I wore the time like a dress that year

Where to start? I haven't posted in awhile, not since my last library book was due. And guess what? It's still overdue. Lately, I haven't had the motivation to get up and go to the library, which is really ridiculous because it is not far away. In fact, it's a lot closer now that I'VE MOVED.

So I've moved to Wicker Park. I love our new apartment; it's smaller but cozier, and it finally feels like somewhere I want to live. Not to say that I didn't like my old apartment, because I did, but I didn't help make it the way it was. Kate and Molly had it set up the way they wanted at the beginning and I just moved in, but with this apartment, Molly and I put things where they needed to be, with help from Patrick. He was really a great help in the move and went above and beyond what I expected of him. It is very nice to have someone so wonderful in my life; I could never have asked for anything more. I know, kind of cheesy, but how I feel. And also, have you EVER heard me say anything of this sort? The answer to that is no, for sure.

Anyway, we moved (and aren't finished unpacking) and I started grad school. I was waiting until I finished my first week to give a thorough run-down of my classes and I feel like I have enough information now. I started having panic attacks last week before I officially went to any classes because I read the syllabus for one of them and it's just so intense, but I know I can do it. This is what I actually want to be doing, not just what I found interesting. Not that I'm knocking on psychology, because I love it, but I don't know if I ever actually saw myself as a therapist. Anyway, here are my classes:

The Exceptional Child: About Special Education, psychology and children. So far, I don't know how I feel about this. I just got the book in the mail today so I haven't read any of the chapters yet, but I can say that this class is interesting. The professor brings irish soda bread and candy during break for us for a snack, but I have difficulty paying attention in class. there are 50 plus students in the class, so it's kind of a big change. We do in class assignments in groups and he goes over every chapter in power points. It just seems a smidge easier than I would have thought. But I guess I can't complain.

Educational Psychology: I never took this class at Knox because it was kind of difficult to get into if you weren't an Ed major. It will be interesting, since it is covering my past school learning and my future school learning, so that's good. I'll learn a lot. It's an awkward online class, which I didn't really want to take. I've never taken an online class, and I can't see how I will learn anything without direct instruction from the teacher. So far, it's like "You read the chapter, then have a discussion on the discussion board." Uhm. I don't know, it just feels kind of like a jip, like I'm paying myself to teach me this subject. It's just sort of unsatisfactory for me.

Middle School Thought and Curriculum: WOW. This class' syllabus is the one that made me cry/panic. It's very intense, with a clinical portion where I have to go and observe for 15 hours in middle school. There's a lot of reading and I don't know, her syllabus is just very intense and in-depth on what teaching standards each subject we learn relates to. Already we have to read a bok by next week, which I am currently int he process of reading and I actually am really into it, so that's good. Within the first class, this professor had me 95% convinced that I want to teach middle school. No joke. I know I had mentioned it before and I was on the fence about it, but she has me very, very close. I have requested for observation to be placed in either a Spanish class or a Social Studies class, so those are the ones that I am most interested in. I don't know what she said to me, but I'm very excited about this class. At least if there is a lot of work, I can be dedicated to it in that I really enjoy the subject matter. I completed the homework for this class taht I have today last Friday. That's how excited I am about this class.

I don't really have anything else. The weeks are flying by. How is it already September? Feels like just yesterday it was January. Where did 2009 go?

Pretty Young Thang, you'll be there for me

So today is the week that I have been dreading. It is the week I a) start graduate school and b) move from one apartment (Goodbye Humboldt Park) to another (Hello Wicker Park!) I am actually excited about both of these things, but to have them both happen in one week. Well. I am just not prepared. It's just so much. Do I have everything packed? Do I have books? Will my boyfriend stop complaining about not wanting to help me move? Can I gather enough strength to move class before my block of 4-9:30 classes on Thursday? Can I still play Rock Band 2?

Too many questions, not enough time. Today I went to Ikea to get stuff for my apartment, since at our last juncture, Kate took the kitchen table and chairs with her to Atlanta. Which is fine, because she bought it. So we got new ones today and I, finally, got a bed frame, so that I no longer have to sleep on the floor. Do I still need a box spring? Yes. A Desk? Why, half yes (Molly has one, I have to see if I like it. Really, I want that combination bookcase/desk thing that ikea has, but that will just be too big for my room, probably.) After Ikea, we came home and packed up clothes and things that we won't need for the rest of the week and put them in the new apartment and waited for Ikea to deliver our furniture, which came within two hours of the allotted four hour wait, which I thought was very successful. Then we came home and now I want to pass out. It's only 8 o'clock. I also woke up early though.

Anyway. This is life for this week. However, tomorrow is hump day meaning two things: an overwhelming sense of dread that I'm not done with everything and an overwhelming sense of almost relief, as the week is half over.

