It's a Jungle Out There

I absolutely love the holidays, so I'm spending this week watching all of my favorite Halloween movies.  I've already finished Beetlejuice, Alvin and the Chipmunks Meet the Wolfman, and most of Monster Mash.

If you haven't watched the animated Monster Mash from 2000, you need to do so...unless you don't like animated, kids movies or Halloween.  But, if you do like animated kids movies, it's great.  I watched it as a kid and haven't been able to watch it again until last night, because it's only on VHS (and you know how that goes).  However, I found it on YouTube last night, and it's just as good as it used to be.  Here's the link.  You should watch it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KaqKrV8nP0&list=UUje3KWsWfCsakoJaOsYWUfA

I can't share pictures yet, but I worked all last night decorating our hall for Halloween with Kristynn and some of the other girls on our wing.  It's jungle-themed and I think it looks spectacular, and I really hope it wins the contest!

Confession: I don't think I'm going to have time to train for the half-marathon :(  I don't necessarily mean that I don't have time, I'm too tired, I have homework, blah blah blah.  But, I have been a slacker, and I pretty much don't have enough weeks between today and the race to train properly- so next year, I guess.  However, I'm going to try to work in several 5Ks, starting with the Turkey Trot!

Mr. Darcy loves Elizabeth, but he likes Ariel, too.

I've been working on a paper for Banned Books and Novel Ideas, so I haven't been able to blog since Friday.  But, a lot has happened since then!  To begin, Isla has started walking and I finally got to see it for myself when I woke up Saturday morning- a great start to what turned out to be a fantastic day!

After feeding Isla breakfast, Isidro and I went to drop her off with my aunt (her nani), Ann.  I have hardly seen Ann since I moved in, so it was great getting to see her.  After dropping Isla off, we went to meet Hallie at the salon and went to get lunch at Dirty's, which never fails to impress.

Later in the afternoon, I met Elly at the Texas Book Festival.  We sat went to a couple of the discussions: "For Your Next Book Club" and "Families in Crisis."  The second discussion was much more interesting.  It featured three authors, who wrote books about families in different situations.  There were two that I was kind of interested in reading.  One, Man Alive by Mary Kay Zuravleff, was about a neurological pathologist who gets stuck by lightning and starts acting like his teenage patients.  The other, At the Bottom of Everything by Ben Dolnick, was about two best friends who have grown apart.

 After I got back to the dorm, I saw Karen and we decided to go to the pumpkin patch :)  We drove over to the Tarrytown United Methodist Church and found a pumpkin for mine and Sara's room and two little ones for Madlin and Elly.

My Man, The Scarecrow

Afterwards, I introduced Karen to my favorite cafe, Mozart's.

I drove home that night, since the game kept getting delayed, and saw my family.  The next morning, I worked in the nursery at church, but I didn't have any kids.  Afterwards I babysat for a family that I babysat for all summer, the McDavids.  I got to watch Josie and another girl, Ellen, that I watched when I worked at the preschool.  It was fun getting to work with kids again, and I got to watch The Incredibles again.  It's Josie's favorite, so I've seen it at least six times since last June.

I didn't think I was going to get to see Christina, but she texted me just before I was going to head home.  I got to see her and Mallory :)

Then of course, I got to see Sara when I got back to the dorm.  We both went home this weekend, so I hadn't seen her since Friday afternoon.

I had a registration advising appointment first thing this morning.  My advisor is super nice and helpful! I already had most of my classes picked out, but she gave me some advise for picking my first upper-division English course.  Then I pretty much worked on finishing my essay all day.

Once I submitted it, I fell asleep on the floor in our dorm.  My bed was unusually cluttered, and I was super tired.  When I woke up from my nap, I went with Sara and Kristynn to HEB to get groceries, and Sara and I got fishies!!!  We each picked out one of the big-eyed goldfish.  Mine is the yellow one.  I named him Mr. Darcy.  Sara's is tentatively named Ariel.  Aren't they cute!?

Figuring out those directions!

#teamwork

Thanks for the plants, Kristynn

Freeing the fishes

Mine is the yellow/white one and Sara's is the orange

Karen and Kristynn helped us to set up the tank and get the fishies "moved in."  Then we sat down for another classy dorm dinner.  We were finally able to have a centerpiece since our plants looking lively.

