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