Work All Day All Night, Trying to get fly

The red velvet cake I was talking about in the last post was a success!! I would post photos, but they didn't come out as glamourous as I would have liked, because of poor lighting/old ass camera, but rest assured it was delicious. Quote from Patrick: "It's like eating a slice of heaven. Best red velvet cake I've ever had." Quote from Patrick's Mom: "It's one of the best ever. And the frosting! I love it."
So all in all, a success.

This week, I, like Alisha, have been getting myself ready for the new school year. The new graduate school year. I feel very important saying this. If you had told me three years ago that I would be going to graduate school this soon, I would be suspect. I'm not really sure what I thought of doing for a real job as a junior in college, but I don't think I would have ever thought about being in grad school, for education, no less. There I was, thinking about being a Psychology star (year right) and preparing myself for a life of spanish speaking. On the bright side of this carrer change business (I must interject to say that I have always wanted to be a teacher and just got sidetracked for five years and am now back where I belong), every class I took as an undergrad, with possibly the exception of Place and Time in Jewish and Israeli Thought and Ceramics, will have an affect on me becoming a teacher. Psychology is important in every trade and market, which is why I think there are so many different forms of it. Spanish is becoming ever important in this day and age, and if I choose to get middle school certified (which I am planning on), I can teach Spanish, which is one of my original, very exciting life goals.

I don't know. I'm excited and I'm scared. Going to Loyola is different; at Orientation for the School of Education, no one sat next to me. I didn't meet anyone. No one talked to me. When we broke out into individual groups by program, I sat down next to someone's stuff and when they came back in the room, they moved away from me. This has never happened to me before. Usually, when people first meet me, we talk. I make a joke. They laugh. They decide in their head that they want to be my friend. And then bam! It is done. The fact that this is not how it is is strange for me. Maybe people don't make friends in grad school. I don't know. It was depressing. On top of that, my money is getting pretty low. So much so that I can't buy books until Tuesday or Wednesday. I have class on Wednesday. I have reading due on Wednsday. This has never been my life. So it's all just different.

But really, I'm not complaining. At least I don't think I am. I am happy, I am hanging out with people and enjoying my time off and watching my boyfriend play softball and eating good food when I can. So it's still all good.

Today we will be cooking

I started this and now have to start again because Firefox froze. Thanks.

Last night, I saw Julie and Julia with my mother and sister. I thought the movie was adorable. If you don't know what it is/don't follow movies religiously like I do, it is based on two true stories; one about Julia Child's life in Paris and the way that she worked on getting her cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, published. The other is about Julie Powell, who in 2002 blogged about cooking all 524 recipes in Mastering the Art of French Cooking in one year. WOW. I am secretly jealous, but not really. Making all of the recipes I'm sure was difficult, and I think the only thing I'm jealous about is having the prowess to finish something as daunting as that. And also, to get to eat French food. Because. I love it. Anyway, the movie was really cute. As a child, I used to do a spot on impression of Julia Child and I enjoyed watching the reruns of her show. Also, the fact that she is SUPER tall is amazing as I am tall as well. The movie also made me want to read the two books that it was based on, which I ALMOST bought at Barnes and Noble the other day with my father. The only thing that stopped me is that they only had the movie covers of the novels. I hate movie covers. But that's a story for a different day.

If you don't know me (and, perhaps you don't), I am really into food. I love food. Eating for me is an experience that cannot be replaced with anything else, even if it is money. Eating brings me intense joy, and while I sometimes have the not-hungry disease (when I am not hungry), I make myself eat something, anything, to help bring me out of that issue and return to being hunry. But the downside to this is that food costs money. Food costs energy. And food costs time. Since I have not been working while waiting for school to start, I have been cooking. Usually, I bake. I am a baker. I have only really ruined one baked good in my life, and it wasn't even ruined. It was the summer of 2007 and I made red velvet cupcakes. 48 of them to be exact, a double batch. I didn't have enough red food coloring and I cooked them a smidge too long, so they came out a weird red-brown color. Some of them were more red than others, but all in all, not the vibrant red that you usually see. It was disappointing. However, they were delicious and moist, just not the right color. My cousin and his friend would eat about five a day, and they were gone pretty quickly. Still, it is my biggest baking failure to date. I am thinking about going back to baking. I don't do anything during the day except look for part time jobs and watch tv on dvd or on the internet. And I got all caught up yesterday while at my mother's house. So I found a recipe online that I would like to try. To be honest, I can't write what it is because it is going to be a surprise for my boyfriend, who has kind of stopped lurking on this blog (lame), so I can probably tell you anyway. (It's a red velvet cake). It's his favorite. I know, I am really lame. But it's also one of my favorites.

