Things I figured out during my second first day of college.

Yesterday was my first day going back to school. After months of planning and preparation and "self discovery" or whatever, I officially sat down in a lecture hall for my two in-person classes, Intro to Hearing Science and Applied Phonetics in Communication Disorders. Yowza. What did I get myself into?!

Walking around my alma mater, it felt like home, but in a different way. I know next to nobody on campus, versus a few years ago when I couldn't walk 20 steps without running into someone I know, or at least half knew. I kind of remembered where buildings were, but the campus bookstore was completely renovated. I thought I knew what it was like to be a college student, but in reality, I had no idea. But here is what I did find:

1. Despite the fact that I spent a good chunk of my initial college career in a Panhellenic sorority (not Delta Delta Delta, although clearly I have some good friends in it - I was a member of Zeta Tau Alpha), it is really intimidating to be sitting in the middle of a group of 100 women I don't know. Especially when the field you're getting into is unbearably competitive and you're all undoubtedly applying to the same grad schools. 
2. If you arrive on campus before 9 a.m., finding a parking spot is a nonissue. Want to add a little fun to the mix? Come to a sudden realization as you drive into the garage on the first day of school that you forgot to buy a parking permit.
3. Lack of air conditioning is probably the worst thing to happen to any lecture hall in Florida in the middle of August. Especially when both of your back-to-back classes are in the same un-air-conditioned lecture hall. I will never complain about a cold classroom ever again. I can always bring a cardigan or a blanket to class to warm up; I cannot, however, take off all my clothes to cool down. 
4. Wearing a backpack gives me a whole lot of nothing to do with my hands. I tried to picture myself walking around campus and all I could imagine was this:
   
   
   
   
   Minus the six pack, obviously.
5. I really do want to be involved in campus activities again, but I just couldn't bring myself to wait in a 75+ person line to get a free personalized Coca-Cola can with my name on it. I really wanted to, but waiting 30 minutes to do it? Nah, man. That ain't me.
6. It's awkward to explain to people that you've actually already graduated without sounding like you're trying to brag about it. 
7. Living five minutes away from campus was the best thing to ever happen to me "back in the day." Now my commute is 25 minutes on a major highway with tedious stop lights to boot? What do you mean it doesn't make sense for me to drive to the campus library at 1 a.m. to cram for tomorrow's final?! LOL #reallifesucks.
8. I get free tickets to football games again. Yaaaaasssss.
9. I get free (technically paid for) access to USF's amazing gym again. Double yaaaassss.
10. I will actually choose put my phone away during this semester. And sit up front. And ask questions. Because you can't tiptoe around knowing what you're doing as a speech pathologist. You have to truly know it, and I couldn't be more excited to learn.

Anyone else go back to school yesterday? How did it go? Let me know in the comments, if you're feelin' frisky!

The struggle is real this week.

This has been a trying week for me.

Between moving, trying to get this place together, taking the GRE for the second time in two months, and signing up for classes, it only makes sense that I get sick to close out the week in style.

"Welcome to class!" emails are already flooding my email inbox and to be honest, I don't feel ready for them. I've been mentally preparing myself to start school again for months, but now that it's finally here, it's overwhelming. It's also been hitting me the last few days just how hard this career path is going to be to get into, which has been taking a toll on my mental state as well.

Dealing with a severe lack of storage in our new place has been a struggle, but we're adjusting. We still have a television on the floor, no place to put our bathroom towels, and my fake Christmas tree hangin' out in the corner. And our bedroom curtains fell down two days after hanging them. So there's that.

All of that, and here I am, sick on the couch. It's been a week full of change, full of doubt, and full of frustration. Having said that, depending how I choose to look at it, it's also been a week full of potential. In short, I'm excited to be living with Ryan, I'm excited to start classes, and I'm excited to pursue a new career path. But I'm also scared shitless, which I think just comes with the territory of big things happening.

As David Bowie would say, "ch-ch-ch-ch-chaaaanges." Here's to keeping my head above water for the next few days when all I want to do is take a nap.

Moving in: Check!

Another weekend has come and gone, but this one was a big one.

