Its Been A Really Long Time...

Hello, everyone!

I haven't really posted more than one or two blog posts this past semester.  The truth is, I haven't really had much to say!  I've been too busy actually enjoying my life and having a great time of it to actually sit down and take the time to share.  So, here is an overview of important things that have happened this semester:

• Straight As!  Whoo hoo!!!
• Internship at The Arbors has been going well!  I'll be ready when I get back for next semester to pick up the pace a little and continue making my time there as awesome as possible.
• Making leaps and bounds through the Netflix queue.  Since Netflix split up its plan with the price increases, I've been subscribed online to the stream online plan.  Once I watch everything I can get through instant streaming, I'll switch to the physical disc mailing plan.  My most recent love has been How I Met Your Mother.  Words cannot describe...
• Grocery shopping and paying bills worked out awesome with my refund from the school up until the last 3 weeks.  I'll need to rethink that for next time.. Haha!
• Ryan and I are still going strong!  We sailed through our 5, 6, 7, and 8 month anniversaries.  April 5th of 2012 will mark our 1 year as an official couple!  YEEAHHHH!!!
• I bought fish!  I started off the summer with 5 guppies.  One died from the stress of the transfer from the store to my tank.  Then there were 4: Cappie (the only one with visible distinguishable marks), and "The Supremes" (the other 3 look-alikes).  Unfortunately now we're down to only two of the Supremes left (whom I have now dubbed Killer and Donna).  **Note, all my guppies were males--however, you have to admit that Cappie and The Supremes is kind of catchy...**  AND the newest addition to the family is a beta named Emmett.  He has his own tank and his own life, and I think that makes him happy.
• Space (my car) has thrived and deteriorated and thrived again!  We're hanging in the balance at around 160,000 miles.  We have winter tires but no snow....and we have oil and antifreeze that remains within the inner workings of the vehicle.  Win for all involved.
• Excellent drunken house parties have occurred: the very realistic Prohibition 1920s Speakeasy (where many of the attendees were underage [of course, this is college] so we all hid in the basement to manage the noise levels-good times), the famous Mustache party (yep-you guessed it. Mustache mandatory for attendance), ALL of Halloween weekend (3 parties in 2 days-not bad!), the quietish Christmas party between close Burlington-bound people in my life, and of course the other various nights that involved going to bars or staying in and mixing fun drinks by ourselves!
• Very few stressful nights worrying about homework and how I'm going to manage all of my classwork plus life in general.  4 classes per semester is PERFECT!  I'm so glad I put in all my hard times my Freshman/Sophomore years.  Senior year is a breeze so far, and I'm loving every second of it!  Sure there have been a few downs or hiccups in the general flow of things, but speaking overall, this has really been my best semester at Champlain so far.
• Oh, and I totally taught myself how to knit over Thanksgiving break via YouTube videos.  Oh yeah.  New life skills FOR THE WIN!

I'm so happy that this year has been going so well.  I can't imagine what this year would have been like with a schedule like my Spring semester of Sophomore year.  (That was when I broke up with Luke, was managing a 12 hr/wk unpaid internship, working as a Peer Advisor for as many hours/wk as was necessary, as well as working ~10hrs/wk for my mandatory work-study hours so I could have a paycheck).  I really wasn't sure I was going to make it that semester.  BUT-I did, and I'm stronger for it.  

I'm proud of myself for all I have accomplished so far.  I work damn hard and I deserve a lot of respect for all I do.  What is next on my list is to start applying for grad schools:  Boston University, Springfield College, University of Vermont, University of New Hampshire.  I'm working on getting all of my required application materials together over this break, and sending them out quite soon once I return to Burlington/Winooski.  

Lastly: I have been a busy beaver over break.  I got home on Friday evening, and it is now Tuesday.  In this time, my mother and I have switched bedrooms.  I'm enjoying being home SO much more.  I don't feel so depressed and aimless as I thought I would.  A big project like this is just what I needed to keep myself busy and motivated.  I seriously got rid of about 5 bags of garbage, and donated another 5 or so to the Salvation Army.  The reason for this is that my old room was about 1/2 the size of the basement (about 1/4 of the entire house).  I moved from this big room to my moms normal-sized bedroom that actually has windows!  She moved into the bigger room.  Therefore, I needed to really focus on getting rid of a lot of my old stuff so that it would all fit into this new, smaller, more manageable room.  I cleaned out everything: stuff from past boyfriends that have been sitting or buried in my room, things I haven't touched or worried about in years, stuff I thought I would definitely need/use but never got around to, and even some stuff I had been emotionally attached to.  However, it was time to let it all go, to let it be free.  While I may still have another bag or two of trash to take out, I feel great!  Cleansed.  Like I'm getting rid of everything so that whatever comes after Champlain will have room to take hold and lead me to where I'm supposed to be-without leaving too much behind.  So far both my mother and I seem happy with the trade.

