She's Back!

Hello interwebz!  After a busy week, I am back and blogging!

My finals schedule was rough this year.  I had one on Wednesday, THREE on Thursday, and one today. Luckily, the highest grade I needed to make on any of the finals was and 82. I've gotten 2 grades back so far....A's!  Woohoo!


To keep myself sane this week, I baked and made cake pops!  The process is such that I could spread it out over the course of the week.  I would explain it to you, but every time I make them people go so nuts over them that I like to "keep it a secret recipe" (even though all you have to do is google "How to make cake pops" to learn how to make them...but you didn't hear that from me).  I've made cake balls before and have really been wanting to try to make them as pops, but haven't really had an excuse to make them until now! Tonight was the opening night of A Christmas Carol at Baton Rouge Little Theater!  I'm not going to get a chance to go see the show, which I feel guilty about because I know and love several people involved in it.  So I decided to make up some cake pops to send over as an opening night treat!  I thought the "pops" part would also be better for a theater group because they would be less messy to eat than cake balls (less risk for chocolate on costumes).  I think they turned out really great!  I hope the cast/crew/creative team enjoyed them!

 I wrapped an old box in some Christmas wrapping paper to make a more festive container :)

I'm so happy with how they turned out! And I got to see a couple of friends that I hadn't seen in a long time when I delivered them tonight, which was a great plus!

I als0 got a chance to celebrate the end of finals with my family tonight!  My grandfather's birthday was in October and my parent's promised him a steak dinner for it!  But schedules are hectic and life is crazy and we didn't get a chance.  So tonight, my parents, my grandfather and I went out for an end of finals/Birthday dinner at Ruth's Chris Steak House! Yum!  And it was a great excuse to dress up!

We started off with crab stuffed mushrooms:

The for the main course I had the Top Sirloin with a baked potato:

And then I finished off with cheesecake, the leftovers of which are waiting for me in my fridge!  That will be a nice treat for tomorrow :)

I'm a cheesecake purist.  Don't put anything on it! Just give it to me plain! 

It was a fantastic dinner!  Everyone deserves a Ruth's Chris dinner every now and then!

So what's up next for me now that this semester is over?  Well, this weekend I am excited about getting a manicure (I really need one), getting some laundry done (I'm running out of clean underwear) , going shoe shopping (Hooray for DSW Rewards Certificates!) and getting started on playing Zelda: Twilight Princess (It's been sitting on my shelf mocking me for over a week)! I'll also try to pick up the 30 Day Photo Challenge again tomorrow.  And then on Sunday, I have auditions for Almost, Maine at Baton Rouge Little Theater, which I'm both really excited and really nervous about!  I haven't done any theater in about a year, so I'm excited to do any sort of acting, even an audition!  But I'm also nervous because I haven't done it for so long and I really want to do this show!  Fingers crossed that it goes well!

It feels so good to have this semester and finals over and done with!  It feels so great to be able to go to bed without any school work hanging over my head!

Speaking of going to bed...I think it's time for me to say goodnight! So....Goodnight!

When Finals are Over...

When Finals are Over...

...I can watch lots of Gilmore Girls.

...I can sleep in.

...I can try to crochet again.

...This feeling of imminent doom will go away.

...I can start watching Modern Family.

...I can focus on auditions for Almost Maine.

...I can do Christmas shopping.

...I can work out.  Or at least think about working out.

...I can spend time on Pinterest without thinking about all of the schoolwork I have to do.

...I can get a manicure.

...I can get my hair cut.

...I can blog on a daily/regular basis again.

...I can catch up on the 30 Day Photo Challenge.

...I can do my laundry.

...I can read all of the books I've waiting all semester to read.

...I can play Zelda: Twilight Princess.

...I can relax again.

...I can drink caffeine again.

...I can stop studying.

Finals have consumed my life, mind and focus, so blogging is going to be a little sparse this week.  But to tide you over until Friday, I leave you with this:

 I can be silly when I'm avoiding schoolwork.

So silly...

When finals are over, I will give this blog and my readers the attention they deserve.  I'll be back Friday (at the latest)!  To my student readers: Good luck with finals!  To my non-student readers: Have a fantastic week!  

Later, taters! 