With the addition of the fishies, I think our room is finally complete.  Garden, fish, TV, microwave, fridge, Keurig, a stack of books, coffee mugs, owls, fall decorations, a picture of Mallory and me, another picture of Sara's best friend's dog, artwork by Isla and Monet, and an African mask- yep, it's complete and I love it!  It really feels like home.

Well, goodnight everybody.  I'm glad to be back on Blogger!

P.S.  I'm obsessing over the song, "Meet Virginia" right now, so you guys should give it a listen.  Really, I'm obsessed with all of Train's songs at the moment!

It's a Big Place, But We Live in a Small World

UT had a sort of garage sale today.  Lots of clothes and all of them for one dollar!  I got two pairs of shorts that I liked enough to spend a dollar on them.

I took my study break on the balcony between Batts and Mezes today.  It was really nice up there- very quiet with a great view of the South Mall.  And the weather was perfect, so there was a nice breeze.

I feel like people are always talking about what a big place UT is, and how you are just one person among over 50,000, but that hasn't been my experience so far.  I hardly go anywhere without seeing someone I know.  And, it isn't just people from my FIG; I see people I went to high school with (a small high school), people I met at orientation, people that live on my hall, and lots of other people that I know.  In fact, there is a girl that graduated from Burnet a year before me in Astronomical Observations, a random class with less than 20 people!  Anyway, when I was leaving Mezes today, a guy opened the door for me.  When I went to say thank you, I noticed that it was a guy that I went to high school with...crazy!  Because we were both on our way to class, we only had a couple minutes to catch up, but it was good to see him.

It's my weekend to go home, so I'm at Hallie's tonight!  I always look forward to seeing Hallie, Isidro and Isla, and was very happy that Isla was still awake when I got home.  She is so adorable!  I also look forward to the home-cooked meals at Hallie's, and tonight Isidro made lasagna.  I don't usually like lasagna because of the melted cheese (I hate stringy, melted cheese), but this lasagna was really good!

I hope y'all enjoy your weekend.  I don't think I'm going to be going to the pumpkin patch, but I think it's still going to be a good weekend :)

"Life Is But a Dream." No, a Cartoon.

I had to watch an episode of American Horror Story for my class, Banned Books and Novel Ideas.  So, Isaiah and I watched the pilot episode after he got out of class this morning.  I don't usually like horror films and scary movies.  I don't typically have nightmares, but I get positively terrified thinking about all the creepy things that could be lurking in the corners every time I find myself in the dark.  So, I don't watch them.  However, since it was required for my class, I figured I could sit through fifty minutes of an episode.  Ha!  The first time I started the episode, Sara was napping, so I paused in the first scary scene thinking that I would probably scream and wake her up.  So, the next time I tried to watch it, I wanted it to be with a friend.

Even with Isaiah, I didn't focus entirely on the show at first.  I busied myself with making/eating breakfast, washing the consequential dishes, and reading The Daily Texan, but I finally sat down and watched the show.  It wasn't too bad.  With the abundance of horror motifs the show presents in each episode, it's actually kind of funny sometimes.  I'm usually on the edge of my seat, yelling at the screen when victims enter the basement or ignore all of the secrets surrounding the haunted houses they move into; but this time, I was yelling "Bitch, they warned you!"  There certainly were several scary moments when I felt like I couldn't even look at the screen, but most of the time I felt like I could handle the scary scenes.  I was even tempted to watch the next episode when it was over, and I think I am going to at least watch the first season.

After class, I went to the cardio room and ran a mile.  It's the first time I've ran in I have no clue how many weeks, and it felt great!  I always feel so energized after working out, which may seem backwards, but if you work out, you probably know what I mean!  It just makes me want to get stuff done.  So, I came back to the dorm and watered the plants, scheduled a few appointments for registration, and started on my response paper for Anthropology.  Then I started watching Chasing Mavericks.  A professor I met at the Reading Roundup recommended it for me due to it's similarity to the book we read, and I finally started it today.  It's pretty good so far, but I'm nervous that it might be sad.

Sara and I also made a cartoon versions of ourselves.  Check it out (the captions were prewritten)!

