life this Spring and I have God, my family and dear friends to thank for that!  I’ve been so happy this semester and I’m really going to miss sitting and chatting outside LA1 and LA2 with my friends, soaking up the sunshine while sipping on my nonfat white chocolate mocha (or my sweetened iced green tea!).  I’m going to miss the late night Tuesday librarybucks chatting dates with Molly and the spontaneous runs to Deli News for $5 medium pepperoni pizzas.  I’m going to miss the random, spur-of-the-moment lunch dates with Danaé, “What’s Happening Hour” with Bobbie and chillin’ out with Sam.  I’m going to miss frantically trying to finish the reading I couldn’t get done the night before an hour before class starts—and then, after reading as far as I could, getting the Melissa-ized version for the rest!  I’m going to miss Kat’s sweetness and snark, Melissa’s and Rachel’s stories, and the discussions Erin and I have about American Girl, men, Harry Potter, and retail therapy.  In fact, I’m going to miss all of the conversations I share with my girls!  I’m going to miss the fun science experiments, such as making ice cream using nothing but spoons, plastic bags, sugar, vanilla, milk, rock salt and ice.  I'm going to miss my professors teasing me.  I’m going to miss the hilarious times in my Spanish class and the “I can’t believe this is real life” looks my tablemates and I shared during our math class.  I’m going to miss Old English (not necessarily the translating part…I could do without that ;D) and the great one-liners my professor had (“thinky thing,” anyone?) and the conversations about how Beowulf and Grendel’s mother are like the pro-wrestlers we see on TV, ninjas fighting unicorns, unicorns fighting ninjas, and how the Anglo-Saxon people are misconstrued by the general public as hoards of peasants eating turnips.

Oh, how I love school!  I’m going to miss it so much when I finally graduate with my masters and teaching credential next year.  But I will forever have these awesome memories to take with me on my journey through my adult life and I’m sure they’ll make me beam with just as much joy then as they make me do now.

PS: In case you want to read one of the first ever “yo mamma” insults…

Monticelso [to Vittoria]:   I shall be plainer with you, and paint out

                                       Your follies in more natural red and white

                                       Than that upon your cheek.

Vittoria:   Oh, you mistake.

               You raise a blood as noble in this cheek

               As ever was your mother’s.

(3.2.51-56)

Love it.

<3

I'm an American Girl Who Loves American Girl!

My love for the American Girl doll collection started when I was a little girl in second (or was it third?) grade.  Back then when American Girl was still owned by Pleasant Company before the Mattel buy-out there were only five dolls and their sets of stories you could collect.  Each doll represented an era of American history:

1)      Felicity Merriman: a spunky, spritely girl growing up in Virginia in 1774, just before the Revolutionary War. Felicity grows impatient doing the "sitting-down kinds of things" that colonial girls are expected to do. She much prefers to be outdoors, especially riding horses! Felicity learns about loyalty and responsibility - to her family, her friends, and her country - and what it means to be truly independent.

2)      Kirsten Larson: a pioneer girl of strength and spirit growing up in Minnesota in 1854. After a long, dangerous voyage with her family from Sweden to America, Kirsten finds it difficult to get used to a new country and a new way of life. But as she makes friends and discovers what her new land has to offer, she learns the true meaning of home.

3)      Addy Walker: a proud, courageous girl who escapes from slavery with her mother in 1864. Together they embark on a dangerous journey to the North, hoping one day to reunite their family. Addy learns to read and write, makes new friends, and discovers what being free really means.

4)      Samantha Parkington: a bright, compassionate girl living with her wealthy grandmother in 1904. It's an exciting time of change in America, and Samantha's world is filled with frills and finery, parties and play. But Samantha sees that times are not good for everybody. That's why she tries to make a difference in the life of her friend Nellie, a servant girl whose life is nothing like Samantha's.

5)      Molly McIntire: a lively, lovable schemer and dreamer growing up in 1944. The world is at war, and she misses her father who is overseas caring for wounded soldiers. Molly doesn't like many of the changes the war has brought, like rationing rubber, eating turnips for dinner, and not seeing Dad on Christmas. But she learns the importance of getting along and pulling together - just as her country must do to win the war.

(Descriptions courtesy of http://curtdanhauser.com/AG_Collecting/Main.html)

When I was little I really wanted the Kirsten doll and my family gave her to me for either my birthday or for Christmas—I can’t remember which.  But I do remember the absolute excitement and happiness I felt when I opened the box and saw that I finally had my very own American Girl Kirsten doll.  My friends and I all had dolls from American Girl and we would always play with them.  We were creative girls and we took our dolls on adventures through beautiful, enchanted forests and magical landscapes that were inhabited by faeries, unicorns, gryphons, various other mythical creatures, and animals that could talk.  I took very good care of Kirsten and of course I still have her, her books, and many of her original outfits and accessories.

