Goodnight...

Rush until midnight, up until 2:30am, awake at 8 for homework, and just got out of chem.

The rest of the day looks like its going to be sleepy time for me, so I'm saying goodnight! :)

ps: I met so many AMAZING! girls last night I know my little's in the mix somewhere...

"everything that is meant to be will be..."

THE SUN!! & What online quizzes say about you...

For my Child Education class, this week we were given two websites to visit and take their online personality quizzes. We have to print out the results of these quizzes and write two papers discussing our results and what they said about us.
I just got done taking the quizzes and they were actually kind of fun. They asked things like how well you work with others, do you say whats on your mind, if you see a picture will you learn better, are you more driven by your head or your heart, etc. I found the results fun to read through and see what my answers said about me.
According to the Multiple Intelligence Project (MIP) I am Linguistic (Word Smart), Interpersonal (People Smart), and Intrapersonal (Myself Smart). I am considered an extrovert in social situations and an introvert when it comes to learning and writing, I empathize with others, enjoy discussion, and am driven by my emotions. I was the lowest in Logical (Number Smart) and Musical (Music Smart). Me and math? Umm yeah, haha. No big surprises.
RUSH is this week!! We have our informal rush tomorrow night... long night... 6-midnight (approx) and formal rush on Saturday. There are over 150 girls rushing and I am so excited to meet them all!! Being gone for a semester has limited my abilities to get to know any freshman girls whatsoever SO rush is extra important for abroad girls to meet&greet. I am excited (and giddy and anxious and STOKED!!) to announce that I am taking a little this semester. I know I said that last spring and things didn't work out but I'm here two semesters later and getting a baby is a must!!
Because we are a smaller sorority compared to huge universities (75 girls max) the undertaking of choosing a little sis is a big deal. Financially, socially, EMOTIONALLY! I have had the most amazing big sis and truly the best experience anyone could ask for, I only want to foster the same relationship.
Why coffee mugs make me feel domestic--
Hilary and I had this conversation (or a version of it) the other day and I wanted to share:
Setting: grocery store
me: "ok I need eggs... and trash bags, hand soap... butter, oh and milk?"
hil: "I feel like we walk around this place 10 times before we get everything we need."
me: "milk, yes I think I need milk. And coffee? Oh a coffee mug! This is so weird, I feel so domestic..."
hil: "a coffee mug makes you feel domestic?"
me: "yeah, I don't know. There are all these things I forget I actually have to buy now. Like butter and trash bags. Those things used to just be at the house. I never have had to buy a coffee mug."
hil: "yes, butter doesn't just appear, you do have to buy it."
me: "I know that... ugh, I know I'm forgetting something..."
hil: "Oh my God. We're going to be in here for hours..."

**ok, this might have been a 'you had to be there' convo... but it makes my point. I am feeling more and more domestic with necessary apartment purchases and am maybe starting to actually feel somewhat like a grown up... *gasp*

A little re-cap of my very fun filled weekend!
-driving 15min to Yucaipa and playing in the SNOW!!
-getting cable! wooohooo for the Food Network, TLC and the ToDaY Show =)
-going to an on-campus concert Friday night!
-running and being able to simultaneously enjoy palm trees and snow capped mountains. Redlands, you are just gorgeous and spoil us so much!
-eating dinner at Jackie's... homemade spaghetti? yes please!
-hanging out with some of my SalZy girls!!!
-being out and social and officially back on campus!! Nothing better...
Mr. Sun heard my prayers and responded accordingly. Thank you!! On this lovely Monday morning, people are out, sunglasses are on, and smiles are back :)

Productivity makes everything seem sunnier (when the sun is no where in sight...)

It is not even 9:30am yet and I can say I've had a productive morning. I woke up at 8, read the last 30 pages for my fiction workshop this afternoon and then decided it was time to leave my warm, cozy nest. I made myself a cup of coffee, checked and sent the necessary emails, and made myself eggs and an english muffin. I finished reading at the kitchen counter while discussing the uncharacteristically icky SoCal weather we have been having as of late with one of my roommates and her boyfriend. Facebook, check. Then browsed the blogs I follow (...the number is growing by the way, much to my HaPpiNeSs!!) and now I am here, thinking a 'good morning' blog post would be the icing on my lovely morning.

