Off to Sweden for the Day

Hallå! (that would be Swedish for Hello) Since I have been home for a week and a half, I thought it might be high time for a preliminary shopping trip to Ikea to scope things out for our home next year. I ventured over to Jackie's stomping grounds of West Chester, Ohio for some grand ol' Swedish fun. We looked at some Denise-tons and classy art, both necessities and then found some things we definitely will not be getting (ACTUAL bed tent, anyone?) Basically, we just played house for two hours, and acted out our own version of the 500 Days of Summer date, complete with noticing a Chinese family in our bathroom (not really, haha).

In the past few days the necessity of a craft corner has been brought to our attention, and this easel will make a great addition we think. Now, all we need is Terrence to complete our dreams of becoming Paris Geller. As long as no one stores the glue gun near the macaroni beads, it will be fine. I can only imagine the brain webs and dinosaur drawings that will be created (and lots of productive collegiate thinking of course...)

Jackie loved the idea of having a library lining every wall, almost as much as I loved the little boxes and other organizational appliances. The prospect of having a little ladder to climb up and reach the top shelf of books seems perfectly logical, two please!

So, does it seem reasonable that Loyola Residence Life would be mighty fine with us redoing the plumbing structures in the dorm to make room for this fun little gadget? I think so.

Happy Birthday Whipty-Do!

I went back to the Whipty-Do! on Tuesday with Jackie, which was a great mix between both my home and Chicago worlds. I think its safe to say that she was pleased with the colorful umbrellas, painted seating and classic cheery yellow house that has become less like work and more like home. This Thursday I was back with my Whipty-Do! family making cones, shakes and generally delivering happiness to the greater Landen community. It may have started off with a rocky because of my lack of usual excitement, but as soon as I saw my best partner in Whipty-Do! crime, Abby Brown, things were hunky-dory once again. Saturday (today) is Whipty-Do!'s first birthday!! It is decorated to the nine's and cones were only a dollar, I enjoyed a great raspberry flavorburst dipped in ch-AH-colate which is a GREAT thing. Filming the birthday video was chaotic with confetti poppers and blow horns, but Joe's, Blair's and my singing is pretty much a mixture between Fergie and Jesus, so of course that's bound to be good. In other news, I was SO thankful that the peanut-air-infusion was merely gossip but also bummed that BAM! is no longer an acceptable way to hand out delicious treats. All in all, its great to be back at the Do!

P.S. New Challenge: Efficiently made Dip-Top with Sprinkles. It can be done. I promise.

(The Whipty-Do! Family)

Movin' On Out

The end of Freshman year came so quickly, too quickly if you ask me. It seems like yesterday that I was freaking out about the mess of stuff that I was bringing into my room, and yesterday I was freaking out about the mess again, but this time everything was being moved out. Good thing I gave my mom the greatest Mother's Day gift by letting her help me pack everything up and drive 12 hours in one day! 

                     

It wasn't so sad to see my stuff leave as it was to see my friends, Abby and Jackie, empty their room. Spending most of second semester in there made me realize all the memories that we had. Anything from craftime to watching the Bachelor, Glee, Private Practice and Grey's to listening to their incessant monster voices. Then when Denise moved out of her room the next day, I got nostalgic again, knowing I would miss alot more than her eye-candy posters. I hope she knows how often I will have to spend at her apartment next year! When it came time to empty my room and put the bunk beds back together, I had an intense feeling of just wanting to go back to the beginning and do it all over again. But then I realized that the year was already perfect, and nothing could be topped. So, how far away is August?

Gleek

This needed to be shared. Leah/Rachel is a complete quadruple threat. She sings, She 
dances, She acts, and She breaks hearts left and right. Last nights Glee episode was 
fantastic-ly weird. Mercedes- "I don't know why people think I am angry, It's called being 
sassy." So true girl, so true. Mr. Shuster - manwhore. Emma, I want to be you and I love 
your sweaters. And P.S. Loved the shoutout to Kings Island. Perfection. The only sad part is
that next week I will be singing along alone, without my fellow Loyola Gleeks.

Musical Ecstasy: A Study Break

Sometime around seeing Swan Lake, watching School of Rock and listening to hours of Enya, I had the sudden urge to play the piano again. When I was little, it was good, and I liked it enough. But then I got older and self conscious. I never wanted to play at the Christmas party, and I was even known to skip a recital or two. I finally gave it up for good freshman year, and our piano has been gathering dust since. But, in the midst of finals, either as an attempt to distract myself or an actual urge came over me. I decided that when I got home I was going to get out some of my old books for the heck of it. Then, on Friday night I introduced to the BEST thing yet on campus by Denise. The 10th floor or Mundelin is like musical ecstasy. There are rooms upon rooms filled with pianos. The next day I went online and found sheet music. In the midst of studying for French, I decided to take a little break and visit Mundelin. Some of the pianos are older, but I didn't choose those ones. The largest room has a grand piano, but it would not appreciate my 3 year hiatus from practicing, I was not ready for that yet. So, I choose the room with an upright piano. I started plunking on the keys and something just clicked. I guess I didn't remember how much I actually enjoyed playing the piano, until I was doing it solely because I wanted to. Time flew by and I realized by the end I wasn't half bad. Granted I was just practicing the Goo Goo Dolls - Iris, but I still felt accomplished. I went back today to the same room and surprised myself by being able to remember the song and learn a little bit more. Afterwards I felt relaxed and ready to take on my tests with no problem. Not to sound like Emma Bovary, but I feel a project coming on. Hopefully soon I can work up to that grand piano!