I'm going home this weekend, or at least Sunday morning, to work in the nursery at church, but I still haven't decided what I'm going to do with the rest of my weekend.  Sara is going home, but I did see Madlin for the first time all week.  It was nice to know she's still alive, and I'm hoping we can go to a pumpkin patch this weekend.  I've heard great things about the one in Tarrytown.  I'm also considering going to the Texas Book Festival, which is happening in Austin this weekend.  Lemony Snicket is going to be there, and The Series of Unfortunate Events books were among my favorites as a child.  Other than that I have to write a paper over the horror genre for Banned Books.  I think I'm going to write about Coraline, which is one of the creepiest films I've ever seen.

Goodnight, and I hope you all have a wonderful Friday!

P.S.  The pajamas were amazing- best night of sleep ever!

P.P.S.  I don't think I'm going to be getting Starbuck's on Fridays from now on.  Since I bought the Keurig, it's really just a waste of money, even if Starbuck's coffee is much more delightful.  However, I will still be looking for a new place to study tomorrow.

Slam Poetry at the Poetry Slam

I'm doing okay this week with my goal to "be healthy."  I decided to do some yoga when I woke up yesterday morning.  It was very refreshing, but I have to admit that I was a little sore afterward.

I had heard a lot of great things about the Austin Poetry Slam at Spider House Cafe & Ballroom, and I finally convinced Sara to go with me last night.  She was a little skeptical, but I think she really enjoyed it.  One of my friends from my FIG, Katarina, also came with us.  It was so great!  The atmosphere was really neat.  You walk into the ballroom, which is like a small theater.  There is a disco ball and a DJ playing.  The stage has a red curtain behind it and two cupid statues hanging from the ceiling in the corners of the stage.  Altogether, it felt like we found a treasure.  The slam poetry was great, too!  Everyone was so talented and had something different to offer than everyone else who performed.

Afterwards, we went to Dirty's.  Oh my goodness, I love that place!  Quick story- I went there with my dad and sister when I was maybe ten, and thought that they had the best hamburgers I had ever had.  Later, I asked my dad where we had eaten the last time we went to Austin, "you know, that place with the great hamburgers????"  But, he couldn't remember.  I never quit thinking about the great burgers and the white-washed walls of Dirty's, and I asked my dad if he remembered where we ate that one time we went to Austin just about every time we had hamburgers for the next 8 or so years.  Then, earlier this year when we were leaving Explore UT, we passed Dirty's.  I just knew that was the place I had been keeping my eye out for since I was a kid.  And when I asked him if we had been there before, he confirmed my theory as if he had known the entire time.

I love this place!

Today was a good day, too.  I slept in this morning on accident.  When my alarm went off, I thought it was Thursday for some reason, so I thought, "I don't have to get up.  I get to sleep as late as I want!"  Wrong.  It was Wednesday and I was only supposed to sleep until 8:00, because I had classes at 10:00 and 11:00 and a quiz in my 12:00.  So, I didn't wake up until 11:00 and studied for the quiz instead of going to Expressive Culture.  I made a 100 on my quiz though :)  I also had a pop quiz in Astronomy, which I think went okay.

After class, Isaiah helped me carry my computer back to the campus computer store, and then we hung out with Sara and Karen.  Isaiah and Sara spent pretty much the entire afternoon/evening talking to weirdos on this video chatting site, Omegle.  Then after dinner, Isaiah, Sara and I went to Rita's...yummm!  It's one of the few places where I try something new every time I go.  This time I got green apple and lemonade.

Tonight will be my first night sleeping in the silk pajama set that I splurged on.  It came in today, and it is the my comfortable thing I've ever put on.  I love it!  Sooo, I tell you goodnight!

Oh, I forgot to mention that Sara saved my life tonight.  Not really, but she did save me from dropping a box of Tupperware on my head.  Thanks Sara!

Eat Clean to Get Lean

I hit 1500 pageviews today!  Shout out to Sara, the best roommate ever, for getting the 1500th view!  And, thank you to everyone else that reads my blog for all of your views and support!  I didn't really do much today, and since I haven't addressed my goals in a while, I thought I would write about how I'm doing on my goals.

