What an Experience!

Hi y'all!

It's been a busy two weeks since the last post. Classes have really started and homework is pouring in. I had a nice little break from everything after I got off of work yesterday (which is going really well!) with my roommate Laura.

She told me about a really neat place in Mooresville, NC called the Lazy 5 Ranch. Believe me when I say you need to look it up! It was one of the coolest experiences of my life. It's a ranch-petting zoo type of place where you drive your car through a path and feed animals out of your windows. It was awesome! It's only $11 per person and it is something you will remember forever.

Feeding baby deer!

There were so many different types of animals, everything from day-old baby deer to rhinos! We couldn't feed the really big animals, like the zebras and horned cows, but they were so cool to look at and even be that close to! We also saw a mama kangaroo with a baby in her pouch!

We had a minor run-in with an anxious little ram. We knew he was trouble when he came hurdling towards the car. He hopped up on the window like it was no big deal! He was cute, but it was a little scary!

Oh, hey there!

The ostriches and the llamas were the most aggressive. The llamas did not want to wait for you to feed them and the ostriches had really strong beaks and the pecked really hard at the food bucket. Two of them got into a fight over what little food I had left in my bucket, I had to throw it out of the car...oops!

Feeding the ostrich!





Ostriches tapping on the window!

I have saved the best for last! I was able to hand feed giraffes! I mean...how freaking awesome is that?! Laura had told me about the giraffes before hand, but you don't realize how amazing it is until you see it for yourself.



 I can't get over it. It was such an incredible experience!

Laura told me to save a lot of the food for the giraffes towards the end of the path and if you go I recommend the same! They are the gentlest animals and you'll want to feed and experience them for a while!

I'm so happy she told me about this place! I seriously want to go back every weekend now. However, the rest of this weekend is designated for homework. I boarded the procrastination train and I think it's time for me to get off.

I hope everyone is having a great weekend and enjoying this(hot)sunshine! Only a few more weekends of 90 degree weather, hopefully. I am SO ready for cool fall days!





One Week + Another Tale

Hi all!

I have officially survived my first week of sophomore year! Let me tell you that it has been long, but I think I'm really going to enjoy the majority of my classes this semester.

Last year and over the summer, I finished most of my prerequisite classes. If you do not know what these are, they are just the general education classes everyone has to take before they begin working on their major. I have a few more to finish up, then I can go all out with my Elementary Education courses!

I have a few education courses this semester that I already know I'm going to really love. UNCC developed a math course especially for ELED majors this year. As we all know, math isn't my strong suit, so being in this course is really helpful. Instead of learning new material, we're brushing up our skills on elementary level math (not as easy as it sounds). Most importantly, we're learning how to teach it to young students. I think what's been the hardest for me so far is having to actually remember everything from elementary school. I feel like we kind of lose those basic skills as we go through middle and high school and it proves to be a challenge to bring yourself back down to that level. I jot down little notes in my notebook while the professor is giving pointers about approaching students with math and it makes me so excited!

I have also declared my minor everyone, incase you missed it! It will be TESL (Teaching English as a Second Language). I met with a counselor this week and made a plan of classes I need to take throughout next semester, as well as Junior and Senior year. It is so surreal thinking about the future! We also talked about my semester of Student Teaching and how I will be placed to meet the criteria for TESL and general education. It's going to be a lot of work, but I can't wait! I would really like to go to another country and teach English after I graduate or maybe during a summer. That would be my ultimate goal!

Of course with all of this excitement this week I had time to fit in another...

I feel like these little moments are happening way more than they should.

I had about an hour between classes the other day and there was a group organization fair going on in front of the Union on campus. Last year, I was not very involved with activites and I want to change that this year. I decided to go to the fair with my friend Sam. I asked her if she could drive me to my class afterwards, so I could stay at the fair a little longer. She said she didn't mind and we started walking around the circle of tables in the quad. My class was at 5pm, so we got back to her car about 10 minutes before. She drove me up the hill and I started walking to my class. Because obviously I had been to class already once this week and I knew where it was, right? WRONG. Oh my gosh y'all. I was walking toward what I thought was the building with so much determination to be on time. That was a joke. I got to the door and it was the completely wrong building- in the opposite direction of where I needed to go! Being who I am, I had gotten my art class mixed up with my math class and I was late to class. Now I know the difference.

