Homecoming

This weekend was Homecoming at my alma mater, which is a huge weekend for the sorority I was in, Sigma Sigma Sigma (Tri or Die baby) because everyone from the last graduating pledge class comes back! And this year, that would be mwah. (ugh can't believe how old I am)

Thursday night felt much like the night before Christmas. I was up late painting my nails, packing and repacking my bag (which boots look better with this dress?), figuring out last minute driving plans, etc with excitement just brewing inside me. My college truly is like Disney World: the happiest place on Earth!

Knowing I was about to see most of my best friends, be back in my lovely (using that word loosely) college town, eating at all my favorite places (yummiest bagel place), going to my favorite downtown bar, being at the most beautiful campus where I spent the last four years of my life, and lets get down to it day-drinking Saturday into oblivion was the best. feeling. ever.

Like everything you look forward to, it went by in the snap of a finger. All the sudden it was Sunday, and we were leaving bright and early - anticipating Hurricane Sandy.

I have a bunch of friends still at JMU, but stayed with my littles (I have two - aka Twins!) because they live together this year, so it was perfect! They are the most bomb-ass twin children any mother could hope to birth. They are so different but compliment each other so well and make our family complete! Can't imagine going through college without them.

Just doing Gangnam style, nbd.

 Me with my two littles who are now seniors

The alumni staying in 859

two of my best friends!

can't resist the totem pole pic. Littles and G-Lit, missing a lot of other members!

best friend / wifey

don't even know

my blonde little

dresses and boots define our school

Drinking straight from a large bottle of wine BC I keep it classy

My immediate fam (missing one). Can't say I hate being the head ;)

My roomie! 

My hot Indian little <3

SUCH a fun weekend. Wish I was still at jmu with my bests!

Living At Home

Last night I went to a "housewarming" pre-game at a friend's new apartment in Adam's Morgan in DC, and it really got me thinking about my current living situation.

Their apartment was so cute and BIG! It was really open and had high ceilings, and the rooms were all big - one even had a chandelier! And price-wise it wasn't ridiculous at all. They are on a cute/nice street and are down the street from DuPont Circle, a super fun area (cue: awesome bars) and the metro. They're also not far from Georgetown.

It's three girls living there that went to college together and it just reminded me A. how much fun it is to live with your friends B. how much fun it is to live in a city and C. how nice it is to live close to the night-scene.

Living with my parents has been great, and I know some parents aren't as welcoming as they have been about me coming back to the nest, and I really appreciate it.  But at the same time, it really is a huge transition from living with your besties for 4 years!

I miss couch sessions, morning-after-going-out conversations and being equals in the land of Struggle City, the feeling of Friday's when everyone's done with class (in this case- now work) and the excitement of getting ready to go out, or on the other hand, just having a movie night. I miss sharing closets and grabbing food you know you shouldn't be getting (I never get Chipotle any more because it's not the same getting it alone!) Not to mention, I just miss the independence of having your own place! 

So that's the friend segment, on the other hand, I just miss living in a place that is actually close to friends, and civilization. Of course in college you're 5 minutes from all of your friends and I know life will never be like again, but I live 45 minutes from Tyson's Corner, where I work, and an hour from DC.

I loveeee my house and my neighborhood, but it's a serious hike if I want to hang out with my Northern Va friends, where most of them are, or if I want to go out (both of which I do every weekend). So even on the weekends when I don't need to commute to work, I still have to drive almost an hour to do anything. It would be so0o great to actually BE in DC, where I work, where all of my friends are, and where there are countless things to do! 

And here's the reason the simple solution "move there" can't solve my relentless complaints: $$$$$$$$$$$$$

DC is so friggin expensive. Not as bad as NYC but pretty darn close. And I didn't realize how expensive life was until graduating.