My boyfriend Ryan and I are officially roomies!

Saturday morning we recruited two of our friends to help us move out my apartment and Ryan's storage unit. We woke up at o'dark thirty, made a very necessary trip to Dunkin Donuts, and got our U-Haul on. It was absolutely exhausting, and I could have easily chugged a bottle of wine like it was a bottle of water by the end of it. In fact, we pretty much did just that.

Despite the sea of boxes and odds and end that this place was just 24 hours ago, we've already managed to find a place for almost everything. As beautiful as our new place is, there is a huge lack of storage, so we're trying to get creative.

Change #1 of many to come this month? Check. Change #2? Half check. I am officially signed up for four classes plus a lab at USF (University of South Florida). This time next week, I will be back in school for the first time in two years. What a wild ride this month is going to be, huh?

Happy Monday! Make it productive and make it matter.

Moving in with your best friend: What really happens.

I'm surrounded by boxes. Some full, most of them empty, even still flat, waiting to be turned into something useful. Oh, moving. The bane of my existence.

Kaylee and I started splitting up our kitchen knick knacks around 2 a.m. Tuesday night because we were both awake and just so happen to be up for the task. After all, we'd spent the last five out of five nights falling asleep long after 3 a.m. so we figured why stop now? #YOLO and all that.

The night before, I told her that she absolutely had to help me purge my closet. She told me "only for like, five minutes though, because I have to go to bed early," which turned into two hours of being curled up in my little corner purple chair, gossiping, gabbing and occasionally telling me "oh, NO" but mostly telling me "I like that, keep it," thus being no real help at all.

It's moments like these that I'm really going to miss. Moving in with my sorority "big" and my best friend, I had no idea what to expect. As our time together comes to a close, this is what I've found:

What's going to happen when you live with your best friend?

You'll find that it isn't a constant sleepover.

Unless you're both single, or jobless, or at least have the same schedule, the times where you're in the apartment together for an extended period of time are few and far between. We both have boyfriends (well, I have a boyfriend, she has a fiance!); she's a nurse and I'm a server; she's planning a wedding and I'm in the midst of changing my career. In a nutshell: we are both extremely busy, and we're not always around for late night gab fests. 

But when it is a sleepover, it's done right.

Wine, take out, and Redbox. Or reruns of Girls. For me, it just doesn't get any better than that. Unless we go out for margaritas...that might be better.

You get over being nervous about being naked.

On more than one occasion, I've had to run from my bathroom to the bedroom (a whole four feet) sans towel, pre-shower. Make it fun! If Kaylee's in the kitchen, I like to make it known that I'm about to prance through the house in my birthday suit. It goes a little like, "I'M NAHHHKEDDDD!" and I'm gone in a flash. Gets her every time. 

Your makeup collection will double.

At least if you have a roommate like mine it will. Walking into Kaylee's bathroom is like walking into Sephora, but better. All I have to ask is, "can I haz?" and I get to test all the latest and greatest trends in the makeup world. This becomes a problem when you take an actual trip to Sephora together and she tricks you into spending $160 on five things. This is when you realize your roommate is actually the devil, but I don't have any tips as to how to change that. Just embrace it, I guess.

Someone will steal your banana.

It's the age old question of, "is this mine?" You'll be so sure that it's your banana, but so will she. Inevitably, someone will get upset when they come home to find that "their" banana has been compromised. Solution: buy another banana and dress it up in a scarf and hat to differentiate it from other bananas. Note: This is a true story, and to this day, neither of us know whose banana it really was. RIP.

You'll piss each other off.

Over the course of a year (or however long), you'll bicker. A small argument may become a big fight. An elephant might enter a room and stick around for a day or two. It will happen, but it will also make your friendship stronger if and when you handle it in the right way, which means always considering the other person's feelings. 

You'll become sisters.

Obviously not in the literal definition of the word, but between bickering (which will inevitably happen), emotional downloads, laughing fits, and late night talks about life, you'll grow your friendship in ways that no one else will be able to understand. You'll learn the ins and outs of the other person's life, and you'll be able to become a better friend to them because you'll truly understand them.