I secretly follow food blogs, and I read Bitten by Mark Bittman at the New York times online all the time. When I had a job, it was one of my favorite things to read to waste time during the day. Food blogs make me jealous that I'm not doing some thrilling cooking in my life, but I have been trying. I have made two Giada recipes, one tyler florence recipe and my Ina staple that I kind of change everytime I make it. those are my favorite Food Network Chefs. I like Paula for watching; I think I would secretly hate half of the food she makes, because she uses too much not freshly made mayonnaise. I hate mayo unless it's freshly made and you may be wondering, where did you try fresh mayo? And the answer is, my host mom in Spain used to make it. And we would eat it on EVERYTHING including vegetables and calamari and it was the most mayo I've ever eaten in my life. And I plan on asking for the recipe, although that might be a smidge more difficult because of the metric conversions. But I'm going to try it.

Man. This has kind of made me hungry. Fortunately, I haven't eaten yet and fortunately, I have a fully stocked fridge and pantry with lots of food for me to eat.

It's Not What's on Your Head But What's Underneath

I just took out all of my weave.

Yes, I have had weave (extensions) for ten months now. And I don't know if I was just sick of having long hair or sick of getting it done or sick of paying to get it done, but this week, I just knew that I wanted it out. I was done! I scheduled a hair appointment and thought "this is it. short hair." And I had a mini freak out in the shower when I realized how short it actually was, but. I'm gonna do it. Something about having fake hair has never set well with me; I was always worried that it looked bad or that people could tell. And I told people that I had weave, I was never ashamed. But it just didn't feel like me. Yes, I liked having long hair, but I also live my life very natural. I rarely wear make-up, I really just enjoy wearing jeans and a t-shirt/tank top, I don't wear heels very often; I'm just me. And having weave always messed with that part of me, the part of me that is very simplistic and takes max 25 minutes to get ready to go out (if I have my clothes already chosen). So, for me, this wasn't the best option.

Also, I kind of felt like getting weave was/is a scam. There are two different ways that you can get weave-glued on or sewed in. They are both expensive, but glued requires more upkeep, since it's just glued to your head, it tends to fall out a little more. I have had both options, but lately my last hairdresser kept being like "glued in is better for your hair" since sew in requires braids and then the weave is sewn to the braids. HOWEVER on an Americorps salary, glued in got pricey, as you really needed to get it done ever 2-3 weeks, and at close to a hundred each time, there was no way I could afford to do that. Plus, you have to buy the weave every once in awhile, so that also increased the price.

Basically, me choosing to go short is because of how I feel on the inside about my hair (I was feeling like a fake impostor) and because I'm poor. Maybe one day I'll go back to weave or HELLS BELLS maybe my hair will be long again like it was when I was in high school/the beginning of college. Who can say? I already know what hairstyle I want! Taraji P. Henson's hair at the Oscars really does it for me. I think it's super cute and there are long bangs involved, which if you have never seen a picture of me, I'm in love with my long bangs.




See? Super cute. And if it ends up not being as cute, it's just hair. Eventually it will grow back.

You Seem Like You'd be a good Dad

This. is the post. About Jon & Kate + 8. If you are new to the world of celebrity gossip, or just have been living under a rock for the past three months, then I will give you some background. Jon & Kate were a couple who fell in love and got married but then found out that they had difficulty getting pregnant. They then got artificially insemeniated (well, Kate did) and had twins. Then they decided that they wanted just ONE more child, and got artificially insemeniated again. However, this time there were SEVEN kids, instead of one. They decided to go on with the pregnancy; unfortunately one of the babies died, but six survived. They were then profiled on some Discovery Health shows because of the large number of their family, and eventually, they were given their own tv show on Discovery Health, who then moved it to TLC. That leads us to today, where these young children and their parents have been on tv for a good couple of years now. I have enjoyed watching them and have my favorites among the children: Mady, Alexis and Aeden. All very adorable and while I think Mady might have some childhood depression issues, still, they are in a loving household. Regardless of the previous rumors that Kate is crazy and sucks and just wants the cameras, they are loved. And also, just because she spanks her children doesn't mean anything, as long as she's not pulling a Joe Jackson and beating them everyday. But, I digress.