I truly am saving so much money by being at home (except the fact my parent's are going to start charging me rent >:/). Groceries alone is a huge savings. I come home from work to home-cooked meals almost every weekday, and have delicious leftovers for lunch everyday. Not to mention my mom always has our pantry / fridge stocked with delicious / healthy food. I can't even remember the last time I had to go to Giant or buy any food -- and that adds up so fast! I also save a lot by having such good lunches to bring to work so I'm not tempted to buy lunch.

I could go on and on with a list of bills I don't have to pay living at home, not to mention all the things my mom does for me! And being able to do laundry / have coffee in a thermos ready to go for me every morning/ free gym / beautiful walking and jobbing trails, that list really goes on and on. 

My plan is to try to live at home until next summer, one year, and with (a very small amount) of money saved up, I'll finally move to an apartment with friends! Right now the best thing to do is to be positive and thankful for what I have, and just plan my weekends around fun things, wherever they happen to be. 45 minutes / an hour really isn't that bad... especially when you get home to made-from-scratch lasagna by your mom :) (I may or may not be attempting to convince myself here)

Here's some pictures from last night:

My college roomie <3

Pups on the way to the bar!!

friends at Brass Monkey

far left is the new owner of the fab apartment

3 am... no one answered the door to the apartment - we were sad girlz and had to improvise a sleeping location!!! #twentysomethingprobs

Country Music

The best part of living where I do currently is that I live ten minutes away from a big concert venue. One of the main ones for the Northern Virginia area.

On Friday, the Zac Brown Band (ZBB) performed and it reaffirmed that they're one of my favorite country bands. In fact, they're only second to Miranda Lambert / Pistol Annies.

I only got into country music in college - senior year of college to be exact. Which is crazy because I lived in Tennessee for 3 years (8th-10th grade) and literally never listened to it.

The reason I started listening would make Taylor Swift cry tears of joy. After a bad breakup, I couldn't help myself. I mean come on, that's what country music is about! So, country stations kept creeping into my pandora stations, and then into my iTunes. And during this time I heard the girl-power, sassy, fierce, screw men - or kill them ;) - lyrics of the one and only Miranda Lambert. I heard the lyrics below while writing a paper in the library, and immediately bought her album... not to mention her third album which is called Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. hehe

I numbed the pain at the expense of my liver
Don’t know what I did next all I know, I couldn’t stop

Leave it to me to be holdin’ the matches
When the fire trucks show up and there’s nobody else to blame

Can’t get revenge and keep a spotless reputation
Sometimes revenge is a choice you gotta make

I think one of the reasons I love country music is because I enjoy ballads. I actually love all music that tells a story in the course of the song, but country just happens to do that more than any others.

And talking about ballads, Zac Brown Band essentially tells a story in every single song - that's why it's so fun to listen to! And I love Zac's voice. love love love LOVE.

They were SUCH great live performers - he is a natural performer / actually has an amazing voice without the help of autotune or whatever they miraculously do in the studies (ahem Demi Lovato)

This is one of my personal favs: Cold Hearted

Some pics from the concert:

Lost Light Brown Poodle in Northern Virginia!

Ahhhh! My heart is broken! On Sunday, I was casually enjoying the sun on my back porch - reading a magazine on our picnic table with my loyal dog, Skipper, at my feet.

Our neighborhood is very woodsy, so seeing deer, foxes, groundhogs, etc, is a daily thing.

I heard a small noise, looked up, and a giant (Ok, it seemed huge at the time!) animal was right in front of me. Let's just say I almost peed or something else my pants. Our porch is about 15 steps up, and no animal has ever come up there as long as we've lived here. When I first glanced up, I thought it was a rabid deer or some crazy animal! I realized it was a dog right away, but I was still very nervous because my small 13-year-old cocker spaniel was next to me.

I don't feel good about it, but a brief I'm going to have to fight a poodle came over me, because as many of my friends know, I love my dog Skipper more than anything, and would fight anything / anyone to protect him. :)

The poodle starred at Skipper and me, and luckily, Skipper is now deaf so he had no clue this dog was a foot away from him. I swooped Skip up and backed away slowly into the house. I LOVE dogs, but I am very careful with animals I'm not familiar with.

