My New Home

Well, it's a big day!

Day one on the job, for both Tom and myself.

I told Tom that it feels like the first day of school with less sparkly pencils.

I have been living with Tom and his family for a little more than a week now, and I wanted to document some of it.

So far, I've really enjoyed it. I'm used to living with lots of people. Throughout my life, various friends and family lived with us periodically, and of course, I lived with people all through college. So I like having a lot going on, and a lot of people to talk to.

We plan to get our own place in a year and a half to two years or so, after hopefully paying off all our loans, but for now we have our cozy basement bedroom.

The first time I saw Tom's house, I thought it looked like a fairytale cottage. Granted, to get there we had to pass a bunch of bars and a strip club and I kind of thought I was going to die. 

But it's tucked away in a woody hill, just across the street from his elementary school. 

His dad loves to garden, so there are all kinds of gorgeous flowers everywhere. I'm even growing my own pumpkins!

Owl planter, a Christmas gift from grandma

Baby pumpkins!

Riley, who always looks sad.

Herbs and wildflowers that Tom and I picked.

Happy Tuesday! I hope you had a relaxing, reflective Memorial Day.

Finally...

I finished my novel.

One year and six weeks later, it is complete!

Less than a week after graduation. Not a bad week ;)

Onto book two of the trilogy.

Also...this is all I have for this post.

So I will leave you with a song.

Happy Thursday!

The Graduate

My mom and me

Tommy and me

Me and my dad

My best friend Sandy and me. She and her fiance drove three hours that morning to see me graduate, and then had another three hour trip home that afternoon! Dedication.

"It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are."  ~e.e. cummings

Graduation was strange.

It was a lot of things, really. Loud. Colorful. Exceptionally long.

I goofed off most of the time with the people around me.

I thought, going into it, graduation would be a time for reflection. I could let my thoughts meander throughout the course of the three hours we sat there, and maybe come up with some pearl of wisdom that would make me feel ready to be an adult.

Not quite.

I walked out feeling as anxious as I did walking in, and considerably hungrier.

Graduation was a wonderfully ceremonial, but the graduation feelings didn't really set in until the next day.

When I was the last one to move out of my apartment.

I've lived in that apartment for two years, including summers. I was the first one to move in, and the last one to move out. After my last roommate had left, I laid on the floor in the living room for awhile, feeling confused.

And honestly, I felt like I had died or something.

Because life as I knew it was over. And it's true. All that time being a student, and now I had to find a way to be...what. Me? Or something like it?

I am now moved into the basement of my boyfriend's parents' home, and I'm still not unpacked. I start work a week from today. And my only goal this week, aside from some errands, is to prepare myself for the rest of my life.

Luckily it comes a day at a time, because I'm a bit overwhelmed with the thought of it.

It has driven me to watch a lot of Castle and eat things. 

But I have also continued working on my fiction novel, worked a bit in the garden, and enjoyed the beautiful weather, so I'd call that a success.

I have also suddenly acquired many new roommates in the form of a kitty, a puppy, a fish, Tom's parents, his best friend from the Marines who is in town for two weeks, his sister, his sister's boyfriend, and of course, my Tommy.

And thus begins life without a class schedule.

Onward.

Rooibos tea, political science, and a sunrise: The end of an era

First of all: I want to apologize to you, journalism career.

I have found you to be captivating, engaging, and completely worth it, but I have really missed the Oxford comma. It just makes sense.

Also, this morning was very special to me.

It was the last of my college sunrise days.

A back story:

My best work is done early in the morning. (i.e. look at the name of this blog.)

My brain is completely useless after 8 p.m., and so I really strive to stay away from any major life decisions after that hour.

Throughout my entire college career, I had many days where I got up incredibly early to finish homework.

Today, it was my very last assignment for college, ever.

[Yes, I procrastinate. And it's bad. But I love deadlines.]

I am not done with this essay yet; it is due before midnight tonight.

But something about this morning was so poignant.

As frustrating as assignments could be, I loved the very act of being a student. It has been my identity for nearly my entire life, and without it, I feel like I'm empty.

I won't stop learning, of course. I'll always be a student of life. I don't care how cheesy it sounds.

But the truth is, I lived for those early mornings. I loved the rush of getting up before the sun to beat the clock, cup of tea in hand, pouring out ideas on paper about topics very new to me.

Sometimes, when I really got carried away, I wouldn't write for the grade. I would write each sentence like it was part of some fantastic story, totally enveloped in the hard work and ideas so many others had pored over before me in their research.

I graduate on Saturday, but I truly feel that by midnight tonight, (when I have hopefully turned in this paper...yikes) I will have handed in my student card. At least for now, in the realm of academia.

That's why everything today I have tried to savor. I really worked to craft a good paper,(okay, a decent paper. Hello senioritis.)and then I stopped for coffee with a friend before work. The rest of the day and the week will likely be a blur (especially Thursday; senior traditions...) but I hope it's a wonderful blur. One filled with all sorts of craziness and goodbyes.

I do intend to be back in a classroom again. I will be, actually...part of the new job requires a real estate license.

But I have big plans outside the realm of my undergraduate studies, and I am ready for whatever comes next.

And I can assure you, a lot of it will be documented right here, so I don't lose it in the big hodge podge of life.

Again, to all of you graduating this month, congratulations. Onto the next chapter!

2 years + the world

Today is my and Tom's 2 year anniversary.

I mean it entirely when I say these past couple years have been purely blissful,

even when life got difficult.

I can't wait for what the next year will bring,

especially because one week from now, I will be living with him!

We are spending the day getting dinner, feeding ducks, paddleboating and seeing the Great Gatsby.

Pretty much my ideal day.

