swoooooooooooooooooooooonnnnn

Oh my goodnessss.......

I want to be married SO bad!  I've just come back from a weekend with my best friend and her new Husband.  They've been married about 8 months now, and they seem to be having so much fun.  She was the third of my close friends to get married, and I've had another 2 get married since, and this year I've got another 3 weddings to go to. (that I've been invited to so far).  I realize that this certainly isn't a record number of friends getting married over the span of 2 years, but it's all very new, and I feel like it's coming at me rather fast.  I went from 0 married friends to 10 married friends since my sophomore year in college and I'm just having some adjustment issues.  Spending the weekend with Joelle and Kevin also made me realize how many people THEY know that are or will be married.  It just seems like this fun club that I'm not part of.  I know it's a lot of work, but I also know how great it will be to have someone there to wake up to and to hang out with and spend time with and love forever.  Not only am I not part of this club, but I'm not even in line to get in!  

  

I'm in a very strange period of transition and for the first time in a long time, I don't know what's in store for me.  I'll be leaving K-State at the end of the month.  Literally I'll be here another 29 days. Since I don't have a job, the plan is to move back to Phoenix July 1st.  I'll be moving back in with my mom and dad which is bittersweet.  I love my parents dearly.  They are so fantastic and wonderful and loving and fun and helpful, and we get along beautifully, so I'm not upset about that at all.  What I'm upset about is how disappointed I am that I won't be moving into my own place.  I've really gotten used to my own space and independence.  I also really enjoy designing and colors and decorating, and I was REALLY looking forward to having a new space for me to do with what I want.  I've never lived in a place where I have a personal kitchen or dining room, and I was excited to do some cooking for myself and get kitchen and dining equipment.  Now, not only do I not get to buy new things for myself, but I have to figure out what to do with the things I already own!  it's very depressing.  haha.  

So my current situation in life is this:

-no man

-no job

-no home

-no fun.

Someone please find me a man!

Hello Again!

It's been a while since my last post. but a Lot has been going on.  My parents came to town for graduation 2 weeks ago and that was a blast.  I really miss them, so having them all to myself for 6 days straight was awesome.  I really needed some quality mom and daddy time.  After that school ended, so I was busy closing buildings, turning in assignments, catching up on final work stuff.  THEN came NACURH!  NACURH is the National Association of College and University Residence Halls.  They just had the national conference at my alma mater, the University of Arizona in Tucson, and I got to go!  It was a last minute thing, but one of the other advisors for the group had to go home unexpectedly, so I got to fill in.  It was so much fun, and I was delighted to show the K-State kids my school and a bit of the city and stuff.  The best part was getting to see some friends of mine who have scattered across the country since We last went to school together.  Justin, Meredith, Ty, Craig, Brett, James, etc.  LOTS of fun people!

Now I'm back at K-State and I'm in my usual post-Arizona funk.  I should be out of it just in time to head to Saint Louis this weekend.  No, I'm not looking forward to spending 6 hours in a car, but I am looking forward to Auditioning for Disney!  I'm so excited about it I could burst!  but I won't. = )

Summer's coming!

So, I work and live in a scholarship/leadership house at K-State.  It's a cute little house with not a whole lot to it in terms of coolness.  It's like a sorority without all the fluffy, nice, elegance.  It' s much more like a residence hall in that sense. 

However!  I've made it my personal mission to make a nice backyard for the house and i've been working on these plans for about a year now.  Recently, my voice was heard and the Director of facilities for Housing and Dining Services has built me a BEAUTIFUL back patio!  They've extended what was a 12 by 36 foot concrete patch outside our backdoor, and added an additional 12x36 ft brick patio, along with above ground flower boxes filled with pretty little purple and yellow pansies.  There's a 6 foot privacy fence (cedar colored) to the north of the patio to shield us from the wonder that is the TKE house.  At the edge of the brick there's a little landscaped area that has 4 little evergreen trees, 3 boulders, and various little plants to complete the edge of the property.  The house also bought 3 lounge chairs and a "double glider" which is basically a rocking love-seat of sorts.  I bought a few strands of white paper lanterns to hang across the fence and they really take the patio from nice to awesome!  I think my favorite part of the patio is the built in grill!  They built a little stand thing that matches the rock they used to build the flower beds, and put a drop-in grill on top of it for us to be able to bbq out here!  We're also getting like 3-4 square picnic tables with enough seating for 8 at each table.  

The girls and I have been eating meals out here for the past few days since the weather has been so nice.  I seriously can't wait for my birthday cause I plan on having a big blowout BBQ for my party in June.  It's going to be so much fun.

After our softball game tonight a bunch of us came out here and had popsicles and ice cream sundaes.  There are boys out here now, so I think I'm gonna go inside.  Also, I'm thinking another perk of this fantastic new hangout place will be the fact that people will be hanging out out here now, and not in the living room on the other side of a wall from my bed! = )

YAYAYAYAYAYAYYY!

All I need in life is a T-Shirt and a Diet Coke

Hey world!

It's Tuesday afternoon and a lot of things are happening today!

*It is SUNNY! HOLLA! for the first time in what seems like weeks I don't feel like I'm going to freeze to death.
*Ballet was canceled cause Instructor was sick. Went with some girls to get coffee instead. That was lovely.
*Modern 2... that's all!
*Wearing a dress made from my Dad's old T-shirt. I'm in love with it, and it feels like my dad is here with me a little bit, so that makes me happy.
*Came to the Women's Center for Work, and found an Easter Basket waiting for me on the table! Once again, validating how much I enjoy working here.

