Red

So... this post would have been a little more exciting if I had, you know, actually gone somewhere to take pictures in my cute outfit and my lovely new laptop bag.  I had to take a test for my online accounting class today, and originally I was going to go down to the library, drag along a sister to do a photoshoot afterwards, get some new scenery.  But then I decided to just stay home and take my test and do a photoshoot out in the yard like I always do, because I'll have to leave to go to work later so I don't want to leave the house now.  Made sense to me.

Anyhow.

Yesterday was a red letter day in shopping for me.  I had 30% off at Khols, which of course I HAD to use - I mean it was THIRTY PERCENT OFF - so I went and bought two pairs of denim capris and that adorable floral shirt that I am wearing.

And then I found this.  This beautiful red leather briefcase for my laptop with so many pockets and beautifulness that MY GOOFY 15.5 INCH LAPTOP ACTUALLY FITS IN (seriously, it has been soooooo hard to find a bag that fits, and is cute) - and I got it for $10 at a garage sale.

I request the highest of fives.

I further accessorized with a touch of light red lipstick, and a simple yet lovely gold jewelry set.  You can't see the necklace in this shot because if you could have then you would have seen some other things as well and nobody wants that.

Oh yes... and I have this.  I got it the other day but forced myself to wait to start reading it until after I finished my accounting class.  The test is done and the class is over for the summer (Hallelujah!) and so Lizzy Bennet, here I come!

Top - Khols

Capris - Khols

Jewelry - Gifted

Laptop bag - Garage Sale/DayOne

Sandals - Payless Shoe Source

Book - LizzieBennet.com

Sometimes I'm Crafty

At my hotel job, we're doing a competition. (Yay!)

Each person gets a birdhouse to decorate, and then this weekend we will let the guests at the hotel vote on their favorite!

Craftyness isn't always my strong suite. Far too often, my ideas turn out better in my head than they do in real life.

My ideas don't always turn out cute, and I'm not always crafty.

But sometimes I am.

Some Sweet Summer Stories

Because if I called it Some Sweet Summer Reading, the alliteration wouldn't be nearly as good.

It's summer time, and while I haven't had time for too many summertime activities - between two jobs and homework for an online summer class - I have made time to discover a few new books from the library.  

Book reviews and summaries of just about anything have always been a challenge for me to write.  I don't do well with summarizing, I can't make it sound interesting and any kind of ending sounds sooooo cliche and tacky.  So when I want to review a book, I try to come up with alternative and creative ways to do so.  Like my Twitterature reviews and the time I did an "interview" with the characters of the Fairy Tale Novels series.

Today... I feel a bit dramatic, so lets pretend I'm writing one of those super dramatic paragraph reviews that go on the back cover/inside flap*

*This has the potential to come out a little  over the top so a disclaimer: I absolutely loved both these books and you should totally read them.

Victoria's world is a lonely one.  She doesn't have a home, she doesn't have a family, she has no idea who her parents are or where she was born.  But she does have flowers.  Flower are a link to the brief time when she wasn't alone and had a hope of finding her place in the world.  The language of flowers is the one thing that she knows and the one thing she is good at. They are a reminder of the greatest betrayal of her young life and of the closeness with other people she might never have. It is through flowers that Victoria is able to find herself, her way in life and her path to hope and forgiveness.

What would you do if one day, your Life sent you a letter?  What would you do if your Life could send you a letter?  If it wanted to meet with you?  If it was absolutely imperative that it meet with you?  If you are Lucy Silchester, than you throw the letter away and ignore all the other letters that follow.  Until you can't ignore them any more.  Lucy Silchester's life has crumbled and sunk into pathetic apathy, and she knows this.  She also kind of likes it.  Her Life, however, has other opinions and against Lucy's will she is forced to reevaluate her decisions and confront the safety net of lies and stories she has built around herself.  If she doesn't, then her Life sure as heck will.

How about you?  Any good summer reading that you've picked up?  Please feel free to share in the comments!

Letting It Go

If things had been different, I would have graduated this past weekend.  I would have completed four years at the college I still think is the best school in the whole world.  I would have been a college graduate, heading out to face the "real world".

Things aren't different though, and I didn't graduate.  It's been two and a half years since finances fell apart and God very clearly showed me the door on everything I'd been planning on and come to love in that year and a half at my school.  Things aren't different and it took me a solid year and then some to get my life back together.  It was only just this past August that I finally figured out what I wanted to do with my life and went back to school at my community college, which is nice and I do like it, but will never be what North Central College was to me.  Maybe I'm not giving it a chance, but in my heart it will never compare.  It's where I know I'm supposed to be, I am happy but there's still a good portion of my heart that wishes things had been different.

I have to wonder if this is what a break up feels like.  The shock of being told that things aren't working out any more, that you both need space and maybe a little down the road it will work out again.  You spend a lot of time crying, hurting and slowly realize that it's never going to work out again.  You visit one time, but it hurts to much so instead for a long time you block out any memories that you had.  You can't even hang out in the places where you used to hang out, and when you try you end up sobbing your eyes out in the car on the way there and after you leave.