I hope everyone who started college as a freshman this week had a great first experience! Anyone who went back to school this week, I hope you knew where your classes were (that's so embarrassing). Have a great weekend y'all!

Who would you invite?

Okay lovely readers,

I'm always searching for new and fun things to blog about. I came across this prompt on another site that I thought would just be a fun read! It's kind of like a we're-in-third-grade-taking-the-EOG-writing-test situation, but more fun and not graded. It's a little different than what I usually write about. I just wanted to shake it up a bit!

The idea is that I am having a celebrity dinner party (because you know I know so many) and I can invite anyone I want- past or present. I have to tell which celebrities I want to invite and why. Here we go!

1. If you know me you know that one of my all time favorites is Christina Aguilera [judge me]. I would invite my girl Christina back in her Genie in a Bottle days. We would just belt out her whole Christina Aguilera debut CD and become instant best friends obviously.  

2. The next people I would invite would be a little group. They are Hall & Oates and The Eagles. This answer is for my mom and dad. Hotel California by The Eagles is my mom's favorite song and I'm pretty sure my dad knows every word to every song Hall & Oates sings- which was a trait passed down to my brother and I. They all would just have a mini concert, having to be co-headliners of course, no drama at my dinner party. I would have to invite my parents for this too, I'm sure they would be all for it. 

          

3. My next person I would invite is Clint Eastwood in his The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly days. I feel like he would just be so cool to talk to! He's an incredible actor and has been on the movie scene since the 1950's. He can bring along that beautiful look-a-like son with him too!

4. My next person is Stephen Spielberg in his Jurassic Park production days. That movie will forever be one of my favorites. For it's time, it is one of the most realistic movies I have ever seen and I love all of the actors. Of course I would have to ask him about Jaws, E.T., Hook, and The Goonies as well!

5. I feel like my next choices should be grouped together. Jackie O, Coco Chanel, Audrey Hepburn, Twiggy, Grace Kelly, and Elizabeth Taylor. Could you even imagine what amazing conversations they would have? Coco would probably wear her famous LBD (little black dress) and Jackie O would gracefully enter the room with her signature sunglasses on! How cool would that be?

6. So my final person, well people- I'm not good at picking one person, would be the F.R.I.E.N.D.S. cast, the Breakfast Club cast, and to make a more recent choice, the original One Tree Hill cast. I feel like each of the casts are completely different in their own stories, but the same in their situations that occur during the show/movie. I love them all!

So...does anyone have a big enough table?



Tales of Sophomore Year

As we all know, or at least if you know me personally, I'm a little dingy in certain areas of daily life. My Sophomore year has started off a little rocky, but some of the situations have been really funny. In light of this- I've decided to start a mini series within my blog! I'll be keeping track of the little humorous things that happen throughout sophomore year and telling you all about them! Introducing...

So, I was super excited to go grocery shopping for the first time for the apartment. On Tuesday, I got into baby Ferg and headed over to Target. My mom and I set up a grocery budget and I was feeling confident in all of my purchases. I loaded up my car and was ready to get back to campus and start dinner for taco night, which is one of my favorite things ever! I unloaded my car and started for the stairs when it hit me... I completely forgot my room keys...I was locked out of my building with all of my groceries! Mind you, I had bought frozen meats and quite a bit of cold things on a 90 degree day. I was so angry with myself!

Thankfully we have 24 hour loan key desks on campus, so I knew Martin Hall was the designated loan key desk for my apartment. Buddy, was I wrong. I walked all throughout that dang building getting the weirdest looks when I kept asking, "Where's the loan key desk?" NO ONE KNEW! I texted my boss and it turned out that the loan key desk in Martin didn't even open until the next day! Like forreal. Almost 20 minutes had went by from the time I left the grocery store and I started to get really agitated when I wasn't even in the right place to begin with and my groceries were suffering the consequences. I got back into my car and drove the way to Belk Hall, the right loan key desk. Finally! I got my loan key and got all the groceries to the fridge. What. An. Evening.