Well, this wraps everything up rather nicely from the past 4 months of my life.  I feel like I need to find a new purpose for blogging again.  I wish I could be as dedicated as other folks in writing a fabulous blog-stuff other people actually care about instead of something that looks like a journal of my life.  I will gladly accept any and all blogging ideas and suggestions below.  Tell me what you'd most want to hear/learn about!  If it is something that lines up well with my interests or knowledge and expertise, I will try to move the blog in that direction--and work on posting more frequently.  :)

Auf Wiedersehen!

Mismatched Cups

You know what's frustrating?

When you have a million mismatched cups and mugs in your kitchen cabinet and things don't fit quite right because of it.  But on the other hand, some of those cups have sentimental value, and you couldn't imagine yourself parting with them.

Welcome to college.

As I stood in my kitchen the other day putting dishes away, I had a flash-forward of my life.

My darling Ryan and I were happily en route in our life together: married, no kids yet, and I was still putting dishes away.  But we had an actual dish set.  Dishes that went together, that matched.  No more thrown-together plastic and glass dishware that consisted of my current dishware.  (And no more cheapie silverware from Walmart [5 for $1, anyone?]).

I'm really excited and ready to push beyond my mismatched THINGS in college life.  I'm ready to have my own place where I can own a complete dish set if I want, where I can host Christmas cocktail parties and serve alcohol because I'm over 21, and where I can really get a snapshot of what the rest of my life is going to look like.  (And make some changes if necessary).

As for the mismatched cup era?  Well, it was fun.  Developing relationships with half plastic/half glass dish sets has been a good time through the hilarity of college.  But, I'm ready for something better.

  

It's Been A While

Hello, everyone!

So, with my laptop finally back in my possession, life is good again.  As of Friday I will be totally ALL caught up on my homework, and I'll be in a good place.

Speaking of Friday, our beloved Eden is coming from 4 hours away at PSU to stay here in Burlington with Ryan and I for the weekend!  This is the first time she'll have been able to see the UVM/Champlain campuses (campii?) from the Meg Ryan point of view.  It is going to be spectacular.  :)

In other news, I've been very gluttonous the past few days.  It sucks.  I need to kick it up a notch.  I was treated by Res Life to an amazing dinner at the Olive Garden last night, and I ate soooo much.  And Ryan got me a bag of Lindor Milk Chocolate truffles....which are mostly gone.  So...needless to say...I should maybe do some crunches tonight?!  I need to lose this weight!!! Even if I have to find a way to shake and shimmy every night for an hour or so!

Another factoid of my life: I may or may not be able to get a car over Spring Break.  So, here's the deal.  My 21st birthday falls on Spring Break from college.  This year (along with receiving the legal right to drink alcohol,) my mother was planning to get me my first car EVER!!!!! WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!!!!  BUT-this is all dependant on when she gets her Federal Tax Refund back.  She sent her forms out about 2 weeks ago, and they JUST got there the day before last.  Um...what?  Post office fail or federal government fail?  Maybe both.  They're the same thing, really. 

Soooo...here's my deal.  I thought I would finally have the chance to feel like I'm on equal footing (or tires?) with everyone else my age.  I've been driving my mothers car since I was 15.  It's really hard to hear other kids saying "Oh, let's just take my car" as if it's no big deal for 6 years.  It gets old after a while.  It shouldn't be such a touchy subject, but for those who don't have something that everyone else takes for granted...it's frustrating. 

Having a car is something that Vermont kids (especially) place a lot of value on.  Having your first car means you can finally have freedom.  Because it takes at LEAST a 15 minute drive to get anywhere worthwhile in VT, if you don't have a car, you're pretty much stuck.  I'm so sick of having to depend on other people's schedules and moods to determine whether or not I get to go somewhere.  I've dealt with it for 21 years of my life, the past 6 of which have felt extremely long.  I want to be a normal person with a car!  I would like to not have to depend on stupid bus schedules or mooch off friends for rides to the grocery store!  I would like to not have to barter with my mother during my breaks from school about if she has to work tomorrow, and if I can borrow her car. 

