Finals Weekend

This is the doormat for the sorority girls who live across the hall from me.
This really explains it all!

At this moment, I am listening to girls stomp up the steps in my apartment building, as they loudly talk to one another right outside my apartment door. The apartment across the hall from me is home to three sorority girls. Though they have been sweet after my boyfriend and I have had to talk to them a couple of times about being quiet when they come in drunk at 2:00 in the morning, stomping up the steps and yelling at each other being drunken girls, they still continue to be loud. I know what you're thinking. I sound like an old hag. The thing is, I'm about to be 26. I'm so over the going out to the bars and getting drunk faze.

I get it though. I've been there. I had some fun times, did some stupid things. But now, I want a peaceful study environment when I am trying to study and do my homework. I want to get a good nights sleep before I have to take a test the next day. It's now 12:19 a.m. I can hear the girls in their apartment across the hall. I really want to be able to get enough sleep tonight pretty soon so that I can manage to get up for church tomorrow. I haven't been to church in a while, and I am actually in the mood to go. (That's a story for another day)

There's more to this though. I really am becoming disappointed by the way some young adults can be so disrespectful. I know everyone is raised differently in different circumstances, but when you hit your 20's, it's time to grow up. It's time to act like an adult. I'm really seeing that 20 something year olds are just as bad as teenagers. We think we have everything figured out. But we don't. I just wish the people in my building were a bit more respectful. Ya know, throw their drier sheets in the trash can provided instead of on the floor in the laundry room. It would be nice if they could just empty their lint out of the lint trap so I don't have to do it every time I go to put my stuff in the dryer, get their stuff out of the machines so other people can do their laundry, talk a bit quieter in the hall at 3a.m. I just know that as a young adult, my mom stressed the importance of being quiet when I came in late a night. I don't care what they do, as long as it's not keeping me up the night before a final exam! This is my finals week coming up, and I pray to God they let me sleep this week!

There has been something else on my mind lately.

I guess that's one of those things you learn in life as you grow older. In your 20's people drift away. Sure, I'm going to make friends with people in other stages of my life, and that's just how it goes. But there are still days that I miss when I was younger, and my girlfriends and I were closer, (even when they were seeing someone). I am with my boyfriend, and I love him with all of my heart. But I think having your girlfriends in your life is important too. 

For now, I count down the days when I can move out of this apartment building full of undergrads, no longer living next to a train track, no longer living across the street from two bars. The days when I can study without having to hear drunk obnoxious people shout at each other, and sorority girls stumble up the steps right next to my living room, yell in the hallway right outside the wall of my bedroom, I will be a much happier woman. I can't wait to start apartment hunting in the next couple of weeks. Finding a better place for next year just might give me a light at the end of the tunnel. Maybe I won't have to share a washer and drier anymore either! Oh, to be able to do my laundry whenever I please, and not be woken at 3a.m. when someone else decides to do theirs!

March Madness

March is finally here, we are getting flooding here instead of many inches of snow now! I would call that some kind of progress. Orange japanese beetles are flying around, birds wake me up chirping before the sun rises, and it's finally not s cold outside! My college is currently running on quarters and not semesters. I actually like being on quarters a lot better, because I can do more classes in a year than a student who is on semesters. The classes move more quickly, but this is a good thing if you do not like your professor or the class at the time. Right now, I am taking two English classes, and Spanish. Next quarter I will be in Spanish 103, and I'm a little nervous to see how much harder the class will be, but I am doing well in 102 so far. Next quarter I will be taking the next class up in creative fiction writing and a photography class as well. I'm so excited for the photography class! Who wouldn't like to learn how to take better pictures? My dad bought me a new Kodak digital camera for Christmas, and  it's nicer than my old one, so I should be able to take pretty good pictures for my class! Yay! 


Also, Ross was offered a summer internship. I am trying to figure out if I can take summer classes from another school, and transfer them over for credit, that way I can graduate in the horseshoe stadium outside at the end of next Spring! One more year left of school! I have been in College for wayyyy to long! Spring break is coming up in two weeks, and I will get to go home for a bit and visit my friends back in Akron! So exciting! Sadly, Ross is on his spring break now, so he will have to stay back at our apartment so he can go to his classes. Right now, Ross is trying to call hotels to see if we can get a low rate to find a place to live near where his internship is this summer. If I can't take classes this summer, I will try and find a summer job somewhere, but it would be much better if I can take classes and graduate sooner! Fingers crossed that we find somewhere nice! 