On an unrelated note, I got these fantastic earrings in the mail yesterday:

Now we're going to get real close to my face...but that's how great these earrings are. 

World map!

Thank you Aunt Shannon :)

They are available here.

I don't usually do posts about products, but I was ridiculously excited about these. 

Also, T-minus one paper until I am TOTALLY done with college. Unbelievable.

Anyone out there coming up on graduation or just recently graduated? If so, congrats! Such a fun time.

Happy Saturday!

Also, just because I stumbled across his music yesterday, here is one of many beautiful works by Ludovico Einaudi:

Snapshots from my final days as an undergrad (& favorite quotes!)

Things have been very sentimental around here.

Graduation conversations happen daily, and even more than that is the inevitable "now what?"

My friends and I discuss it constantly: 

"How did we get here?"

"Wasn't it just freshman year?"

Yesterday was my last day of class. It was really weird. I suppose it hasn't hit me yet, the full magnitude of it. Of moving on completely.

But next week, we all move out. And our little apartment, which has housed late-night conversations, last-minute parties and a handful of craziness over the past two years, will belong to someone new.

We have plenty more festivities planned, though!

Also, to give you a sampling of some of our favorite moments, here are a few of my favorites off our quote boards, where we recorded some of the greatest sayings of the year! Instead of using their names for this, I will call them roommate 1, 2 and 3.

Top ten quotes of the year:

10. RM 2: "If I drink enough tonight, I won't have to take cold medicine."

9. RM 1: "I got to play secretary tonight, Heather."

8. RM 2: "Heather, the Amish party harder than you do."

7. RM 1: "I'm going to put on pajama pants."

Me: "What are potato pants?"

RM 1, 2 and 3: "PAJAMA PANTS!"

6. *We were watching the Big Bang Theory where Penny plays Anne Frank*

RM 3: "The only thing that bothers me is that she talks, and Anne Frank can't talk."

Me: "You mean Helen Keller?"

RM 3: "I always mess those two up!"

5. Me: "What is this thing, a tree tutu?"

RM 1: "Um, it's called a wreath..."

4. RM 2: "It's 3 p.m. and I'm still in my pajamas."

Me: "I'm in yesterday's clothes..."

3. Me: "I know a place, but it depends on how brave you are and what kind of food you're willing to eat."

2. Me: "I did this workout with a broom today and now my back really hurts."

RM 1: "That's called pole dancing, sweetie."

And my personal favorite...

One of my roommates and I were joking about how we looked like a couple because we were going out to dinner at this Chinese restaurant. 

She must have been paranoid because when the waitress, who had a very strong accent, came to take our drink order, this is what ensued:

Waitress: "Would you like hot water or tea?"

RM 1: "No, we're just friends."

Me: *DYING OF LAUGHTER*

Waitress: *CONFUSED*

Me: "She will have a water."

(Waitress walks away.)

Me: "What did you think she said?!"

RM 1: "I thought she asked if we were on a date!"

And now, a hodge podge of photos from my camera:

 Happy Wednesday!

My Thoughts Monday: I am really scared for the general American youth populace. (RANT.)

I'm about to age myself half a century here, but I'm really concerned about kids today.

This is about to get fairly preachy, so...you've been warned. I don't often get so flustered by things, but every now and again, it does happen.

I can only speak for American kids/adolescents because I am one of them. But I definitely think something's amiss, and it sure isn't good.

The fact that I am more informed in current events and politics than a lot of my friends really freaks me out because, to be blatantly honest with you, I am not that informed. I listen to NPR daily and browse a host of newspaper websites daily, but I still only get a smattering of what's actually happening in the world.

I am a college student. I am surrounded by other people on a daily basis who chose to pay huge sums of money to further their educations. The fact that SO MANY of them don't give even a hint of a crap about what's going on outside their personal bubbles terrifies me.

It's not even that they have to be interested in politics or current affairs.

Maybe just...read an interesting article in a magazine.

Or talk about something besides general gossip.

I don't know how this is even possible, but since coming to college, I have been almost entirely starved of intellectual conversation. Thank god for the newspaper staff, because in the midst of generally inappropriate jokes, we would engage in lively, stimulating discussions about things. A wide spectrum of things.

In my classes, I often found I became that annoying girl who raised my hand constantly because I just really wanted to engage in some kind of interesting conversation.

It didn't have to be the global economic system or upheaval in the Middle East.

Just something outside of "So Mary told John that I went out with Jack and I'm so, so pissed about it and I think I will have a drink now."

I have friends who don't know a thing about what's going on politically or in the local news, but they ask great questions about simple things. I cherish the heck out of that because it is horrifically rare.

And if I ask other people questions outside the general "How are you?" or "Have you heard what Sally did on Saturday?" they look at me like I just insulted them in a dead language.

This is not to say I think people are stupid. Talk to a little kid, and you know people aren't stupid.

They have the capability to be curious and intelligent, and to always want to know more.

I just think people limit themselves to a dismal level when they get too immersed in pop culture and the herd mentality. They focus more on clothes and social status and instagramming their breakfast than they do on what's happening beyond their personal realm.

Clothes and social life are important, but only to an extent. At some point, that stuff is totally empty. (By "social life," I mean Facebook and general gossip. True time with family and friends is obviously different, and incredibly beneficial.)
But fresh ideas, and the willingness to always ask "Why?" has no bounds.

Again, this is not to say it's bad to pay attention to your personal life, but I know far too many people who are so terrified of the unknown that they stunt their personal growth before it's really even begun.

And right now, two weeks before graduating and stepping into the "real world,"

I hope to be someone who offers up unique, interesting thoughts and a fresh perspective.