Long story short...this has been a long time coming.  I feel like a donkey with a carrot being dangled in my face.  The federal government better get their $H!T together and hurry up with my mother's refund so I can stop feeling like an inadequate college student.  Please and thank you.

(One vehicle my mom told me about was for sale in W. Rutland or somesuchplace.  It's a black Saturn Vue.  My mom currently has a blue one, but black works for me too!  We're looking into getting a standard because I have so much fun driving a stick shift.  Here's what one will potentially look like:)

Cute, right?  :)

I'm going to do my best to be patient.  I mean, even if I don't get the vehicle (which I really hope I do...otherwise some other plans of mine might be a little screwed...) I can still do this:

FYI...my mother has plans to get me drunk.  It's been a plan in motion since I was 9.  :)

SO-I hope this catches you up to where I'm at in life.  I have missed Blogger!  It feels good to write this out of my system.  <3

Until next time...
May the road rise to meet you (but not too quickly...)
XOXO
-Megan

The Power of Resistance

The Power of Resistance

Netflix Queue

Hello, Blogosphere!

Today I'm here to chat with you all about Netflix, and what my queue currently looks like. 

Back in October, I finally decided that I was sick of trying to (illegally) stream videos and things to watch when I got bored (and deal with the stress of wondering if I had infected my computer with a virus in the process,) so I decided to give Netflix a try after noticing that it really wasn't a scam, and that many of my college counterparts are also signed up.

Long story short, I LOVED it.  I quickly went through and found literally hundreds of titles that I've wanted to see but haven't had the chance, as well as oldies but goodies.  Unfortunately, my excitement was capped when I reached the 500 title limit for the queue.  Hahahaha.  Awesome.

Since then, I've been working hard to bring down the queue to a more manageable level, which is sometimes really rather difficult considering some of the other stuff I have on my list (separate from the queue) consists of about 40 television shows I've wanted to see or have heard pretty good things about, but never had time/was able to sit down and watch them as they were aired on television. 

Now-I'm making up for lost time.  At 500 movies and 40 television shows (not counting the many seasons some of them have,) I definitely have my work cut out for me.

Now, what's taking so long?  Well, when I signed up for Netflix I told Ryan we would be able to watch a lot of these movies together, and when we were both satisfied, we could delete the title from the queue.  That turned out to be a much more difficult process than originally intended.  Our schedules are both very hectic, so it's becoming a 'Megan-watches-a-movie-and-rates-it-and-when-Ryan-watches-it-he-can-delete-it-from-the-Queue' sort of process.  Currently, I'm at about 450-something movies in the physical queue (the ones that physically get sent to your mailbox,) and about 48 titles in the Instant Watch queue.

In short-we're working on it.  :)  There's a LOT of really great media out there, and I'm proud to be supporting Netflix with my business.  They have an amazing company, and I think I'll be registered with them until the day I die (or run out of movies and television shows to watch.) 

XXOO

-Megan

"Gentle Mornings"

Today's post is to explain to you how excited I am to have what I like to call

"Gentle Mornings"

every day over my Thanksgiving Break.  Here's a Wordle bundle of words for some adjectives (because I'm not as good at thinking of them on my own like Ashley is:



I apologize that it is so hard to read, but Wordle makes it difficult to save the image of what you've created after it's done.  :)

To explain further, Gentle Mornings are those mornings when you wake up in a nice warm bed, there are no noises throughout the house, the sun is beating in through the window on your comforter, and you wake up feeling refreshed and ready to take on the world.  Following getting out of bed at your own pace, you walk along the hardwood floor hallway out into the kitchen where you look through the full-length sliding glass door at the bright blue sky and the seagulls playing in the wind currents.  You find a nice, rotund bowl of fruit sitting on an island in your kitchen, you sit on one of the bar stools at the island, and take your time savoring the taste and texture of honeydew, cantaloupe, oranges, clementines, watermelon, apples, pineapple, bananas, and pears-a serious indulgence of the 5 senses.  Then when you find yourself full, you walk back along that hardwood floor hallway and slip in the shower.  Once clean, you are ready for your day.

See?  Doesn't that sound nice?

These kinds of mornings I don't get too often, so when I do, I hold onto them and remember them. 

Gentle Mornings do NOT include the following: cell phones, alarms, yelling, stress, frustration, junky foods, uncomfortable temperatures, rough fabrics, time limits, restrictions, crying (unless it's due to joy,) television, radio stations (unless there is soft/soothing music playing,) or any other person who exhibits or participates in anything listed above that morning.