Long story short, the poodle kept coming up on the porch, and I eventually approached him because I wanted to read his tags. Well, he had a collar but no tags. He ended up being the sweetest not-so little guy and I properly introduced him to Skipper and they became friends. I named him Brownie. I gave him food and water and put a sign on our mailbox that said a poodle was in our backyard. I called our country club , but no one had called him - I left my information in case anyone did. For hours, he followed me everywhere, and wouldn't leave our yard.

My sister and brother-in-law came over, and we walked around asking people if they knew who he was from or anything about him / where he might be from. A lady from 2 gates over (pretty far) said he was in her yard earlier. We went to the Giant near our neighborhood and asked people there. My parents were coming home later that night from out of the country, and I knew there was NO way my dad would let the dog stay. (literally - no way in Hell).

Eventually, at 6:30, we had to call animal control :(, because different people recommended that would be the best way for his owners to find him - since he could be from a different neighborhood and the owners may not know to come to our neighborhood or to call our HOA. And the first thing people with a lost pet should do is call their county's pound.

Heart-breakingly, animal control came over and got him. He didn't have a chip, but they mentioned Standard Poodle's are not cheap, and he had a fresh haircut, so he must have owners that would be looking for him and claim him immediately. I was so sad, but my sister reminded me that we couldn't keep him with us, and otherwise he would be wandering through the night and could get hit by a car since there's lot of roads near our house that have 50 MPH speed limits.

My sister and I figured his owners, or whoever, would immediately claim him. Today she called, and the pound said no one's claimed him!!!!!!!!! I just don't understand! A. How he ended up in my yard Sunday morning B. Why someone didn't put tags on his collar or give him a chip C. Why his owners haven't claimed him or called the country club, or the Giant, or anywhere in my small town. Nothing adds up!

If anyone has advice on more I can do please let me know! I'm including pictures of him from our day together.

My first encounter with Brownie, when he scared the *&^$ out of me

Skipper and Brownie's first meeting - they became friends!

Wouldn't leave my porch, even when Skip and I went inside

Let me in!!!!

Best posture

My sweet "Brownie" 

Please pray he finds his home!

Cake Balls

Ok, I know I'm late in the game, but my new fav thing to make / bake / eat are cake balls! For some reason, they seem so much cooler and shall I dare say... sophisticated than regular ole cup cakes. Not to mention yellow cake mix + frosting + chocolate? The answer to that is always YES.

My roommate in college made them all the time, and I don't know why I never got the itch to do so as well, because every time I ate them I heard angels sing.

Anyway - I was at the grand opening of Walmart with my parents in our town (fun times) and when we strolled through the baking aisle something came to me and I just knew it had to happen. I need to make cake balls. 

Thanks to the lovely internet, I read a couple things and realized how to make them. It's definitely not hard, but it is time consuming since you have to bake the cake, wait for it to cool, crumble the cake, add the icing, form into "balls", coooool even longer, and then melt chocolate and dip them, and finally add sprinkles. After I put the cake into balls I usually leave them in the fridge over night and do the chocolate the next day (and then cool again!)

The best thing is, they have an awesome shelf life, since the chocolate hardens and protects the (delicious) cake within. Especially if you keep them in the fridge or freezer. I made them this weekend because two of my BFFs came to visit me, and I made enough to bring to work today. Now I have lots of leftovers so I'm freezing them and bringing them to my brother in college this weekend when we go for parent's weekend. I figured if you need to get rid of sweets (or any food...), there is no better place than a dorm.

Here's a work in progress of my lovely cake balls. (I've made them twice in the past couple of weeks! This is the second one).

Also: I should never be allowed to bake in an empty house again. The amount of raw cake batter I consumed with no one to stop me might have been illegal.

Let's play how much cake batter did I consume? ~2 cups

My poor naked cake balls before cho-co-latte

Half of the batch (and my personal fave) white chocolate and rainbow sprinkles. Next up = milk chocolate and "pearl" sprinkles

Finished Product :)