the social media trifecta: procrastination at its finest

i have come to the realization that while i hate the fact that college is over and i'm in the 'real world' (whatever that means), i never would have graduated from college today.

now that might seem like a strange thought to those of you that know that i did, in fact, just graduate from undergrad in '09, but hear me out on this one.

i wasted many an hour just a few short years ago 'studying' in the library when in fact i was really on facebook or goofing off with some of my best friends (even if they actually did need to study).  i'm the first to admit that i didn't study that much in college as most of my classes required papers instead of tests, but when i did need to study, i put in my time.  however, when these situations did arise, i usually locked myself in my room or went off somewhere alone, cell phone turned off, wireless disabled.  when i had to rock 'n roll on the books, i did.

however, today i have wasted the majority of my day, despite the fact that i have hours worth of work (in the form of packing) to do.  i'm not sure in what delusional world i'm living in where i think i can just waste away the day and everything will be peachy, but apparently i have become a permanent resident of this alternate universe.

so why would i never have survived college if i was still enrolled?  well nowadays there are so many tempting distractions that a girl can't just choose one.  facebook was enough of a distraction for me in college that hours of my life were wasted that i'll never get back.  but now there's twitter.  and pinterest (which i just joined today ... hence the procrastination).  and everyone and their mom (except my mom) has a smartphone so there's always something new i feel compelled to check.

but just for the record, i'm not complaining about it.  i know i do it to myself.  no one is forcing me to have a facebook account.  and no one sends me directions that include tweeting or pining crafty things that will only add to my procrastination.

but i just want to.  so i do.  but goodness knows i would have flunked out of college after a semester of the social media trifecta.

you're killing me, smalls!

today i woke up and was delighted to learn that the absolute best baseball movie EVER was on tv today.  that's right, folks.  the sandlot was on for my (and hopefully your) viewing pleasure.  if you missed it, well let's take this little walk down memory lane.

now that we're all caught up, let's play a little connect the dots game.  because you see, the sandlot was more than just a movie to me.  in fact, it's the reason i started loving baseball.  did it inspire me to strap on some cleats and start sweating out in the middle of the diamond?  heavens no.  don't be crazy.  but did it instill a love of watching this classic, timeless game?  absolutely.

and you know what else?  when the 6 year old version of myself first saw this movie, i fell for it.  i fell hard.  and not just for the movie.  i fell flat on my little face for benny.  and i honestly don't believe it was simply for his athletic prowess or his dark and mysterious good looks.  (yes, even as a little tot i was very well informed about what was hot).  

you know what made my barely-in-elementary-school self melt?  it was his kindness.  when smalls would rather run a ball (which he couldn't catch in the first place) back to the pitcher instead of throwing it, and when  all the other guys were shouting that smalls was an L-7 weenie, benny stood strong.  his heart was kind.  and when you move around every 3-4 years as a kid, you cling to kind people for all they're worth knowing that they'll always have your back.

so you know what?  the sandlot may have tipped off the younger version of myself that baseball players were drool worthy, but it showed me something more important about myself.  that i like kind people.  and i think that's the best kind of thing a 6 year old can learn.  

and of course, it doesn't hurt when those kind people are hot.  

[side note: did i know i liked kind people at the age of 6?  probably not.  but hindsight's 20/20.  did benny's hottness help me love him initially?  probably.  but his kindness kept me rooting for him even when hotty phillips came on screen.]

resolution bandwagon

happy new year, friends.  somehow the holidays came and flew away and now it's 2012.  holy freight train.

as the new year comes and goes, i can't help but notice that everyone around me is talking the resolution talk.  people want to do all kinds of inspiring things, but frankly, i've never even pretended to make a resolution.  i can't even manage picking up a flossing habit (something i try to lie to my obsessively hot dentist about) so i wasn't particularly optimistic regarding the successful completion of a resolution for an entire year.

in fact, even as i write this post, i feel like resolutions may be our masochistic way of reminding ourselves that we're human.  that we aren't perfect and that we have to try to better ourselves ... which seems to be one heck of a battle.

however, just like i jumped on the tebow bandwagon, i've decided to jump on the resolution bandwagon.  really i just don't want to be left out in conversations for the rest of january, but whatever the reason, i'm making a resolution this year.

so what is it, you might ask?

