Inner Child

My cousins in St. Louis have a huge family (4 kids ranging from 4 to 16). This brought out the inner artistic in me due to the fact that 3 of the kids were girls and they loved to make friendship bracelets and animals from these beads. Of course, I was right on track and made as many as I could in the 6 days that I stayed with them. The girls loved playing with them more than making them since it was a very tedious job. But the final product was priceless! My favorite two are the dog that looks like my Captain and the fish replica of rainbow fish!

Oh what kids inspire us to do!

I'm home!

Oh it's good to be back home! I'm exhausted from traveling and it's nice to have my own bed to sleep with at night (not that I have yet). St. Louis was wonderful. We visit the Arch, of course, and browsed around the city for a day. We also managed to go to an amazing water park (Raging Rapids) with all the cousins. I swear it was like a family reunion!

I was lucky enough to come just in time for the littlest one's birthday! She's a big 4 year old now. Don't you just love that age? There wasn't a day that went by that she didn't say something adorable.

Now I'm transitioning back to normal life and getting ready for classes to start on Monday. Unfortunately, my car broke down 5 minutes away from home :( Farewell, betsy! You were so good to me! I only wished you had failed with more dignity. The poor car put up a great fight and I have so many memories with it! Sadly, I don't have any pictures of it right now. I'll make sure to post some up as soon as I can find some. She was my consistent and faithful companion through many trips.

This leaves a huge dilemma with my internship, because it's an hour away. I think I have it figured out for now, but who knew transportation would be this hard to come by. Oh well. I hope everyone is having a great end of the summer!

St. Louis

I am St. Louis bound on Thursday, but I'm driving back up north today. It's about a 3 1/2 hours to get back home and I haven't started packing yet. Fail. I usually make an extremely detailed list of things to pack. I haven't done that yet either. So today will be consumed with packing and sleep. I can't wait to get on a plane again! It's been too long. Hope everyone has a great week/weekend!

Back to School

School starts in 2 weeks! I'm excited/nervous to start back in the same routine. It's going to be a hectic semester with my internship, sorority events, job, and finding time to see B, but it's so much better than being bored with nothing to do. I strive to keep myself completely busy and immersed in everything and anything. Here are a few things on my back to school wish list. Time to work and save up some money!! (after tuition, of course)

Side by Side Tote - Vera Bradley $65

Agenda - Vera Bradley 2010 Agenda in Imperial Toile $13

Watch - Timex Easy Reader Brown Leather Watch $32

Bowtied-Beauty Boots - Anthropologie $248

I just remembered...

I never posted pictures of my broken-beyond-belief blackberry (bbbb, ha!). I ended up getting the cheapest phone Sprint is currently offering that still sent emails and such. I still haven't gotten over how much he destroyed it and I haven't had the courage to throw the phone away. It sits unnoticed above the fridge collecting dust. Maybe one day I'll stop being a hoarder and throw it away.

Oh, and I'm still finding pieces of the phone around the apartment.

RIP Blackberry. You were good while you lasted.

Roommates

I officially have a new roommate and suite mate as of yesterday! It's exciting because they filled the kitchen and living room up, so now I can actually say that I look forward to coming home.

I've had awful roommate experiences, so I'm trying to learn from them. The first month of having a new roommate is trial and error for me. I over-analyze quite a bit, so I try to figure out my roommates schedule/routine so I don't butt heads with her (especially with my overnight job. this usually causes problems.) So far, so good. Although she says she doesn't mind that I sleep during the day, I've tried to give her the curtesy of sleeping at my boyfriends house today since I know she is still unpacking. I know I wouldn't want to be packing next to a sleeping roommate.

I'm hoping this works out because she's such a sweet girl (and she's my sorority sister) and I have yet to have that roommate/best friend everyone talks about finding in college. Here's my breakdown of my past roommates...

1. The Bad Ass: We started off as friends before moving in together, but soon realized we weren't as compatible as we thought. She was a party gal, and I'm the tied down girlfriend who she found boring and "ruining her groove" as someone put it. The straw that broke the camels back? Finding out that when I was gone for the weekend she got caught with a bong in our dorm room when I specifically asked her not to bring it to school.

2. The Bipolar Clinger: Midway through the year me and Bad Ass went separate ways and I was moved into another room down the hall with Bipolar Clinger. She was (I'm sorry, is still) a sweet girl, but she had some attachment issues. She hated her previous roommate just as much as I hated mine, so we quickly bonded over this. After the "honeymoon" period ended, we basically did everything together. The main problem? Our schedules. She NEVER took naps and hated when I did. But, in my defense, I can't help it. I work overnights. I need to sleep sometime, right? We ended the semester in a bitter note, without even saying goodbye. I partly take the blame for this falling out. I should have reached out and talked about it, but that's that.

I'm hoping this one will work out for obvious reasons. Did you guys have any crazy roommates?

ps. this shop sells items that the seller found in a chest in her backyard. this one of a kind card is pictured above.

Goals

It's getting closer to the beginning of fall semester and I'm so excited to start! This has started to get me thinking about goals. I'm a very goal-oriented person, and I've realized that I don't have a goal for this blog. I feel this is the reason why I find it so hard to post regularly because I have no purpose. So my goal is to find a purpose for this blog. What should I write about? My life? That just seems too...narcissistic. I feel like I should write about something that can make a difference in my life (or my readers).

I've read that the most successful blogs are ones that are written about something that the author is very passionate about. It makes it easier to keep the blog going (and you don't run out of ideas). That's my number one problem. I'm not passionate about anything. I like to dip my hand in everything and never stay with one thing for too long. I'd like for this blog to be different. A constant in my life would be nice.

Well, I hope this goal is achieved soon. Any ideas? I guess you guys can't help me, since you all don't know me well. Hopefully, I'll figure it out.

*i found this cute shop on etsy with these chalkboards. inspirational? i think yes.

Cardigan Love

Everyone has a "go to" look that they go to when they don't feel inspired to wear anything extravagant. My go to look is cardigans. They're perfect for layering, which I love to do, and can transform an outfit from bland to cute. J. Crew (surprised?) has the cutest cardigans paired with belts under "Jenna's Picks" (I talk about that here). These are some of the unique cardigans I've found. What's your "go to" outfit?