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

Renaissance Faire Adventures!

Me, Melissa, Kat and Erin

Yesterday I shared my first Renaissance Faire experience with my close friends from my Renaissance Drama class: Katrina, Melissa and Erin (her boyfriend Ben and Kat’s boyfriend Tu came too).  We all had so much fun!  We arrived at the Faire early and purchased our discount tickets.  My change came back in “gold” dollar coins—that was much more Faire-esque than paper money!  I felt like a legit Faire-goer with those in my wallet.  Then Melissa and I were asked by a woman dressed as a peasant if we wanted to buy “fine carrots grown in the Shire”—we declined…we were more in a “Sin on a Stick” (a rather bawdy name, isn’t it?  But it’s actually frozen cheesecake dipped in chocolate on a stick), fish and chips, meatpie, pasta, turkey leg, chicken and quail kind of mood than a veggies mood.  (We were definitely looking forward to eating all of that famous Faire food!)

My hairdo

The first thing the group of us did was to go to “Braids for Maids” so I could get my hair done up in swirling French braids, ribbons and flowers.  The maid who did my hair was quite skilled in her craft.  It took her about 20 minutes to gather my hair up and twist it into two fancy braids and adorn it with pretty ribbons and flowers—it was well worth the money!  When we were all there a group of Puritans came inside and did a Biblical skit for us.  …There was a unicorn in it.  And an ark.  And that’s all I remember about it!  I tipped my hair dresser maid and she yelled out “God save the Tipper!  All Tippers go to…(and the rest of the people chimed in)…Heaven!”  That was hilarious.  All day, whenever someone would tip the Faire workers (who were always “in character” by the way), they would either yell “God save the Tipper” or “Huzzah for the Tipper” or “All Tippers go to…Heaven!”  Loved it.

The weather stayed blissfully cool until about 12:30 in the afternoon.  But even after 12:30 the weather didn’t get too hot.  The wind blowing in from across the water kept the temperature inside the Faire grounds relatively cool despite the sunshine beating down on us.  I still got a little sunburned (no surprise there, thanks to my Irish heritage!) and we got parched enough to shell out the money to get “Cold Drynks” as we traversed the Faire grounds.  We girls had a blast stopping at all the booths to ogle the pretty jewelry, try on skirts, peasant blouses and gypsy shawls and sashes.  The girls talked me into trying on a beautiful green, short-sleeved peasant blouse.  When I pulled back the curtain, they oood and ahhed over how I looked in it, then Melissa and Kat told me I had to “whore it up” and they pulled the sleeves down until they were off my shoulders (and showing much more skin than I’m used to!).  I felt feminine wearing it that way though—and we all decided that next year we’re going to try to make the effort to dress up in peasant blouses, corsets and full skirts!  Can’t wait.

Of course, you can’t go to the Renaissance Faire without having someone say something inappropriate to you.  A peasant woman with a basket full of flowers came up to us and told us we needed flowers for our bosoms.  I blushed and told her no, no, I really didn’t.  I was good.  And she insisted that men wanted to see flowers tucked away in our cleavage, and I told her, no, I’m pretty sure they don’t care.  (But maybe they do?  Who knows!)  Besides, my chest isn’t that big…the flowers probably wouldn’t have stayed even if I did buy some!  The girls were cracking up over my embarrassed responses to the peasant woman.  Later that day, Melissa was accosted by a drunk pirate who wanted to find her “treasure” and her “booty.”  He actually had a treasure map and laid it over her chest, and then tried to lay it over her bum.  Special, right?  And I was hit on by a Renaissance Archer Guy who I think was supposed to be Robin Hood.  Or something.  I felt him looking at me, and I purposefully did not look back, but he came over anyway and asked me, “Do you know why blondes have more fun?”  And I thought, Uh-oh, but decided to play along.  I smiled sweetly at him and said, “I…don’t know.  Why?”  And he replied, “Because there aren’t enough redheads to go around!”  *facepalm*  Special.  I’m pretty sure I flushed but I handled him as well as I could and told him “Thank you?” and was then rescued by the girls (thank you, girls!).  Later that afternoon we had a Yeoman “escort” us for 10 minutes or so.  Nevermind the fact that we had two guys with us—he just wanted to flirt with us girls.  I let Melissa, Erin and Kat handle him and I just laughed inside.  Eventually Melissa escaped him to walk with me.  Like Melissa said, these Faire workers have it pretty good: getting paid to flirt with girls?  Not too shabby of a job for a young buck. 