Allergies or a cold? Plus pictures finally!

Introducing... Ross and Ashlie

     Yesterday, convincing my self I was only suffering from allergies, I took my sneezing, watery eye self to our friends wedding reception. Sadly we could only show up for the last hour of the event, due to a make-up class Ross had to attend until 1:00 causing us to have to arrive at the event a bit late.

I have to say that I can't remember when the last time was that I had a really good cold. I started the weekend thinking I was just having some bad allergies from cleaning my apt. (My parents came to stay with me and my boyfriend Ross). Sadly, my "Allergies" have turned into a horribly sore throat, burning watery eyes, sniffles, sneezing, running nose, slight coughing and stuffy nose. Joy! lol

It's a good thing I didn't go with Ross to visit his grandma this weekend! I told him not to kiss her or breathe on her since he might be carrying my germs! This leads me to the funny thing about me getting sick (If there is a funny thing), I have been taking "Immunity" orange gummy vitamins twice a day! I guess they don't work very well, do they? (sigh) I feel like a big baby. Too bad my mommy stayed last night and not tonight! lol I believe I will have to venture out tomorrow and buy some cold medicine. The fact that the allergy medicine hasn't helped my symptoms, means I must have a cold! Bummer!

The sad part is that I carry around hand sanitizer, use a paper towel to turn off bathroom sinks, take daily multivitamins, wash my hands so much they crack and bleed, (and I wonder how germs got in? lol), and I wipe off the handle of my shopping cart with those sanitizer wipes! All for nothing it seems! (sigh again).

Well, I can't keep my droopy watery eyes open any longer. Sleep is a great remedy for not feeling well! Here however, are some pictures of my clean apt.

My tiny little dining area.

                                                              

        The kitchen

                                                                  

Living Room

                                                                          

Bookshelf: holds everything!

                                         

Yay new lamp!

    Gas heater (not in use) turned into a table to try and conceal it's normal obscurity.
Yes I need a picture for that frame! I just haven't taken the right one yet!

                

  Guppies, Glo Fish, & Loach

                                                            

Lilac tipped Tulips I bought for a visit from my parents!

The pursuit of Happiness

So tonight I watched the movie "The Pursuit of Happiness" starring Will Smith. I know he may seem cocky with his one man shows, but he always seems to star in a flick with a good underlying moral message. I can get behind that. Spoiler Alert!! The movie is all about a man and his son struggling to make it financially. They end up becoming homeless and struggle to sleep in a homeless shelter at night. Will Smith's character works hard to get a job as a broker. The movie really made me appreciate everything I have. Since I moved to my first apartment at the end of the summer, I was constantly complaining about everything to do with the apartment. We have to share a washer and drier with the other tenants in the building, the walls are thin and sometimes it's distracting to try and study or sleep at night when the neighbors are partying or have their t.v.'s too loud. My boyfriend and I will look at our cupboard and think we have nothing to eat, but in reality there is food there. I am so glad I had the desire today to stop at my local small town library and rent these movies. Now I realize how lucky I am just to have a warm place to sleep at night. I am lucky to have food, and a place to keep my food. I am lucky I have clean clothes, and clothes for all seasons. Though I have to say I am so glad I found some really cheap good deals on black friday to save money on buying clothes since my body is changing as I am starting to have a more "mature womanly body". But I am thankful to have some extra cash to buy those clothes. I love black friday not just for getting great deals on x-mas presents, but I take advantage of the deals for things I would buy normally anyways. The point is, every now and then it's nice to be brought back to reality, and realize that there is always someone out there who has things worse than you, and you should just appreciate what you do have in your life. There will always be someone out there who has things better than you, but you shouldn't waste your time being jealous of them. Life is what you make of it. If you are always complaining about what you don't have, you will never appreciate what you do have, and you will always feel unhappy. But if you remind yourself how lucky you are for all of the blessings you do have in your life, then you will actually be able to feel happy. Chris, the character played by Will Smith in "The Pursuit of Happiness", finally realizes that finally getting the job he has worked so hard to get, and in turn having money to survive, is all it took for him to find true happiness. He was always searching for something to make him happy, and just being able to support himself and his son, was all he needed in his pursuit of happiness. This movie is a good example that if you work hard to get what you want in life, you can make your dreams become a reality. But it won't happen just sitting around and wishing for it. You have to go out and so something about it. Make an effort. So get out there and make something good happen for your life.