Pretend it says "pageviews" instead of "followers"

1) Be nice to everyone- Not doing so bad on this one.  I always try not to let little things get to me.  I was going to post a picture for this one, but I found this wikiHow when I googled it- it's actually very helpful!

http://www.wikihow.com/Be-Nice-to-People

2) Be healthy and environmentally conscious- I've been slacking a little bit on my recycling, but I will do better.  I feel like I'm slacking a lot on the healthy eating, too :(  This week I'm going to "eat clean to get lean."  This includes working out too, which I haven't been doing much (gee, I'm doing terrible with this goal!).  Hopefully I will be going at least twice a week with Elly, and I'm going to try to mix in some games of frisbee, soccer, volleyball and things like that too have fun while getting fit.  I might even start doing yoga a couple nights a week with one of my friends.  Tonight I started gathering pictures to make a fitness motivation section on my bulletin board.  I'm not sure if I'm going to do the half-marathon in February, because I haven't trained at all :(  But I'm really proud of my friend, Jennifer, who I used to work out with.  She is 50 years-old, and she posted on Facebook this weekend that she finished her 5 miler in 40:55!  She was my inspiration to work out when I used to be super fit, and hopefully this will motivate me to get fit again!  One of these days, I'll have a body like Jessica Alba (except I'll be a little shorter and not so tan).

That's gonna be me!

Jennifer, Me, and Shay

3) Know a little bit about everything- I've ordered a ton of new books on opera, bird watching, and classical music.  They haven't come in yet, but I am going to try to work through them as soon as they get here.  Also, Isaiah and I decided to start taking dance classes together.  There is a beginner's class for the Argentine Tango that we are thinking about taking, as well as the classes offered by Texas Ballroom.  They are starting to offer the Foxtrot on Wednesday, and I think that would be really fun to learn- dancing Great Gatsby style!

4) Have a garden and a clothesline- I added "have an African Spurred Tortoise" to this one today.  I've wanted one for a while.  I really like turtles and tortoises and have had a couple of pet turtles before, but it never works out.  I never really thought of having a tortoise until I saw Maura's on Rizzoli & Isles, or rather the little one she gave Jane to show her what an amazing transformation they go through.  Maura's is "partial to British strawberries."  Anyway, I thought that I might be better at raising a tortoise since they don't live in the water, which I had to clean regularly.  I want to get it when it's just a hatching, so I can watch it grow!  They are the some of the largest tortoises, so they get huge!  As for the garden, it's doing fabulous.  And, my cousin, Hallie, said I could make a clothesline at her house, so I'm going to have to get that started.

5) Read everything!- Still working on Jacob's Room.  I'm going to try to finish it before the end of next week.  We've been reading a lot of Poe short stories in Banned Books and Novel Ideas, and I'm starting  the play, Angels in America, soon for Intro to Theatre.

6) Explore new places- Still exploring campus every Friday.  Check out some of my other blogs to see where I've been going on campus.  As far as rest of the world (or even just Austin), I haven't really been anywhere new in a while, but I really want to go hike Mount Bonnell with my friends before it gets too chilly.

7) Be a successful publisher (in the future)- Still going to college.  That's a start!  I decided, though, that I want to be a children's book publisher, or I'm really thinking about it, anyway.

So, that's how I'm doing on my goals!

I absolutely love the holidays (can you tell by all of our fall decorating?), so I'm hoping to go to a pumpkin patch sometime this week and pick out a pumpkin with Sara.  And, I need to start watching all my favorite Halloween movies to get in the Halloween spirit!  I don't like scary movies (AT ALL!), but I love all the classic Halloween movies that are mostly for kids.

Some of my favorite Halloween movies:

Halloweentown

It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown

Alvin and the Chipmunks Meet the Wolfman

I guess I should also try to write my paper that's due Friday in Banned Books...  But right now, I'm gonna watch some RIZZOLI & ISLES!

Goodnight, everyone.  Thanks again for supporting my blog; you guys are great!

Art is Everywhere

Well, I didn't do a whole lot on Saturday.  I got all of my laundry done, but basically just watched Scandal all day, 15 episodes total.  I stayed up until 6:00 a.m. watching!  Since I stayed up so late, I didn't wake up until noon on Sunday, when Isaiah called to see if I wanted to go to brunch.