But eventually it gets a little easier.  You realize that all of a sudden you can remember the fun times you used to have together, it's alright to look at pictures again, you can even visit once or twice.  Oh there's still times when it hurts like heck, and you know there will always be a piece left with you, but it gets easier to live with.

I wanted to go to what could have, maybe should have, been my graduation, but that thing called work got in the way and I couldn't.  Maybe it's better that way.  If I learned one thing from that one episode of How I Met Your Mother, it's that you don't go to an ex's wedding.  I thought that if I went and got to watch the ceremony, see all the people who were my classmates walk across the stage and move on with their lives I could let it go, completely, at last.  Maybe, if things had been different.

But once again, they weren't.  And once again, it hurts.  But now, maybe, I'll be better at letting it go.

Growing Up Brothers

My oldest youngest brother graduated from 8th grade this past Tuesday.  Guys, this means he's going to be in HIGH SCHOOL.  Bro T. is number 5 in the line up of kids, so I've had three sisters grow up and graduate from 8th grade and two from high school before him... but this one is the first one that's made me feel really old.

I guess it's because Bro T was the first baby that I was old enough to really help out with.  I was 8 when he was born, and I could help out with chores around the house, I think I may have even unwillingly assisted in changing a diaper or two.  He was the first one whose birth day I remember the most clearly (I went to mass that morning and announced from the back of church that I had a new baby brother).  Now he's growing up so fast.  His voice changed at the beginning of the year and this past week he caught up to me in height.

I'll admit, I haven't always enjoyed having him for a brother.  Especially not during the years when we hadn't realized eating anything with hydrogenated oils turned him into the Hulk and I frequently was on the receiving end of having glasses ripped off my face or things thrown at me.  But in the more recent years as his temper has mellowed out a bit, I've really grown to appreciate having a brother in the midst of all these sisters.  Boys are quite different from girls and hanging out with someone who isn't (always) as dramatic and moody as us girls is refreshing at times.

He's incredibly smart... he remembers the most random of obscure facts and details, so you can never be sure what kind of conversation will come up.  He's very analytically minded (to the point of extreme annoyance at times) but it's led to some interesting conversations while we try to figure out the origins behind whatever random figure of speech he decides to question that day.

 He's also insanely talented.  As in, talented to the point that it really isn't fair that one person can be good at so many things.  He's a natural at just about every spot he's tried so far, he can draw pretty well, write very creative stories, he has a knack for cooking (you should see the designs he's done with meatloaf - we've had a dragon head and a birthday present).  He can sing (though struggling a bit with his voice change) and a few weeks ago at my friend's graudation party when the younger set was swing dancing, I noticed him dancing and twirling his partner and doing jumps and I - a bit confused - asked him when he had learned how to swing dance.  His response? "Just today".  In one hour he picked up swing dancing and looked just as good as a few of the other boys who have been doing it for a year or so now.  Oh, and did I mention that hes going to turn into a handsome guy,  loves babies and is really good with small children?

Yes, I am bragging and no of course I'm not alerting all of you with younger sisters to pay attention in the future.  I'm just saying that whatever girl ends up with him down the road is going to be very lucky and have lots to brag about.

I love having him for a brother.  He's a really great brother, we get along really well and he's a lot of fun to hang out and goof around with.  It'll be interesting to watch him continue to grow up!

My Life in a Nutshell

I had every intention of blogging more, really I did. Then suddenly the month of May flew by and now it is nearly the end of the first week of June already!  Life has been much busier than expected.. which isn't a bad thing outside of blogging, but has thus far hampered post writing to a great extent.

I got a new job!  A new job that I absolutely love working at an extended stay hotel as a guest service agent (GSA).  The people I work with are fantastic and awesome, and the guests are all absolutely lovely.  I wasn't planning on it being a full time job however.  It's a part time position, but while I am in training (about a month) I will be full time.  I'm loving the money this is making me, and training full time definitely makes learning a lot easier - however working second shift full time sure cuts into most of my productive time for the day.  By the time I get home (close to midnight) I'm often still wide awake, but don't really feel like doing anything other than catching up on Facebook, Pinterest and watching another episode of How I Met Your Mother.

On top of that, I am taking a six week online summer class, so technically when I'm not working I really should  be doing my homework.  I did just do an hour of studying, so I figured it was okay if I took a quick break before getting changed up for work to write a post.  You guys won't tell on me, right?

My internship with the medical association's meeting planning team is over, but I am still working my other part time job at the chiropractor... so yeah, between working there in the morning, studying for my class and working at the hotel in the evenings blogging has been pushed to the wayside.  I do have posts that have been formulating in my brain, however - so hopefully you'll see those soon!

In the meantime, cheerio!