Hello My Lovelies!

Hope you're all doing well!

First off, Happy Birthday to my amazing Grandma Skip! I hope she had a great day full of fun and beautiful Florida sun. May there be many more birthdays to come! (send me some cake if you can!)

Time is flying by and the countdown is nearly at it's end. From where I sit there are two days until the day of my departure for Paris. Stanley is sitting here with me looking anxious to get out of our tower so I'm sure it will be interesting.

A huge thanks goes out to my Aunt and Uncle for saving my life on the financial front. Paris would be very difficult to survive without their help.

I have all my ducks in a row and all I have to do is turn in an essay and take two essays before I have a week of freedom and fun mixed with a splash of work. Just as the French would have it I'm sure.

Can you tell that I'm excited?

If you can't, then consider this,
My plans for tonight include a French movie and going to Wal-Mart for those last minute trip purchases, such as a camera so that I can document all of Stanley's crazy stunts while we take on a European capital. Yeah, my camera broke, I dropped it because I'm a goof and forgot that it was in my purse.... So a new camera it is!

French House dinner last week was Chandeleur themed. We had a boat load of crepes made and yet we still didn't seem to have enough to feed everyone. It was a touch frustrating but there were so many potatoes that I made a wonderful potato mash with mushrooms, onions, garlic, and cheese. It could have cooked a bit longer but I was starving so I couldn't wait for it. I mean, it was still good but some of the potatoes were still firm so it wasn't completely a mash yet...

I'm still so addicted to The Black Keys.... you guys, it's bordering craziness when I hear them play. I can name songs within two notes if I'm really on and I sing along a lot (to the horror of my poor roommate). They make me happy and if I could see them play live, my life would be made.

Okay, so exaggeration.

Going to their concert would be absolutely AMAZING but it's not everything. Life doesn't stop for moments like that. We still have to figure out how to get a job and pay the bills all while balancing some semblance of a social life in which there are friends and family wondering what you are doing and why you aren't visiting or hanging out with them. It's a complicated jumble and prioritizing is probably impossible but we do it anyway.

I've been doing it a lot lately. Studies versus friends and family. I've had to take a step back from the social and freak out a bit before everything finally came together and made sense again.

I'm sorry if you feel like I've not been a good friend lately. I mean, I'm always willing to listen and help if I can but I've been a little egocentric lately in trying to get everything to work for Paris and that meant haggling with professors over dates of midterms and essays that I'm doing early and that meant that I couldn't focus on a whole lot. I lose my mind sometimes. Okay, lot's of times but please don't hold it against me...

Okay, so on a good note, to close, my new camera is AWESOME and I can hardly wait to use it so I may have some random pre-departure pictures for you with a special thanks to Stanley for his amazing posing skills.

Excitement!

Talk to you all again from Paris when I update!

Blessed Be

Quick Rant

Okay, fair warning, this is not going to be pretty.

Please people respect the rules of grammar. I understand that you may have been born in a barn or under a bridge where it is normal to speak in this manner but when you post it on a social networking website advertising for the world just how uncivilized you really are. This is actually frustrating to those of us who are actually civilized because we have to be exposed to your idiotic display of what you are trying to pass off as the English language when in fact it is a PERVERSION!

And no, I don't mean that in the sense of a guy looking through a window to get a glimpse of a naked woman. I mean that it is not a good thing. It is a nasty, disgusting, thing that you have let fall from your lips and released onto the world like a plague.

Your children will grow up speaking like this and thus further degrade society to your pig-like standards. Grammar is important and if you are one of these offenders then I am not sorry for calling you out. Learn something and maybe life will get better because you actually put an effort into something. It's really not as hard as you think it is.

Secondly,

For the love of all that is holy, eat with your mouth closed. You have no idea how many times you make me cringe with your disgusting lip smacking and food particles spewing forth into the air. Is it truly so hard for someone to have manners these days, or are those being put in the category of "not important" along with grammar?

For those of you who don't realize that you're committing this most heinous crime, you are the worst offenders. That's because there is no way to tell you nicely that you are absolutely disgusting. I keep my mouth shut for you and want to puke in my mouth because of how disgusting this is to me.

Thirdly,

If you are going to be loud and obnoxious, please at least have the common courtesy to know how thin dorm walls are. Yes, I can hear every word of your conversation and no I do not want to be included in it for any reason what-so-ever. This also means that I can hear you when you are having fights with your significant other and doing extra-curricular activities. I don't want to hear you but because you are obnoxious, I hear it all and sometimes even through headphones which I've put in to avoid your noise.

Could you please, please, please keep it down?
 I would really appreciate it if you did and maybe I wouldn't be so grumpy because I actually got some sleep at night instead of you keeping me up.

Fourth,

Is it terribly hard not to slam your door? I mean people are sleeping when you're going in and out of your room in the early morning. I get that you're up but you don't have to announce it by slamming the door or letting it slam which shakes the walls in case you haven't noticed. I've asked for this to stop before, quite as nicely as I could but you must not have listened because nothing ever changed.

I'm respectful of you so could I please get some respect in return?
It would be really nice of you.

~

I am not saying that I'm perfect here. I'm not saying that these are necessarily bad people either. I'm only saying that I cannot stand that people are like this and have no idea what they are doing. I'm not going to tell you to your face because I'm not that kind of person but I'll gladly rant on my personal blog about how much some people get under my skin and drive me nuts.

I'm done for now but I can't promise that there won't be any other rants. I'm getting to the end of my rope and I still have half a semester to get through before everything changes again.

I'm choosing to spread love right now but beware my wrath, it comes to destroy us all.

Quick Notes

Hey Everyone!

I've been neglecting to write again and now it's February. Time is flying by. Paris spring break 2013 is creeping up fast too with days numbering in the teens instead of twenties or thirties.

So let's see where I can start to get everything out of my head and onto the screen in front of you.

I guess I'll start by saying that I quit modeling. It was making me stay out late and get very little sleep which I was handling but then they came out with a list of things that we needed to buy for the show, including  $50 set aside in case we need to buy our wardrobe for the show as well. In short, I chose Paris over modeling. A girl has to eat.

School work is keeping me super busy. I'd say that I'm doing well but I really haven't gotten grades back as far as the couple of exams that I've taken so far. There's just so much to get done and stay on top of that the shear volume is making me a little crazy. I just have to remember that I only have one more semester. Less than a year before the real world comes to peal me away from my meager existence  Don't worry though, I don't plan on quitting this blog.

Cassi had her 21st birthday this past week. We had amazing fun stuff planned but a snowstorm hit and Sara couldn't make it to us in BG so it turned out pretty lame. I felt bad not spending more time with her but I guess it just didn't work out that way. I hope that she enjoys the pastel painting I gave her and I hope her new boyfriend (Daniel, the Brit) makes her very happy.

This is them in case you were curious.

As some of you know, I also have a man now. He's sweet and kind and pretty adorable if you ask me. We've been "dating" for about 2 weeks and I think that he got the best friend seal of approval when we did a sort of double date with Cassi and Daniel. He's a good guy and I hope that he sticks around for a while because he makes me really happy.

What else do I need to write down? hmmm...

My no chocolate thing is really hard to keep up. I am however a pretty good cheater. I validate it somehow in my mind and then there I am with a chocolate chip cookie in my hands. It's a sad story.

As for stories, if I ever get more than a few minutes here and there to myself, I might actually finish another novel. I'm getting really close to the end of one again. It's in my brain, I just have to sit down with a pen and paper and let it all out. 

Okay, I guess I'm out of things to say now. I know it's short but I really should be doing homework and staying on top of things still. 

So on that note,

Bright Blessings to you all.