Stupid Walls

Dead Week has arrived at good ol' L.S. of U. And for the first time in the history of ever, I actually have a dead "Dead Week"—No tests, no projects due, nothing stressful on my calendar for the next 7 days.  It's wonderful!  So today, I went to my 8:30 class, came home immediately after because the rest of my classes were canceled, and gave my body one last day of rest before I go into full-fledged psycho-studying-for-finals mode.  I took a nap, I watched some Gilmore Girls and vegged. It was glorious.  And I arose ready to face the world and a project that I have due next Tuesday.

Then that lovely wall that always somehow rears its ugly head made its ugly entrance.

You want to know what a huge pet peeve of mine is? (Warning: Tangent Ahead!)  Teachers that require fancy software for classes.  Take this semester, for example:  I had a teacher that required fancy software that you absolutely needed if you wanted to complete your midterm or final project.  Sure, we meet in a lab that has the software once a week, but that lab time needs to be used to actually learn the things you will need to apply to these projects.  So really, you need this (Windows Only) software to succeed in this class, which, if you were a Mac person like me, meant either tainting your Mac with Windows and opening it up to viruses or buying a freaking PC.  I ended up buying a PC, which has worked out just fine because some of my other class's textbooks included supplemental CDs that were only PC compatible.   BUT this software is a student edition of a full-fledged transcription software, meaning you can't actually install it onto your PC.  So when the information you need for this project is posted in the format of the software, you can't actually open the information because your computer doesn't recognize the program as one that can open files because you can't install the software onto the computer because it is a student edition.  And the free lab to work on this final project was cancelled for one reason or another leaving me (and I'm sure a ton of other students) stuck. *Insert explicative here*

Stupid Wall.

So what does this mean for you?  Nothing much other than the fact that I am now blogging out my frustrations because I can't work on my project.

It also means that it's time for 30 Day Photo Challenge Day 21: Pretty Pattern!


I absolutely adore scarves.  They're adorable,  they're versatile and they're warm!  My scarf obsession started my junior year of high school when I went to Spain with my choir  and there were street vendors selling scarves all over the place for 4 or 5 euros apiece.  I've been hooked ever since.

This is about 1/3 or my scarf collection.  See the one in the middle?  I got that one at a Rest Stop in Spain and it's one of my favorites!  It doesn't keep me as warm as some of the others do but it's so pretty!

Well, I guess it's time for me to put on my big girl pants and start studying for exams.  I've been given the gift of a real "Dead Week."  I should probably take advantage of it

Day 7: Something New?

Today's picture bothers me.

I don't have anything particularly new.  And I had a rough weekend.  And a rough Monday.  And I have a test tomorrow.

My head is not fit for blogging.  It's not even fit for thinking.

Hmmmm.....

Ooh! I did change around my schedule for next semester.  So I guess you could say that's now new!

Yeah....let's go with that.

I have a tendency to take on what a lot of people would consider to be a heavy course load at school.  The past three semesters, I've taken 17 hours each.  It's been tough at times.  It's been hectic at times.  I've dropped the ball a few times.  But 17 hours is similar to the course load I had in high school.  It's what I'm used to. I keeps me busy.  I'm happy with it.

Last night, I got to thinking about how much I'm hating taking Spanish during the regular semester.  The course is rather disorganized, due date and assignments are always changing, and don't even get me started on the stupid and dysfunctional online homework we have to do.  Spanish classes just require a lot more nitpicky attention than I'm able to give it during the normal semester, so I decided to take it during Summer session.  I like Summer session.  It keeps my brain functioning during the summer.

And the idea of taking fewer than 17 hours next semester was appealing to me.  Appealing like a bad biker boy or that extra slice of cake; like something I shouldn't do, but I'm going to do it anyway. Sure, I could continue this 17 hours thing.  OR, I could take less than 17 hours and have a little more time to myself. :)

But no Spanish until Summer left me at 13 hours next semester, which is just not a good number.  Sooooo, I decided to take ballet next semester to bump my hours up to the much luckier 14!  I took beginning ballet during Summer session this past summer and absolutely loved everything about it.  I'm super excited about taking intermediate next semester and getting to learn some more.  And oh my goodness, ballet is good exercise. That definitely doesn't hurt. :)

So to celebrate this new schedule and taking some more time for myself next semester, I leave you with this:

That's me....being a...graceful..ballerina...*sigh* See?  I really need more classes!