The next day I decided to do my laundry. In my building, we just go downstairs to do our laundry. I have an app on my phone that lets me know when my washing machine and dryer are done. I put my clothes in the washer and all was well on the washing machine front, then it was time for the dryer. Laundry costs are built into tuition and I get $10 a week-that gets me about 5 or 6 loads of laundry, which is more than enough. I switched my clothes from the washer to the dryer and I swiped my ID card to activate the dryer. I hit the wrong button and accidently added 60 minutes to someone else's laundry...oops. What made me the most mad was that I wasted a load of laundry! I had to swipe my ID card again to buy myself another load. I was a little salty from that for the rest of the day. 

Anyway, it has been an eventful week. The little things like that make it memorable and I find myself laughing about it already. I want to continue this mini series whenever something funny happens that is totally and completely preventable...but of course I do it anyway. I hope you found it added a little humor to you day!

Dorm room DIY's!

Hello fabulous people!

Because College is back up and running from the Summer Series! I hope you guys like the new background. I thought simpler was better! My summer is officially over. I moved into my new dorm/apartment on the 7th and classes start on Monday, the 18th. I'm really, really excited to show you guys around the new place! Right now, my room is not where I would like it to be. I left a lot of decorations at home thinking I had already packed way too many- long story short, I didn't pack enough. Now I'll be suffering with partially bland walls for about a month until I go home and pick up the rest of the wall décor. I will however show you the bed! I love the comforter, throw blankets, and throw pillows together! Ah!

I purchased my comforter from Wal-Mart, both of my throw blankets were fantastic scores from Goodwill, previously sold from Target, and my throw pillow covers came from this awesome website called Groop Dealz! If you haven't been to the website before, definitely check it out!

For now, I will show you all some awesome DIY's my roommate, Laura, and I have been doing around the not-so-beautiful parts of the apartment. We have really put some personal touches on the place that make it feel like a home!

First, we tackled the dining room. When I moved in last week, it looked like we had a brand new dining room table, or the people last year just didn't use it, either way it is spotless! My mom and I moved in my bedroom things and then took off to IKEA. I found some really cute placemats and salt and pepper shakers that gave the table a whole new look.

Laura came over and we went shopping again, my favorite thing to do. I had an idea to cut out the word 'eat' and put it on the wall above the table. I didn't realize how much I would actually love it! The whole project cost $4! I got 3 black poster boards and cut out a giant letter on each. I used poster puddy to tack it on the wall and voilà! An easy DIY anyone can make!



The next thing we tackled was the bathroom area. The way the apartment is set up, there is a toilet room, a shower room, and a vanity area. Everything is separate, so that is three separate spaces to work decorating magic! The shower room was the first to be transformed, well as transformed as we can get right now.

Before. Ew, right?

After! We added a shower curtain, caddy, and a bath mat.

Such a transformation from what it was.

Next was the vanity area. This was such a fun DIY! I feel like I need to show y'all the before picture before I explain anything. This was the most transformed space to me! Ah, too exciting!



So boring!

We knew we definitely wanted to cover up the ugly plumbing under the sink. This called for some curtains! For this project, I used 2 yards of fabric, two tension rods, and a roll of hem tape. We purchased the fabric from Hobby Lobby to match the shower curtain. We wanted a consistent theme in the two rooms. I cut the fabric to match the length from the sink to the floor, then folded the edges and "hemmed" them with the hem tape. Such and easy and cheap project!



Love it!



The curtains turned out to be really useful in hiding storage under the sink as well. It's a great way to cover up the ugly things in the bathroom you don't want everyone to see!

I also think "words" are a theme in the apartment as well. This was unintentional, but a really cute way to decorate. We put 'wash' in the vanity area. Laura had leftover paint from redoing her room at home and it was the perfect color for the bathroom. She painted the letters and hung them up perfectly!