i resolve to stop freaking out ... or at least give it one heck of a run.  okay, this is a ridiculous resolution to make, isn't it?  if you ask my mother (or any of my truly close friends), it really isn't ridiculous ... at least not for me.  i don't know when i started being higher strung than my obsessively high-strung sister, but somewhere between high school and real life i became restless, skeptical (okay ... i've always been skeptical), and constantly tense.

and trust me, not sleeping at night is just not fun.  it's one thing because macy is being a crazy fool dog running around barking at spiders and invisible people (which i refuse to believe are ghosts), but it's another thing entirely to lose sleep because i'm high-strung.

and don't worry, i'm not foolish enough to think i can just up and erase the high-strung-can't-relax-to-save-my-life persona i've spent 6 years perfecting.  however, if i want to keep hair that's a shade other than gray and i want to keep from having stomach ulcers visit me every few months, i've got to learn to chill.

so that's what i'll do this year.  i'm going to stop freaking out.  in fact, i'm going to learn to chill out ... take things in stride and take a lot of deep breaths.  and of course, make a lot of lists.

and i'm going to love it.  rock on, 2012.

meet macy!

happy second day of hanukkah, folks.  can you believe it's already here?  for those of you that don't celebrate the festival of lights, i'm sure you're just as busy in the holiday season.

and while i don't technically celebrate the festival of lights in the traditional way (due largely to the fact that i'm not actually jewish...), i do have the most wonderful menorah and continue to be team hanukkah.  so spin that dreidel and eat those latkes and have a jolly good time.

quite a few events have happened since i've last updated the blog so let's do a quick catch up session, shall we?

updates:

fiffy came to see me graduate. hooray!

1.  i experienced my first middle school "winter ball" on friday.  it was a nonstop good time and all the little tweens looked so sharp in their ball attire.

2.  i officially graduated on sunday ... aka my parents got a raise.  until i manipulate tom into paying for another degree.

3.  I GOT A PUPPY!

macy loves to play ... aka chew holes in plastic toys.

so the 3rd one is the most exciting, let's be honest.  mom and i actually adopted her (or rescued? whatever you want to say) over thanksgiving but she stayed with the 'rents until i was home from school because she had quite a few appointments to go to.  she's already such a busy girl!

the original plan for wanting a puppy was to get a boy dachshund and name him doodle (aka dude for short). however, as the fates would have it, mom and i were out shopping and we happened upon the petco where a rescue agency was trying to find good homes for a few of their balls of fluff.  we went in just to see what was going on and BAM.  we got a little girl dog...who cannot be named doodle because that is for a boy dog despite tom telling me 'doodle' isn't a sexed name.  it is.  trust me on that one.

she's pouting because of the bow and having to be still.

macy noelle (or mace-face as i like to call her) just turned two and is just the most hyperactive thing you've ever met.  seriously though...it's like unleashing a firecracker into the house every time she decides to move around.  she doesn't quite understand sit and lay, but we're working on it.  she does understand run around like a crazy person though so at least some commands are understood.  she's nonstop fun and the best graduation present ever.

also, since i DID get a little dog, i'm editing the original 30 things to do before i'm 30 and crossing number 7 off the list.  YES!!!

i promise she's not an alien despite the eye color.
i also promise she was pissed at me for making her pose for pics.

speaking teenage is trickier than you think.

i was never good at spanish.  there's no point even denying it.  in fact, sophomore year of high school i was actually told i was bad at it and that despite testing well, i'd never get it.  inspiring, right?

but let's be honest.  it's the truth.  i took italian when i started college and lasted a semester where again, i could test the mess out of the language.  but speaking it?  as if.

however, in order to graduate from unc, i had to take something.  so i signed up for the party language of portuguese with all the athletes and hunkered down.  again ... testing?  no problem.  speaking?  well let's just say it's a good thing i partnered up for ALL speaking presentations with a guy majoring in foreign languages.  this girl knows how to play it, kids.

anyways, my newest foreign language is teenage.  and it has got to be the hardest of them all.  i'm not even very good at speaking adult most days since i find i'm too old to be a teenager but i'm easily bored by adult conversations.  but teenage?  holy cow.

for almost four weeks i've been working on learning teenage, but sad as it is, i don't know that i'm much closer to mastering the language.  i don't even think i'd test well on this one.

