It’s been a little while since I’ve written a blog because of the energy I have been dedicating to school and work, but I want to take the time to share what I’ve been up to! I finally have time to recap my Christmas break and give and update on the Spring 2014 semester. It’s hard to believe that I am already over half-way done with my junior year of college. People aren’t kidding when they say college flies by in the blink of an eye!

Give me a break! Never mind...that was already over 2 weeks ago!

Before I dive into new details about my life as a current college student, I want to give a quick overview of my Christmas break and how I spent my time at home. So what did I do for a whole month?

1)      I spent time with my family and had a chance to catch up with some of my high school friends that I haven’t seen in a while. Needless to say, I enjoyed playing with a bunch of little rascals, creating new memories, and eating plenty of restaurant food and home-cooked meals!

2)       I spent most of my days working at a factory coating, sanding and checking small parts. It really wasn’t my idea of fun and I thought I was going to dread it every day, but I actually learned a lot about my work ethic. I was assigned different tasks each day and I found myself trying to get everything done as quickly and efficiently as possible. The people I worked with were very friendly and pleased with my hard work. Although I can’t see myself ever wanting a factory job in the future, I learned that it really wasn’t THAT bad or as terrible as everyone says. Besides, I was also able to fill my pockets with a little extra cash. I learned a valuable lesson: There is always something positive that one can learn in any given situation and mine was that every opportunity teaches me something about myself and my capabilities.

3)      My boyfriend took me indoor ice skating in Meadville, which is something that I always wanted to do. It was so much fun but after skating for a good while and dodging around small children, we left rather quickly. I just happened to take a few hard falls and my boyfriend decided that he didn’t want to risk having to take me to the hospital ;)

4)      Did you ever have a gift as a child that you really wanted for Christmas but never got? Did you think about it years later and become sad at the fact that you never got it? Well, as a small child, all I ever wanted was Baby Born. I saw this doll on TV commercials all the time. She cried, you could feed her, and you could even change her diaper. I fell in love with this doll and wanted her to be mine but…year after year she never showed up under the Christmas tree. However, as a 20 year old, I happened to mention this sad story to my parents and wouldn’t you know that I ended up opening an unexpected present this year! Hopefully, if I have a daughter one day, she can now play with the doll that I dreamed of having as a kid.

5)      One of the highlights of my break was...wait for it…buttons!!!! Something you probably don’t know about me is that I love buttons. I know it sounds a little crazy but I recently started collecting colorful, vintage, antique, and interesting buttons. I went to an antique store and after some bartering; I was able to turn a $35 jar of buttons into a $5 purchase of handpicked buttons from the bunch. I basically filled up a mason jar and doubled my collection. Talk about a deal! I just love searching for the buttons and observing how interesting they look. I am going to be using them for something somewhat important soon. I will share more details about that in a later post. For now, look at how beautiful they are:

(If you have old buttons lying around or ever consider throwing them out or giving them away….consider passing them on to me as their final destination). 

The wheels on the bus go round and round…

For the past few months, I have been working with the Respect Life Club on planning the trip to the March for Life this year. As secretary of the club and soon-to-be vice president, I was very pleased with the turnout of students that traveled with us from St. Vincent to Washington, D.C. this year. 20 students traveled on an overnight trip. They unfortunately had a rude awakening to a fire alarm at 4:30 a.m. and then had to continue the day with very little sleep. However, we were able to join thousands of other students from all over the states to celebrate mass in the Verizon Center. We joined a bus of 55 students the next day and had to survive the brutal cold for a few hours as we marched the streets and stood up for a right to life, but it was well worth it! We are so thankful for everyone who showed their support and made this event a success.

Pictured above is me with Stacie Sikora and Kathryn Klawinski. We all work on the School of Social Sciences, Communication, and Education monthly newsletter together and participated in the march this year.

This semester is stacking up: Why so many books??

My course load is pretty full this semester. I am taking Art History II, Chemistry and Crime, Children’s Literature, Digital Photography and Post Production, Writing for Media, and 2D Design. I love my classes and in just 2 weeks, I have learned so much and I am so confident about my field of study, which is Graphic Design and Communication if you didn’t know. My biggest challenge is going to be overcoming the pile of books for my Children’s Literature class. I have never really enjoyed reading growing up but I hope that this class challenges me to want to read more and be able to transform it into an enjoyable escape. My teachers are all so helpful and kind and I appreciate all they do to help me succeed and pave the way to my future.

More to come…

In a little over a month, I will be spending my spring break in Sao Paulo, Brazil on a mission trip with Campus Ministry. I am really looking forward to this trip and hope that I can change at least one person’s life in a small way.

On another note, did I ever mention that I have known my current roommate, Anna, since kindergarten and we only live about a mile away from each other when at home? I will have to share some of our interesting and entertaining bonding stories and how we survive together in the same college dorm room. We are definitely a unique pair and to prove it, Anna once tried to sell me by posting a sign on our door. Luckily, all of the offers fell through!

Keep an eye out for more posts in the near future. Feel free to comment below, ask questions, or propose an ideas for future blogs.

Franklin D. Roosevelt once said: “There are many ways of going forward but there is only one way of standing still.” Stay positive and don’t forget to smile!