Yesterday was also note worthy-- I did my laundry, put my clothes away, wiped down the bathroom counters, made progress on getting cable (the most inconvenient/stressful chore I've ever had to do) Jackie brought me over the new John Mayer CD :) and I went to bed relatively early.

It has been down-pouring (and I don't use that word lightly) for three days now and I am here to tell whoever it is who is responsible for these tears that it is time to stop. Californians don't know how to drive in the rain, let alone trenchal ones, so please don't make them try. Their drainage systems are not prepared for these volumes of water-- lanes are turning into lakes. And over half our student body do not own rain coats, so really, you're just getting everyone sick.

SO, Mr. Sun... I miss you. Please come back, Mr. Stormy is oh-so-grumpy and my happiness is very fragile when it comes to all things weather related. I only have so much left in me... xoxo, Lauren

Redlands Review

The submission deadline is only two days away and I finally decided to submit two pieces this year to the Redlands Review. It is a literary magazine made up of students work and is published in early May. It's mostly for upper class, weird.. I guess that means me now. But anyways, here they are. It's a long shot, but I thought it would be fun. They're not too long, don't worry! :)

Hope in Dirt Floors

She studied the street to understand

Against the barbaric backdrop

That keeps its people kept,

The secrets that weigh above

The trees’ sway,

Native eyes searching

A quilt of patches

Brilliant around the edges.

She stood apart and

Needed to. The blanket was unraveling

And promise of better or

Heat would help that wound.

Mosquitoes and dirt floors,

Prayerful knees, soreness

That creeps up her back

Where she carries her babies.

Not standing around, no. No

Vision she, nor hope in dirt floors,

Nor brilliance around the edges.

Landscape, Skewed

With and from you

The raw air

Darkly in love

A perfect word

Female deities

Climb ivy to the sky

To evade compromise

Lights streak

The mist clatters

Through elegance

Warm white pictures

Make memories a valley

After cocktails, petals

Bend to their shadows.

All things seek the center

Of discourse

This mirror mine

A week’s chill

Embraces the touch

Of the phenomenal world.

A little poetry is good for the soul

In my poetry workshop we were given a piece, (maybe it's a chapter?) written by Rainer Maria Rilke, from Letters to a Young Poet. Rilke is a German lyricist and an art critic who was considered a modernist of his day (late 19th century) I am unfamiliar with his work but from this short excerpt we were given to read, I was struck by the validity of his words. No one has ever described the complexity of what kind of person it takes to be a writer, and his words resinated with me. I just wanted to share some words of wisdom from a man truly beyond his time.

"...write about what your everyday life offers you; describe your sorrows and desires, the thoughts that pass through your mind and your belief in some kind of beauty--describe all these with heartfelt, silent, humble sincerity and, when you express yourself, use the Things around you, the images from your dreams, and the objects that you remember."

All Settled!

I finally remembered to take some pictures of my new little nook :) It's small and some of the walls are still blank but I looooove it. So nice to finally have a place to myself; I can lock the door, wake up early, dance around naked, and play whatever music strikes my mood... ♥

Things that I've done since being back:

- been a social butterfly!

- SUSHI.

- classes... a little wake up call that, no, I am no longer in Europe.

- sunshine!

- walking around in shorts and t-shirts, loving the place I have missed since May!

had to incorporate the twinkly lights :)

Change, our only constant

It's that time again. Tomorrow classes start and my spring semester as a junior will begin. My room is all organized, moved in, and homey... with a great big thanks and lots of hugs to my mommyyyy. Who not only put up with a weekend of my anxious self almost making myself sick I was so nervous to get back BUT did it with a smile and helped decorate my room to the point where I don't want to leave it! HA! I'd rather just hang out in here all day and reorganize my cork board over and over again ;)

It is good to be back but overwhelming. Very overwhelming. Everyone sees you and wants to jump on you and smother you and ask you a million questions about abroad and all I want to do is get from my front door to the laundry room! But no complaints. None. I am SO happy. =)

"Yesterdays are gone

Memories distant past

Time to move on

Those moments have passed

A path to the future

Journey still unknown

Stumbling in search of clarity

Of seeds yet unsown

New beginnings

Full of prospect and dreams

With change comes great hope

And nothing's as clear as it seems

A new start beckons

Its calling your name

To ignore new beginnings

Would be such a shame

Opportunities missed

Loss of starting anew

Embrace new beginnings

As life's moments are few"

-leigh goessi

TO NEW BEGINNINGS...