in fact, today a group of boys were listening to my classroom expectations (score one for listening!) and when i said 'does that sound like something we can handle?' i got three responses of 'word.'

i just stared at them in complete confusion as i didn't know what the heck they were talking about.  word?  did they misunderstand a word i said?  were they asking me to repeat one of my words?  were they mumbling and i couldn't actually hear them say "yes sweet teacher lady we DO think we can handle this"?

no, none of these were correct.  they actually said word.  and they meant it.

after school i asked their teacher about speaking teenage boy and he gave me a few inside tips and informed me that word meant they agreed and understood.  GOOD TO KNOW.  there needs to be a manual on this somewhere.

so as any good librarian would, i did my research when i came home.  here's what word actually means in teeange (in case you, much like myself, were uninformed of the language of teenage):

[thanks to http://www.urbandictionary.com for the example below]

word
	a phrase originally meaning: a) to agree with b) without a doubt c) true Meaning A: R: You know your momma's gonna have a fit when she finds that you burned down the house. D: Word.

good to know, right?  i'm sure i'll add to my teenage vocabulary the longer i practice, but i think i'll start with word.

and i challenge you to learn a little teenage.  word.

UPDATE -- 30 things to do before i'm 30

while i still have quite a bit of time to work on my 30 things to do before i'm 30 list, i just want to share with you the fact that i have officially completed my FIRST item on the list.  this is exciting, people!

i went ahead and tackled one of the beasts that was feasible without much prior planning ... granted, i'm still catching up on missed sleep because of it, but it was well worth it to say that i've officially started on my list.

so which task was my guinea pig task?  well thanks to the turkey day holidays, it worked out nicely that i take on the following:

14.  actually get up in the early hours of the morning and experience the chaos that is the day after thanksgiving sales -- COMPLETED, 11/25/2011: roughly midnight-3am

so what's my take on the hoopla that is black friday?  despite the fact that my college roomie will kill me, i have to say that black friday is more like bust friday to me.  maybe if i actually had things i needed i would have appreciated it a little more, but really it was just a time where everyone stays up in the hours that only college kids should stay up and they all cram into the same little aisles attempting to all try on the same pair of shoes.  granted, i did get some cute things...but i also waited in line with my sleepy mother (who was a star trooper coming out with me) for at least an hour to purchase 3 (maybe 4?) things.

next time (as if there will be a next time), i'll make sure to have a long santa-like list so that the hours of waiting in line and the myriad of sweaty strangers that touched me are worth it.

also, for those of you that are interested, VERY soon there will be another item crossed of the 30 list.  but i'm not telling you what it is just yet.  so stay tuned.  i promise it'll be worth it.

things i've learned: part one

moving to a new city has proven quite interesting.  i'm soaking up everything like a sponge (or at least attempting to), but in case you ever move to a new city i want to make sure i share my thoughts.  you're welcome in advance.

things i've learned: part one

1.  it may take maintenance two weeks to fix your sink.  and this may result in doing dishes in creative ways.

2.  it is hot as hades down here.  it's like i'll need to get new skin or something because i don't think i'll make it through july and august if november is in the 80s.

3.  everyone grocery shops late in the afternoon on saturday.  and i mean EVERYONE.  including kids from your school.  and they will come up and hug you.  even if your hands are full, they only kind of know your name, and you've been waiting in line for half an hour.

4.  i do not know how to 'wobble' ... which became apparent as i was chaperoning the sixth grade sleepover. if you also missed out on learning how to 'wobble,' feel free to watch the youtube video below.  i've been practicing all weekend so i'm in the know at the next sleepover.

5.  people straight up have NO idea what 'carolina' means down here.  no idea.  and there is some strange rivalry between clemson and SOUTH carolina (commonly confused as 'carolina'), but i just don't get it.  i didn't even really know those schools had fans.  but don't worry.  tuesday is (south) carolina vs clemson dress up day at school and i'll be sporting the true carolina colors.  there'll be no "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" in this case.

don't worry, friends.  there's more.  some of which i'll just have to tell you in person because it's too odd for the blog (shocking that something could be too odd for the blog, right?), other things which will make it in part two.  something i know you all will be looking forward to.  don't be shy.  i'm onto you.

happy early thanksgiving to you, if you're into that sort of thing.  i'm much more into getting my wobble on these days.