After having brunch with him and one of our friends from our FIG, Sagaree, I really wanted to take my new Birkenstocks for a walk.  So, Isaiah and I took a bus downtown and walked around.  We walked down 2nd Street and looked in a few of the shops and then rode another bus to South Congress.

South Congress had an unusual abundance of musicians along the sidewalk, all playing beautifully.  I am always really happy to see all of these artists sharing their talents and voices.  After looking around in South Congress Books, we came across a woman sitting behind a typewriter, who asked us if we would like for her to write a poem for us.  She wrote us a beautiful poem about us as English and history majors.

We also listened for a while to a man singing "Landslide" before walking over to South First to eat at Bouldin Creek, my favorite restaurant :)  I love their Breakfast Sammich and Rose Lemonade!

Once we got back to campus, I went up to my dorm to take a nap before we went to play soccer; but Sara got back about five minutes after I did, and I was too excited to sleep.  Side note- she brought back a ton of jackets!

About an hour later, Isaiah and I went to play soccer with a flat soccer ball, which didn't really work out very well.  I did bring a frisbee, though, so we played frisbee long enough to go from miserable amateurs to near professionals.  Maybe not that good, but we were doing really well by the time we decided to head back to our dorms.

Once I got back, I decided to finish the second season of Scandal since I only had a few episodes left.  I really wish Sara would get caught up with me!  It's so hard to contain my reactions so that I don't spoil anything for her!

Between the last two episodes, Sara and I added some Halloween decorations to fall ones.  Sara brought back some window decorations that we put up and some fall magnets for our fridge.

Hope you are all enjoying Fall!  Have a great day!

The View from the Roof

I woke up super peppy this morning.  I made coffee, fed the plants, and had time to make my bed before class.  I didn't have time to eat my apple sauce, but I took my it to class with my cinnamon and was able to eat it before I was too hungry.  Speaking of class, we explored the world of Neopets in my UGS course.

After my first two classes, I went to get my Friday coffee from Starbuck's.  Instead of exploring campus during my coffee break, I went to a discussion with the artist, James Turrell, whose just had an installation put in the SAC.  I need to clarify, by the way, that I gave him credit for someone else's art yesterday.  I'm still not sure whose art it is, but it's not by James Turell.  Sorry!  The talk was interesting, even though he was kind of wordy and off topic.  I really had no idea how any of his responses related to the questions or to his most recent piece, but it was interesting learning how he learned how to use light in so many different ways.

I had to leave the discussion early to go to Astronomy.  I can never miss it, because we have so many pop quizzes and all of the exams are based on the lectures.  I wouldn't really want to miss it, though, because it's my favorite class.  I was kind of surprised at how much I enjoy it, but it's a great class.  We learn a lot of interesting stuff- and not what you would think.  We learn about how astronomers calculate the distance to stars and their brightness.  We learn about the light spectrum and the intricacies of different telescopes.  And, of course we also learn about the orbits of planets around the Sun and things like that.  The professor is amazing, though.  His lectures are very dynamic and organized, and he really knows what he's talking about.  The pop quizzes were difficult at first, but you can do well on everything in his class if you just pay attention in class and study.  He provides so many opportunities for you to learn, such as review questions with help sessions, links to test questions from previous semesters, and review sessions before all of the tests.  It's really the only class I'm learning anything in, and I feel like I'm learning a lot.

I did my campus exploration after Astronomy since I went to the talk during my coffee break.  I have been eyeing this spot for a while, where you can sit on the roof of one of the buildings.  I had planned to spend last Friday morning there, but it was too cold.  So, I finally went today and sat on the roof while I read my Virginia Woolf novella, Jacob's Room.  It was pretty nice laying on the roof!

Afterwards I climbed the steps on the side of the Dorothy L. Gebauer building, which I see every other day when I get out of Astronomy, just after I pass the Welch roof.  It was such a pretty day to sit outside- not too cold, bright, or windy.  I really enjoyed being up so high and outdoors at the same time!

Well, Sara went home for the weekend, and I guess I'm going to try to be productive.  I did a few loads of laundry tonight, but pretty much just watched reruns from the fourth season of Rizzoli & Isles.

Goodnight, and I wish you all a happy weekend!