Oh, The Places You'll Go

Things are really beginning to look up for me! Although we've been here, in our college town,  for about 4.5 months were just now starting to get used to everything. Its much bigger here than it is in either of the towns Dale and I grew up in. Its very difficult to get used to hearing college girls walk up and down the streets screaming at 2am on Saturdays after hitting every bar in town. Its been a journey figuring out all the different streets considering there are probably about five different 8th Ave N and twelve different 3rd St. S in this town. Very confusing but so worth it! I also finally got a job after being on the hunt for about a month now, got a car** after looking for 6 months (a 2003 Ford Focus), got my first credit card and the end of the semester is near (3 days to be exact!!)!

Oh yeah... and Christmas is only 17 days away!? YAY! 

While on the subject of Christmas here are a few things you should know about me:

• I make it a point to watch The Polar Express since its THE best christmas movie (besides all those great, sappy Hallmark movies) but only if I get to drink hot cocoa while watching!
• Also, this is unrelated but Adele is my absolute most favorite singer and I wish I could be her best friend someday, which I know will never happen, but regardless her new CD just came out and I die every time I listen.
• I love the Dollar Store. It is literally one of the best places to shop for holiday decorations if your okay with them looking cheap. 
• Just one more tidbit is that I tell my mom not to put candy in our Christmas stockings because I don't need to get any fatter but she always does which I am always grateful for after I bite in to that delicious chocolate. 

I hope most of you can relate to the first title of this post and you are happy with how things are going in your life. Sometimes its easy to forget that there are people out there who have it 50X worse than we do and in those situations we just have to take a step back and look at all the good things we do have rather than dwelling on all that we don't.

** There are very bright green/yellow ford focuses in The Cat In The Hat movie and they have really ugly tail lights when compared to the newer tail lights (I'm weird like that) on the focuses. So, I decided to call the car Dr. Seuss. That is where the title came from.  Did any of that make sense? Haha oh well! .

If I don't get back on here for a while I hope you all have some great holiday celebrations and just remember that no matter what day of the year it is,  giving is always better than getting.

(Keep going down)

What's Happening In My World?

Long time no talk my loves! My sincerest apologies. All is well in my world. D moved 13 hours from home for me…WHAT!? Yeah, I can truthfully say I have never felt as much love from someone than I have with him. Did that make sense? Anyway, he makes me so darn happy. So, I was pretty ecstatic when he said he wanted to move back home with me.

[This is before he moved to Minnesota]

I got a job as a Home Health Aide for Assisted Living when I came home for the summer and he stayed in Michigan working as a herbicide applicator/work planter at a tree service company.

[A little backstory]

I’ve already told you we met on Tinder, but I left a few parts out. I was going to school in Grand Rapids, MI when we met. He was working for the same tree company and happened to be in the area. The GPS on our apps had us in a 10-mile radius of each other…which was correct. However, his job required him to travel. Usually all over the state of MI. Therefore, he was 10 miles from me but in reality he lived 4.5 hours away in the northern part of the state. I didn’t have a car so when we started dating (and all throughout my time at school) he made a conscious effort to visit me whenever possible or pick me up for a weekend. The only issue was that it was 4.5 hours down to get me and 4.5 hours to bring me up to his house, then the same on the way back for him. It was very hard on him and I couldn’t be more thankful for him doing it for us. If he wasn’t able to make those trips I don’t know how we would have ever lasted not being able to see each other. But, it did last. We are so happy and wouldn’t change anything.

[Anyway, back to before he move to MN]

I got out of school at the beginning of June and he decided to stay and work to make as much money as possible before completely starting over. His plan was to move to MN at the beginning of August. I’ll be honest here. I was so annoyed. I didn’t understand why he didn’t want to be together as soon as possible. I was out of school by then. He was too, he had already worked for some amount of time and I just didn’t get it. Needless to say, it was another tough two months of making it work. The thought of, “will we make it?” never crossed my mind. I knew we would be just fine. It was just a matter of time. (Hehe that rhymed!) He was supposed to leave Michigan on August 2^nd. We talked everyday after he got off work and I remember one day he told me that he and the guys he was working with had to work in some town on Monday (July 27^th) then they were off Tuesday and back on the job Wednesday. As the story goes… the son of a gun surprised me so good! He told my mom, my best friend and another one of my best friends’ mom. All these people knew and NOONE let it slip!? Oh I was so mad, but oh so excited!