The Collegiate Weight Battle

Before I moved on campus and started my first semester at LSU, my weight was the lowest it had ever been. I didn't realize it then, but that was so unfair. Here I was with what was probably the best body I'll ever have and I only got to enjoy it for about a month before I was forced onto the college diet. As soon as I feel pretty great about the way I look, it is snatched away from me by Papa John's, Taco Bell, Quiznos, McDonald's and the cafeterias.

I noticed weight gain almost immediately, which freaked me out. I was really heavy when I was younger and even though I lost about 30 pounds through Weight Watchers, I never lost that weight anxiety. And that anxiety is running in full force now that my only options are fast food and things fried/covered in fat/covered in butter at the cafeterias.

So, I started tracking. I found this really great free app on my iPhone called My Fitness Pal. It's a daily calorie/nutrition tracker that gives you a daily caloric intake goal based on how much you weigh, how much you want to weigh, and how fast you want to lose it. And it's got a huge database of foods. It's, in my opinion, the perfect wight loss aid.

Except I have the self control of someone with very little self control and keep forgetting to update it. So here's where this blog comes in. I discovered a new feature on the website today: the weight loss ticker. So from now on, this ticker will be at the bottom of all of my blog posts. Maybe if know my readers (I recently discovered the stats section of Blogger, there are actually a few of you out there!) can see how much I am (or am not) losing, that will keep me motivated to keep track. My fear of judgement will remind me that I cannot get of track!!

Once again, I'm not sure if any of what I just wrote makes sense, but it is what it is. I'm fat. I want to not be fat. I'm bringing my blog into the equation.


The journey begins:

Created by MyFitnessPal - Free Calorie Counter

And if anyone says "Why don't you try excercising?" I might have to cyber slap you. If I had time to do something other than study and sleep, don't you think I might have tried incorporating more exercise into my routine?!

We...maybe not. But still, don't you dare mention it!

Bad Ideas.

Sleeping through my entire Mardi Gras Break was probably a bad idea.

But a worse idea was buying a 25 ounce Monster Energy Drink, Twizzlers, and potato chips at 11:00 at night and watching When Harry Met Sally and Eddie Izzard while consuming said Monster, Twizzlers, and chips. Energy supplement+junkfood+well-rested=very nauseous stomach and no sleep. I finally gave up on sleep around 6:00 in the morning, took a shower, did a load of laundry (Yay for clean underwear!), painted my toenails, and caught up on Glee. I have been more productive in the first two hours of being "up" this morning than I am on a typical Saturday. Is that pathetic?

Monster is not good.

We had so much energy that we flew to the moon and...uh...licked the Earth...

Sunday Secrets

on Monday.



My roommate and I got a Christmas tree for our dorm room. I know, it's too early, but after Thanksgiving is over, we'll only have two weeks in our room, so we're having Christmas early!

Success

I got the schedule I wanted (after 2 mother freaking hours of refreshing the PAWS website).

And now I have Pixy Stix and chocolate and iced tea.

Yay :)

Secret Sundays

I never liked any of my school pictures.


I've been trying to schedule my Spring Semester at LSU for over an hour now. I can't get past the PAWS homepage. Rumor has it that the server crashed. I am very frustrated and very anxious. And kind of hungry too.

FAIL.

What Did I Tell You?

Guess who doesn't live and learn.

Guess who procrastinated.

Guess who just opened a can of Monster because she will be up all night studying.

This idiot.

It probably doesn't help that I cannot take my eyes off of the live feed of the Chilean miners being rescued. It's so fascinating, hopeful, emotional, happy, etc. And no one else at school seems to care.

Why doesn't my peer group care?! This is huge! This is history!

And people wonder why I want to graduate in 3 years and why most of my friends are older. Sheesh.

I'll Be Here All Night

Right now I'm feeling pretty damn stupid.

Tomorrow morning is my MC 2010 mid-term, and I procrastinated.

Actually, I did worse than just procrastinate. I procrastinated without looking at the study guide.

And I am screwed.

I had every intention of spreading all of my studying out over the week. I just didn't follow through with those intentions.

And I will be here at the 459 studying until they close at three o'clock. And then I will find refuge elsewhere and continue my torture.

The sad thing is, I will not learn from this, just like I didn't learn from any of my past procrastination consequences. The only difference between this procrastination and past ones is that now I have a blog to complain to.



The next 24-hours of Emily's life brought to you by Monster Energy Drink.


And to top it all off, I can't breathe through my nose. So not only do I feel stupid, I look stupid because I am a pathetic mouth breather.

*cue tiny violin*