Now something that might be a little yucky... I have to meet with a professor this afternoon. She's my advisor as well, so We'll be chatting about school stuff, which is never fun. But I'm seriously hoping this meeting will settle my heart about some of the stuff that's going on with me this semester.

After that I make a quick stop at the housing office to drop off some paperwork, and then I get to go home and get ready for the Celebrity Bowls Auction tonight!

The Strecker-Nelson Gallery in Manhattan is hosting an auction for the Women's Center, and people will bid on these amazing bowls made by local artists to benefit Charities that fight local hunger. It's a really great cause, and I'm excited to get dressed up, and have free wine, and see pretty art. I don't have a date, Sadly... but I'm sure I'll have fun anyway. Who doesn't love getting dressed up and drinking wine?!

That's about it for today... Note to self- yogurt frozen, is not the same as frozen yogurt. Got it.

I wish I were a mermaid...

This weekend was pretty good.  

I took a lot of time and finally organized my clothes.  After purchasing another 30 hangers and a new set of drawers, I STILL have a laundry b

asket full of hoodies and sweatpants.  I mean REALLY?!?!  I filled my closet which now hold 120 hangers worth of clothes (including doubling-up skirts on hangers).  I have a set of plastic dresser drawers in my closet also--filled.  I have a tall chest of 4 drawers ALL full, and I purchased a new set of 3 plastic dresser drawers... yep, FULL!  I literally have no idea what to do with the basket of hoodies.  I had an extra stack of t-shirts, and I just stuck them next to craft boxes in my closet.  ahh!

I usually spend a good portion of the winter months pining for summer (or at least summer weather) but I think it's worse this year than usual.  Once it gets consistently warm here in Kansas, I'll be able to pack up my sweaters and free-up some hangers in the closet.  I might just invest in some of those "under the bed" storage boxes, and put hoodies in there for permanent storage.  Is it a bad thing if I make a decision about where to work next year based on closet size?  

Ohh next year...  I can't help but be anxious.  With every passing minute I get more and more worried about where I'll end up and what I'll be doing.  Every minute I don't hear from a school, I get more and more excited about the idea of living with my family (or near them anyway) and working for some fabulous retailer like Louis Vuitton, Lacoste, or Kate Spade.  I feel lazy and unmotivated when I think about just taking next year off, but I'm also so self-loathing at the moment, that I can't imagine waiting around for

 one more moment.  Ughhh...

I'm hoping this week will be better than usual.  I'm going to take some strides to make sure that happens.  I will let you know how it goes.

:::Sigh::: I wish I were a Mermaid.

Excited for Saturday

Hello World!

Today is Saturday, and I'm excited about that for several reasons:

1- no work.

2- it's sunny

3- I have productive plans for myself!

I've decided to go on a long run this morning.  I haven't kept up with my running training since spring break, and I really don't like it.  Unfortunately I don't have much choice since things are SO busy around here lately.  So, I'm taking advantage of today's opportunity to restart things!  

Also, Brendan has a friend in town and they're going to the K-State baseball game this afternoon, so I think I'll join them and watch the Cats beat up on Texas A&M.  I'm excited about this because I've never been to a KSU game before, and once again it's sunny and outdoors, etc.

I started cleaning my apartment last night for the first time in weeks!  It's always a major undertaking when I do this because I have SO much stuff on the floors, but I always feel amazing once it's all done.  I'll probably have to go buy more hangers to accommodate all my clothes, but i've decided that I'm not allowed to leave piles of things in the bedroom any more.  I need to put everything I own away.  This will be quite the task, but I'm ready to accept the challenge.  Also on my organizing/cleaning kick, I've decided that I need some kind of system for my headbands.  I've collected many really cute, delicate headbands recently, but I don't have a good system for how to keep them neat, and off the dresser.  Thoughts?  I think it'd be fun to get a fake mannequin head to put them on but that might be hard to come by.  We'll see.  

Well, I'm going to get myself in gear for this run.  but I'll leave you with a photo that might also be something I do on this lovely Saturday in Manhattan, KS!

Such a good day!

Such a good day!

* Good Hair Day-- Thank you Gisele Bunchen!

* Early morning meeting with Good work people

* I made it into the newspaper-- TWICE!  

-Once in the background of a Spring Dance Picture

-And again, in the forum about my bicycle

* I've been updating twitter like a mad woman, and it's been so much fun!  I've already gotten a recruit under my belt.

* I had a pretty productive day (work wise)

* had a fun conversation with a girl at work for the first time

* made my own handwriting into a FONT!

* The the creme de la creme is the "Night on the Green Carpet--Go Green Fashion Show"!

- I got to wear my Michael Kors Shirt for the first time and looked Fabulous!

- One of the girls in Smurthwaite house WON the show!

* Dancing with the stars was amazing as usual, and my crush on Derek Hough continues on...

* TWO new episodes of "The Hills"-- So many new hair ideas, so little time!

I hope your day was as good as mine.  = )

-Karen

An afternoon at the Student Union

For my Spring Practicum class I'm working with the Women's Center on campus, and so far I'm loving it!  Today was like the 4th official day that I've done work for them.  Today's tasks have included sitting at the Union Kiosk (a table with Women's center info, buttons, cards, etc.) and smiling at people.  No one (aside from a janitor) has talked to me yet, but I'm hopeful.  I love getting to just sit and watch people go by.  Perhaps in the future, I'll use this time to do work or something, but today I'm just enjoying.  I'm also hoping that there will be a regular crowd on the days that I'm here so I can get to know some new people and have some company.  I'm also hoping that I get to do what the kiosk was intended for and help some young women work through some issues.

okay gotta go!