I watched this show because I liked how cute they did things, how they had special days for all of the children so that they didn't feel left out and the fact that all of the siblings really love each other. However, then came an annoucement: Jon and Kate were getting a divorce. And they were still showing episodes before this annoucement. The fifth season premiere was difficult to watch. I sat down with my sister to do so, and thought I would be watching a wonderful episode about the sextuplets sixth birthday. Boy, was I wrong. While their party looked like it was a lot of fun, it was plauged by the paparazzi and the fact that their parents weren't visably speaking to each other. Jon was only in the episode for about 10 minutes, and at the party, Kate and him barely spoke to each other. And this is where I got disgusted with the show. The fact of the matter is, there were a couple more episodes that were being shown after this one. I'm sure the parents continued their chilly repertoire while the kids carried on, probably not unknowlingly. I couldn't watch them because I couldn't support having this family's personal struggle with marriage and seperation and divorce be on television. Not only does it suck to have parents who are divorced (as mine are, and have been since I was 10) but the fact that there is now going to be a recorded documenation of the dissemination of their marriage for their children to look at in the future is ridiculous. More ridiculous is that they have other people watching it. It was mentioned in a previous season's episode that the sextuplets enjoy watching their own show on dvd. I'm sure it is really fun to see themselves on tv doing a lot of fun things. For that, those dvds will be memorable, as I'm jealous of people who have home videos from their childhood. However, now they have recorded documenation that their lives are about to change very quickly and very sadly for them. At some point, these children will go on to different kinds of schools, where children might not be very nice to them, and point out that their parent's marriage broke on television. Some family issues are very private, and even though, yes they signed on for this show, and yes, this is reality tv, at some point everyone has to take a step back and realize, for better or for worse, that these children are going to be effected by this.

I don't want to judge them for being on tv, I don't want to say that that caused stress in their marriage, because in all honesty we will never know. And I was pretty nuetral about picking sides or judging Jon and/or Kate in their marriage.

HOWEVER now that there are photos of Jon walking around and taking vacations with some 23 year old ugmo, I cannot keep silent. While yes, I don't know what happened in their marriage and yes, it's not really my business, I happen to think that this is just distasteful. I recognize that you want to have a different life and want to move on, but what I think he is not thinking about is HIS CHILDREN. I found out that my dad cheated on my mom and then had to sit back and watch my father take this woman to family functions where my mom should have been or see him kiss her in public. It was hard. And for Jon to be going around taking vacations with this woman while not yet officially and legally divorced from Kate is rough. And, again, how do I know he's running around with a 23 year old not hottie? The tabloids. There are HUNDREDS of pictures all over the pleace of them on vacation, them on a boat, them grossly smoking cigarettes together. It's just out of hand. Jon has brought this woman to their home to hang out with the children and she sunbathed. While the sextuplets are young enough to probably be confused about this woman and like her, the twins are older and I'm sure it's difficult for them to sit around and watch her and their father parade around, all the while knowing that this is who their father is dating now. I just think that Jon needs to have a little self control and not be selfish. The thing about divorce is that it hurts all parties, but the adults usually spring back a little faster than the children do. Divorce is the most hurtful to children and the fact that this divorce is so public is just going to make it worse in the long run for these children. Unfortunately, Jon seems to have not figured that out yet. Just because you don't let your children read the tabloids does not mean that other children's parents do not let their children read the tabloids. At some point, these pictures, and any more pictures in the future are going to come up. I say that we should all stop giving Jon, Kate and their 8 children any attention and let them figure out their own problems.

Also, I only call the 23 year old girlfriend not cute because she's really not cute. Maybe it's the way she dresses, I don't know.

D.O.A.

It's difficult to update anything when you have a busy schedule/are trying to finish reading Harry Potter before the midnight showing and are only on chapter 7 out of 30. :/
I'm worried I won't finish it, and my roommate Molly and I are reading it outloud because we both want to read it.

Anyway, on Tuesday, Patrick and I saw Jay-Z (note: Patrick is my boyfriend. I guess I can call him that in my blog.) And. It was AWESOME. Seriously, I really enjoyed it and I now have a really cute shirt to wear that will look GREAT with skinny jeans. I kind of want to wear it to the No Doubt concert but feel like that might be too weird. But maybe people will get it and I'll get Jay-Z shout outs. Anyway, I love summer, outdoor concerts, even if there is difficulty with getting as close as you wanted to. I'm really excited for No Doubt because they have seriously been my favorite band since I was ten, eleven and to see them is going to be awesome. Gwen Stefani is like my favorite, I personally think she can do no wrong and was jammin' to "Hollaback Girl" before everybody else thought it was cool. I still love that song and will STILL blast it on the radio. It's going to be super duper awesome to see No Doubt live, I'm going to enjoy every minute of it.

I was going to make a post eventually about Twilight and also now one about Jon and Kate plus 8 but i'm too lazy right now and would rather get on the telephone. Maybe I'll write one about my adventures with videogames tomorrow evening at some point too?

Oh, but also, I got into grad school. I keep forgetting to tell people that I'm going to Loyola University Chicago in the fall. HOLLER