This space is just so much more livable to me now!

The last thing we have done so far is add some super cute throw pillows to the couch and spruced up the balcony. Laura's parents were so generous in giving us a precious patio set. I love it! Laura strung some white lights on the balcony railings and it is so nice to just sit out there now.



 Couch pillows!

Love, love, love.

That's all that we've accomplished so far, but all of it has made such a difference! I can't wait to go home and get the rest of my wall decorations. Move-in is this weekend and I get to meet my roommates that I do not know! I'm really excited to kick this year off. My desk receptionist job is going really well so far. It's nice to literally walk down my building stairs and be at work! I hope everyone's summer was fantastic. My college blogging year has started!

Starting off my Summer!

In honor of my 100 day summer vacation, I have decided to do a Summer 2014 series of posts! You can find them to the right, under the 'Pages' subtitle. Head on over and check out what my summer will consist of! I'm excited to share!

**Recently, I have been trying to increase my foot traffic for this blog. If you like what you are reading, click the 'We're on the Fence' image that is below my Instagram box to the right. The vote is anonymous. It is a simple way to help increase who views my blog. You can vote once per day. Thank you for the support! Y'all are the best!

Freshman Year is coming to an End

Well everyone, I officially have 6 days left of my freshman year of college. WHAT. I can't believe how fast time has flown in these past 5 months. It seems as if 'fast forward' was pressed on an ancient VCR and here we are at May 2nd.

**For upcoming college freshman: after Christmas break (when you're home for like a whole month with no worries at all and when you finally get used to living back at home, it's time to go back to school - yeah, that break) everything goes into a whirlwind and before you know it, it's 5 months later and you're sitting in your dorm room thinking about the last 9 months of your life.

My roommate, Katie, and I always joke that we have lived together "long enough to make a baby." Don't worry, no babies have been made, but it's true- you share your room with someone for 9 whole months and they become your best friend, at least that's how it has been in my case. It's bittersweet thinking about packing everything up and leaving the room like we were never here at all. Wow, that took a depressing turn.

Thinking about these past two semesters, I have experienced some really great things that I will always remember. Luckily, I have this blog to document my whole college career on! I have met some amazing people (including my future roomie, Laura!), explored the city, took an epic camping trip, and learned some fantastic things I never expected college to teach me. There has been so much more, but I would be highlighting everything in the blog with links- do check out the highlights!

**For upcoming college freshman: Really cherish those moments that you have never experienced. Before coming to UNCC, I had never been to Charlotte, with the exception of touring the campus. It has been so good to me. You're only young and in college once, so take A TON of pictures!

I am so ready to see what my sophomore year has in store for me. I can't wait to share it with y'all- new dorm room, new roommates, new classes, new friends, new experiences. I'm looking forward to all of it! I'm hoping for an on-campus job for the upcoming year- keeping my fingers crossed that all goes well. I am also excited to announce that I will have a kitchen in my dorm room! So stoked about that. I never realized how much I liked making my own food until I didn't have a kitchen to use. Don't worry, I already have Pinterest recipes to try.

Next Friday, I will be hauling this part of my life back home for the summer! Before any of this happens, my roomies and I have some pretty fun things planned to celebrate our last few days together. Movie nights and breakfasts at IHOP are in the very near future. It's going to be so weird not having someone to carry on 2 o'clock in the morning conversations with, because as we all know, 2 o'clock in the morning conversations are the best conversations to have.

Thanks for reading and basically going through my freshman year with me. Going into this blog, I never realized how special it would be to me. I'm so happy I get to share my experiences with you guys. I'm looking forward to updating you all very soon about move-out and summertime! To all of my college friends: kick finals week in the butt!

**Recently, I have been trying to increase my foot traffic for this blog. If you like what you are reading, click the 'We're on the Fence' image that is below my Instagram box to the right. The vote is anonymous. It is a simple way to help increase who views my blog. You can vote once per day. Thank you for the support! Y'all are the best!