While I couldn't be more excited to move in with Ryan (and she's moving in with her Ryan after their wedding in October...ah!), there's definitely something to be said about living with one of your best girlfriends. 15 months together absolutely flew by, and there's no one I'd rather have lived with for the last year. Our friendship is stronger than ever, and living together has definitely cemented our friendship as "lifelong."

What are your experiences living with your friend(s)? Positive? Negative?

Kay's Key West Fest!

What. A. Weekend.

That's about all I can say about Kaylee's bachelorette party in Key West. Too many inside jokes and crazy stories to even begin to explain. But that's the point of bachelorette parties, right?

My first trip to Key West is officially in the books, and I already can't wait to go back. My only gripe with the island is almost every restaurant is outside with zero air conditioning. Considering it's the southernmost city in the United States, I'm still confused as to why anyone thought that would ever be a good idea. I forgot just how brutal August is in Florida, and this weekend was a painful, sweaty reminder. It was Lobster Fest, and I couldn't even bring myself to order street food because that would mean eating food on the street in 105 degree weather. Ohhhh lawwwd no.

I'm in the grand process of boxing up my life to make the big move on Saturday (AH!) so in the meantime, here's a photo dump of pictures from my Nikon. Photos hardly do this cute little town any justice.

Welcome to the Dark Side.

Sometimes, you just need a change.

Actually, I didn't really need a change. In fact, if you read my last post, you probably know that between moving in with my boyfriend and going back to school to study something I'm hardly familiar with at all, I already have a lot going on.

But Monday afternoon, I took a long hard look at my grown out blonde highlights (and lowlights, because I tried to be brunette-ish earlier in the year, remember?) and thought to myself, "oi." Some days I loved my grown out look. I thought it made me look boho and careless in the best way. That is, until I looked at recent pictures of myself. Again, oi.

So Tuesday morning, I took the plunge. With my school schedule winding up, my work schedule will be winding down, thus I wanted to try a color that required a little less upkeep. To be honest, it's a little dark for me now, but I know my hair, and by this time next week it will probably be a whole shade lighter.

I'm still adjusting to the shock, and as weird as it sounds, I'm adjusting to how different I look in all my clothes. I wear a lot of black and charcoal gray, and personally, I just think blondes look better wearing certain colors (maybe I'm biased). I've also had to change up my make up routine, adding a little more bronzer and eyeliner to keep from looking washed out. Needless to say, it's been a work in progress, but I'm still loving it so far!

[January vs. March vs. August...what a year!]

Have you dyed your hair a drastically different color than what you're used to? If so, what do you think your biggest adjustment was?

It's the end of the world, as we know it.

Remember last week when I mentioned that the Tampa Bay area has had a lot of rain as of late? Welp, that hasn't changed. Hence why I'm writing today's post when I should be at work. However, I can't actually get to work because one bridge is completely closed and the other one looks a lot like this...

[not my photo]

The picture above was taken sometime in the morning. But would you believe me if I said the flooding was this bad on Saturday, too? Because it was, and I was 45 minutes late to work that day. Thus, today was just not finna happen, if you know what I mean.

So it's safe to say August has had a rainy start. August! Can you believe it? Ryan and I popped into Pier 1 yesterday afternoon and they already started setting up fall decor and Halloween decorations! I'm well aware that summer in Florida continues long into the autumn months, but I just love everything about fall. All the going back to school hype, football season (I like the tailgates and Sunday Funday parties...sometimes I even understand the game), pumpkin scented everything, cozy sweaters that I won't have a chance to wear until January...ahhh, yes. One of my favorite times of the year.

But in all seriousness, August is going to be a crazy month. On Friday, I'll be taking my first trip to Key West for my roommate's bachelorette party! Then just five days after we get home, Ryan and I move into our very first apartment together. Two weeks after that I start my pre-requisite classes for speech-language pathology. I am quite literally a mess in a dress thinking about all that I have to get done this month. 

In the meantime, you can find me absolutely nowhere near my car, running "internet errands" from the comfort of my kitchen table, accompanied by a cup of tea. Talk about a happy Monday!