Gentle Mornings are all about you, and getting your mind in the right place to do what you need to do for the day.  Kind of like yoga...but not so dangerous.  :)

 XXOO

<3 Megan <3

Montreal

As promised, here is my rundown of what happened in the foreign country of Canada this past Saturday.

Your challenge?  Put them in order and tell me what I did.  :)  Kidding!

Most of the balcony railings I saw in Montreal looked/did something like this.  It looks like there's an especially dense vortex of gravity outside....

One of the dragons from the Chinese restaurant we went to for supper.

The menu/timings of the place we ate supper.

On the way in to Montreal.  We crossed over that bridge.  This was taken looking back at where we just drove.

Another bridge!!!!

On the bus on the way into the urban area.

Some factories and businesses on the way in to the city.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH which way?!?!?!?!

French.  Whoa.

IDK who he was, but NICE HAT!

Another picture taken off the bus.  Notice the people in the advertisement running together.

French French French French.  Ashley's best translation:  "Park avenue (something) north direction.  (Something) October 11th: Risky due to congestion of traffic."

Ohhhh yeahhhh.

I can't decide if that is sketchy or not.  Also, the cart entering the frame is interesting.

The view from the Champlain campus building.

Hollah!

What I feel like all this week with all my papers coming due.

My lunch at the Indian Restaurant.  It was called "Butter Chicken."

I called it "Orange."

This is why Canada rocks: awesome architecture.

Another street!!!!!

My fave.  :)

The lady on the left is Patricia, our tour guide...for 3 hours...

Pipes left over from the Industrial Revolution?  Also, the guy on the left was our Champlain guide around Montreal (to make sure us American kids didn't get lost and couldn't find our way back to campus.)  He was actually there my 2nd semester of my Freshman year, (the first time I visited Montreal) also.  Hmm...

There were three different writings etched into the stone.  These were signatures of various tribes in Canada, apparently.

I took this for Ryan.  It was beside the pipes in the ground.  His birth year is displayed in Montreal.  Whoot!!!

A random factory.  :)

A glimpse of Chinatown in the daylight. 

There's a face in the wall!!!!

One of the dragons guarding the entrance to Chinatown.

This is the exact Starbucks I sat and drank hot cocoa and a cookie my first time here.  (I was lost and was by myself.)

Excellent staircases are rampant in Montreal.

All in all, Montreal was pretty awesome.  Here's the itinerary:

9 AM- Leave Bader Parking lot for the boarder.

10:15 AM-Reach the border.  Have to get off the bus to go inside, have all of us hand over our passports, etc.

11:15 AM-Reach Champlain's Montreal campus.  *Note*-the "campus" is a tiny building with 3 floors, but only about 30 square feet per floor.

11:45/12 PM-Head to the Indian restaurant for lunch.

1:15 PM-leave the restaurant.  They had the BEST water I've ever drank in my life.  It was smooth going down...if that makes any sense?  Either way, it was amazing.

1:30-4:30 PM-Tour of Montreal.  Three hours.  What. the. heck.

5 PM- Arrive back at Champlain Montreal campus.

5:30 PM-After walking down to Chinatown, we have a half hour of free time.  I then commence buying presents for the roomies!

6 PM-Eat the 'ehh-so-so' Chinese buffet that was $18.60.  Wasn't impressed.

6:30 PM-Walked back to Champlain Montreal campus.

7 PM-Board the bus to go home.

7:45 PM-FINALLY make it out of the city.

9 PM-Make it to the boarder again.

10 PM-Arrive back at Champlain's Burlington campus.

All in all it was a good time.  I love displacing myself and unplugging everything for a day every once in a while.  Because Canada is a foreign country, I decided to leave my cell phone at home because I knew I would be tempted to text all day long.  It was rough not being able to text every passing thought I had to SOMEONE on my contacts list, but also strangely refreshing.

Also, I realize when I go to Canada how inadequate I feel.  Nearly all the teenagers in Montreal are bilingual.  I'm just the stupid American that can only speak English, and in the process completely butcher and stamp all over others' languages like a wild elephant on a rampage.  Seriously, why didn't I take French or Spanish in high school?  I might not feel like such a failure.  Latin definitely did not teach me any accents, although I suppose it did help learn more of the English vocabulary.  Derivatives of words were my favorite. 

But I digress.  I am an American, and I suppose one way or another, I should be proud of that.

Montreal was very fun, and I enjoyed the day away--the break from the normal.

I hope you all get the chance to completely immerse yourselves in a new culture someday.  Also, when you do it, go with a group and leave your cellphones at home.  Tell me what happens.

XXOO

Megan