Inevitably, as these things happen when you’re growing up, I stopped collecting American Girl and found new hobbies to explore (such as model horse collecting, among other things).  But I always had a soft spot for American Girl.  Whenever I would see the books in Barnes and Noble, or when I would come across a catalogue in the mail, or when I would see Kirsten tucked safely away in my closet, I would get a little wistful and remember all the fun times I had playing with her.  I knew then that when I had children (hopefully a daughter or two!) I would want them to play with her and create their own wonderful American Girl memories. 

When I was in eighth grade my whole class and I went to the east coast and traveled from Williamsburg all the way up to New York City in two weeks.  We explored all of the major historical sites and I absolutely loved them all!  My favorites, though, were Williamsburg, Mt. Vernon and Monticello.  It was on this trip where the love that I have now for the Revolutionary War era of American history blossomed.  Ever since the East Coast Trip I’ve loved studying and reading about the Founding Fathers and the birth of my beloved country.  I remember the fleeting thought passing through my mind when I was traversing the Williamsburg grounds: I should have been more into Felicity when I was little!  While I love Kirsten and her story, Felicity is really the doll that represents the period of American history that I love the most.  And so, as I graduated eighth grade, I got it into my head to buy my own Felicity when I was older.

 Flash forward to ten years later...

A couple weeks ago, my friend Erin and I were reminiscing about American Girl (it turns out she was just as into all of the dolls as I was!).  I shared with her that I really wanted to buy Felicity one day, especially since I found out last year that American Girl was going to retire her soon.  (American Girl has slowly been retiring all the historical dolls and is going more mainstream with their sales of modern-day dolls that “can look like you!”  It makes me a little sad to see all of the historical dolls, who were such a wonderful part of my childhood, disappear year by year).  I told Erin this and she told me she wanted to buy Felicity too!  The next day I saw Erin’s message on my facebook wall: “I can’t find Felicity on the American Girl website!  Is she gone??  PANIC!”  I rushed over to the site to check—and sure enough, Felicity was gone.  Just like that.  Retired.  No longer available anywhere!

Except on ebay.  You can find anything on ebay.

So I then rushed over to ebay and did a little research on the Felicity doll, both the pre-and-post-Mattel models.  After a day or so of debating with myself over whether I should buy her or not now, I decided to commit to a purchase (as did Erin!).  Since Felicity is now retired, her value as a collector’s doll is going up—and will continue to do so as the years go on.  So, with a beaming smile, I bought an original Pleasant Company pre-Mattel Felicity doll and excitedly awaited her arrival for a whole week.

My friends, Felicity finally came yesterday!  She really is a beautiful doll with a pretty, round face, lovely green eyes and bright copper-red hair. 

Erin and I have decided that we are going to continue collecting Felicity’s original outfits and accessories.  We’re really excited about owning Felicity (finally!) and starting our American Girl collections back up.  I have such wonderful memories of American Girl when I was a little girl playing in my room and out in the backyard with my elementary school friends, and it will be so fun to create brand new American Girl memories with more friends as an adult.  Erin already has a great ebay story about how she got into an intense bidding war with someone else over Felicity’s Christmas gown—I’m sure there will be many more stories like that in the future!  I can’t wait to share all of these stories and my love of American Girl with my future daughter(s) one day.

<3

(Reposted, since blogger crashed and lost it the first time around!)

Simple Joys

Even when I’m feeling stressed about all of the projects and tests and papers I have due at the end of each semester, I always try to take the time to appreciate the simple joys each day brings.  This week has been a week of many joys.  Here’s a few I’ll share~

~An impromptu Deli News pepperoni pizza and chit-chat date with one of my dearest friends

~The gorgeous, warm weather

~Sitting outside between LA 1 and LA 2 and enjoying the warm sunshine on my face and the cool breeze in my hair

~Drinking a Starbucks sweetened green iced tea

~Making ice cream in class—and then getting to eat it

~Drawing
~Laughing and chatting with my dear friends before class starts and after class ends

~Finding out I have another month to earn more money to put towards Fall tuition

~The taste of fresh, homemade whipped cream

~Turning on the whole-house fan at night and listening to my two sweet little parakeets warble happily to the sound
~Talking on the phone with three of my other dearest friends

~Reminiscing about American Girl and finally, after years of waiting, buying Felicity

~Napping in the sun

~The feeling of clean, cool sheets against my bare legs

~Falling asleep at night with the window open

~Getting complimented

~Logging on to facebook and seeing my friends link me to posts that make me burst out laughing

~Hearing Florence & the Machine’s “Dog Days Are Over” on the radio and singing along

~Having my classmate wish me Happy Star Wars Day: May the Fourth be with you

~Finding more closure and feeling peace within about it

~Reading one of my favorite, well-loved books

Take the time to appreciate the simple joys in each day.  You’ll find that you can’t help but smile!

<3