We all bought some things at the Faire, besides the seriously delicious food.  The girls bought jewelry, hair decorations, coronets and gypsy shawls, and I bought a half-wreath of cream-colored flowers with a pretty ribbons and greenery woven through them to wear on my head.  I felt like a princess wearing that!  While we were out shopping, Queen Elizabeth I went by with her train of nobles, including Shakespeare and Marlowe.  We girls slipped into “crowd character” and cheered and waved and shouted “Hi!” to her.  She met our eyes and waved and shouted “Hello!” back.  That made our afternoon.  Also, I almost got run down by the Pub Crawl.  Do take note: when going to the Ren Faire, don’t get in the way of people and their booze!  Thank you.

The last thing we all did was watch the jousting.  We were cheering for the black and white knight (I think he represented England) and it was a joust to the death!  We were totally into it.  We yelled and booed at the three knights we wanted to lose, and screamed and clapped for our knight.  He ended up being run through by two swords (bummer)—but at the end he lived again and came out of the gate galloping on his steed so it was all good!  Once the jousting was over we got to meet our knight and pet his horse.  I absolutely love horses.  I always have.  I love to ride them—trail riding or trotting or cantering, I love it all (and I’m a fairly good rider too, if I do say so myself!).  The horses these knights rode on were rescue horses, so I donated money to their cause. 

Also, I must share two of my favorite signs I saw: "Laundry Service: Drop Thy Britches Hither" and "Children Left Overnight Will Be Sold"  Hah!

So, moral of the story: Go to the Ren Faire!  It’s really fun, especially when you’re with a really awesome group of friends.

<3

Kiss kiss! Maybe he'll turn into a prince!

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

My Weight-Loss Challenge

Last week was the week of carbs for me: pizza, pasta, potatoes, bread, ribs, chicken, more coffee in a day than usual, cheesecake, chocolate…you name it, I ate it.  Like most women I’m an emotional eater.  When I’m upset or stressed out all I want to do is eat my comfort foods.  But yesterday I felt so guilty about giving in and swore I’d weigh myself on Sunday (today) and once again try to be stricter with eating right and calorie counting.

This is the dress!

So after I rolled out of bed this morning I gathered enough mental strength to weigh myself.  I stepped on the scale, braced myself, and peered down at the numbers—and was actually rather pleased!  Over the last month or so I’ve maintained weight rather than gained and I’m so relieved, you have no idea.  I do have a rather gorgeous bridesmaid’s dress to fit into by July and the last thing I want is to gain any more weight back.  It fits well now but I know it could fit even better by July, so it’s a real motivator for me to do the right thing by eating right, counting calories, and exercising as often as I can.

I used to hate exercising.  I loathed it as much as I love PF Chang’s (my favorite restaurant in the whole world).  But in the Fall of 2009 I overcame the mental block I had about it, especially once I could see that all my hard work with weights and cardio and effort to eat right was paying off.  After seeing the definition starting to appear in my legs and seeing my waist start to shrink, giving me a better figure, I began to enjoy doing it.  I liked to sweat and feel my muscles tremble and quiver because it meant I was doing the right thing.  When I lost my first 10 pounds I went online and splurged on my first pair of designer Seven For All Mankind dojo-cut jeans and  told myself that in another month I would fit into them.  (I chose Sevens rather than True Religion because the pockets on the Sevens tend to make a woman’s behind look pretty darn good…just sayin’!)  And a month and a half later I could fit into them!  I was so happy and so proud of myself.  I actually still have those Sevens but they are too big for me to wear now.  I’ve decided to keep them for sentimental reasons…I’m sure you women out there can understand that!

I’ve been on a weight-loss kick since the Fall of 2009.  Since then I’ve lost 20 pounds, a shirt size, a pant size or two depending on where I shop, and have gained a lot of confidence in myself.  However, I still feel that I can do better—hence the push to lose more weight and inches off my hips, legs and arms by July.  And it is a push.  My body likes where it’s at right now.  I know most women can relate to this—when your body likes where it’s at it’s so hard to cut back on foods you love and push yourself to exercise more.  But I’m making the effort and will continue to do so even after July.  For those of you who are struggling with the whole weight thing, don’t give up!  As long as you have your goal in mind and you really want it, you’ll get there.  We’ll make it there together  :)

<3