[Now that it took you 20 mins to read that, I’ll continue with my previous post]

When he finally got here we had a little less than a month before we had to move into our apartments. He stayed at my house in the shack in the backyard. Haha that sounds awful but it had a bed, air conditioning, TV, etc. He was set and loved it out there. We spent a lot of time with my parents and my sister, we built a lot of projects out of pallet wood, explored my town and much more over that amount of time before leaving. Eventually, we both got all moved into our apartments, started school, got used to the city as much as possible and started our lives as college kids again. One of my best friends from high school is one of my roommates which is awesome. We love it. Dale does more living at my house then his but that is A-Okay with me. We’ve each found a job, doing pretty good in school, learning so much about the city, the people, culture, ourselves and what we want from our time here in central Minnesota. It sucks being in school. I just want to work and make money. I can’t bring myself to quit school because of all the expectations around me. Every adult in the working world expects that you be in college and if you’re not, you don’t have much going for you. Then again, I know that if I dropped out of school I would forever be sorry. I only have a few more years where I can be without full responsibilities and I don’t think I’m ready to give that up yet. I don’t know. Lots of stuff going on in this big ol’ head of mine.

Thanks for listening to me ramble on for five hours… :)

I'm Back!

Blogging is so hard for me! It's tough keeping up with a new blog especially when transitioning from college to home for the summer. BUT, I'm back!
I just want to share a few things that have been going on in the past few months, not necessarily fashion related but maybe I can tie it in somehow. :)

WOW! I did not prepare myself for freshman year as much as I had hoped I would. Sure, I had all the things I needed for my dorm room, my mom sent some care boxes for me, and I made great friends. However, I didn't give 110% on my school work as I know I should have. Having no roommate gave me a great excuse! I would say, "Well, its so hard to motivate myself when I see all my friends with their roommates doing fun things, because I don't have someone to have a great relationship with, like they do!" wait... did that even make sense? Oh well, you get the point. That is not me! In high school I was captain of the girls tennis team, choir president, student body president, I volunteered at the local health center and the list goes on. It wasn't like me to sit in my room day in and day out. I couldn't and I still can't figure out why I chose loneliness over friendships when all of my life I have been loved by many people and I love making new friends. What I do know from my first year of college and coming home to be with my friends from high school is that I was afraid of losing just that... my friends from high school so I didn't try making new ones as often as I could have or should have.

Do not let yourself stoop down to my level. It's not worth it. Yikes-I made myself should like a bad person or something just then... I'm not but heres the thing, you have to continue being you! Don't let previous relationships get in the way of making new friends. That is what college is for; to broaden your knowledge, open your heart to new things and meet tons of new people, many of which will be your lifelong friends.

I wasn't a loser all of my first year, I did meet some pretty fantastic people, including my amazing boyfriend (Lets call him D). Some of my friends thought it would be a great idea for me to download Tinder, the dating app, so I did...innocently. I had no intentions of talking to or meeting anyone, but I guess there were other plans in the air for me. D and I have been together about eight months now and I don't think I could have ever found someone more fitting for me. I am truly excited to see what the future holds for us and... heres to new adventures.

Just remember to take full advantage of your freshman year and take every chance you can. Don't change who you are, what you do or what you believe in but make sure to let new people into your life.

Dorm Room Essentials (minus all the wasted money)

I remember spending months on Pinterest and Google trying to figure out what to bring to college. I'm the oldest child and my mom's degree is from a community college meaning she never had to live in a dorm so I had no idea how to plan. Along with spend months looking I also spent hundreds of wasted dollars.

I want to give you a quick rundown of all the things I have found to be truly helpful in college and my dorm room. (This does not include the things you need such as twin XL sheets, bedding, towels, etc.) Here is my list: 

• Command hooks
• Paper tray
• Baskets
• Seating 
• Alarm clock
• Organizational tools
• Additional lighting 
• Stationary 
• Ziplock bags
• Picture frames
• Suitcase (traveling home/friends')
• Yoga mat 
• Plants (to help you be accountable for something)
• Jewelry hanger
• A nice throw blanket (or 2)
• Umbrella
• Wax melter (candles aren't allowed)
• Ottoman 
• Footstool
• Laptop

These are obviously not essential but they sure have helped me transition from being in a home with my family to a 9' x 15' room. A huge thing to remember is stay organized! I got lucky and ended up without a roommate but I know many of my friends have issues because there isn't enough space for their things because their roommates stuff is all over. Don't be that person. You'll be better off in the long run with just a few bins or baskets. 

I really hope this helped you. Don't waste a bunch of money on things you don't need. In my honest opinion, it would be best to bring the essential items and then go buy your decorations and other products (such as the ones listed above) after you have moved in and got your clothes, bed, etc situated.

College is a tough place to be, especially freshman year, and you want to make yourself as comfortable as you possibly can. Let me know if I can help you in any other way!

Happy Monday!