Hump Day woes and ambitions

I think it's safe to say that I'm feeling a little bit under the weather today. The day started out great though. Woke up earlier than usual, which is a huge plus. The weather was cool but not cold. I got a lot of stuff done this morning at work and did some "house cleaning." However, once my 10:30 a.m. editorial meeting came around, things went downhill. To be fair, no one is really complaining, more or less, they are concerned about the work load, being overwhelmed, etc. These are all fair assessments.

Anyway, enough about my day. Over the past week or so, I have decided that my life ambitions are much greater than I had originally thought. There are some things I would love to accomplish, like obtaining a Master's degree and a Ph.D., becoming a successful businesswoman, living in the wonderful luxury apartments in Montgomery plaza, etc. Reaching my goals should be my No. 1 priority. I'm certain that once I get my first real job that's not an internship or contract-to-hire, etc. I will be able to jump start my career and become successful... I just need to get to that point.

In the meantime, I'll be perfectly content with my mediocre lifestyle and job. No, I'm not complaining about the job. I love my work and the people I work with... I just don't necessarily love the people I work for. Big wigs, really. People who reel in those bags of money every day and don't care about the "working bees." The workers are the ones who make the big wigs look good! After being in a large company, I am now seeing the importance of transparency and how the big wigs want to control the information that's being distributed. It's unfortunate that so many people yearn to learn more but other people essentially decide that for them. Too many secrets! It's just like our government. Ugh.

On a good note, my birthday is on Friday. Perhaps I'll take a half-day. I think I deserve it.

Day 07 – Your best friend?

Ahh! I have lots of best friends. But I'll go with my three favorites and they're all from my middle school/high school days: Jessica Smith, Jessie Wang and Adam Lemmons. Love them all dearly. Jessica, Jessie and I go all the way back to sixth grade. Damn, that's a long time ago. We attended UT's band camp together, stayed on the same floor and caused absolute mayhem. Our middle school split up when entering high school so Jessica, Adam and I were at Round Rock HS and Jessie ended up at McNeil HS. We still kept in touch though. Thank goodness. :-) Fun factoid: Jessie and Jessica are the only two girls who I have considered "bridesmaid" worthy since the beginning of high school and have stayed in that category all these years later. Really, ladies, you should feel honored!!

So, let's continue, shall we?

Adam Lemmons -- This kid knows everything about me and vice versa. We first met in our net/web class our sophomore year. Good times. We got almost nothing done! Since then, we've confided in each other about all sorts of things (including inappropriate, promiscuous conversations). I just recently gave him girl advice... he needed it. ;-) I always make a point to see him when I head back home for a weekend. Our usual routine is to get Starbucks coffee and head back to my place to chat and catch up. Every time we hang out, it's as though we were never apart to begin with! We talk just about every week... gotta keep up with the happenings. He nicknamed me "Noodles." Not entirely sure how he came up with that... I'm going to guess it has to do with Asian food. It's better than "Chopsticks." I have no desire to be named after an eating utensil!

Jessica Smith -- Oh snap. This girl and I go way back, although I think Jessie and I go back a little further. I must say, we're opposites in every sort of way but somehow, it works. She loves me so much that she even makes trips to come visit me in Fort Worth. :-) I have her to thank because if it weren't for her, I wouldn't have ever known TCU existed. She's a huge part of the reason why I even looked at TCU in the first place! We've been through everything together... crazy, CRAZY boys, band drama, guard drama, family chaos... you name it, we've been through it. She completes me. :-) We stay in touch pretty frequently. I haven't seen her in like two months though. Ugh. It's been too long.

Jessie Wang -- Now, I know I said Jess, Jessie and I all knew each other since sixth grade, which is true. But Jessie and I actually sat next to each other in band... so we go back a little farther. Luckily, this girl hasn't changed much. Still quirky, still very Asian and frankly, she puts up with my non-Asianess and deals with my lack of knowledge on the matter lol. She also brings me back fun things from Taiwan. :-) We've come a long way and I'm glad we've stayed in touch as long as we have. I enjoy our random phone chats at random hours at night... she's usually walking back from the library or somewhere on UT's campus. I'm excited that she'll be moving to Dallas after she graduates!!!  Makes me happy. She completes me too.

Of course, there are other lovely ladies (and gents) I consider my best friends, but it would take forever to right a nice saga for each. So to keep it short, I'll list them accordingly: Drew Talley (this should be obvious, thus I didn't see the need to add a description), Kim Little (roommates for four years and we still love each other), Jenn Haase (BEST little in the world) and Anahita Kalianivala (how is it that it took us four years to officially meet?! Ridiculous.)

Day 06 – Your day

I've given up on doing this 30-day challenge every day. Unfortunately, I've been super busy at work!

Anyway, my day was AWESOME. It was so relaxing! I woke up around 11:30 a.m. and made it to Buffalo Wild Wings in time to watch the rest of the Cowboys v. Texans game. Now, that's a Cowboys team I'm used to seeing! Glad they remembered how to play football.

Afterward, Drew and I came back, watched some more football and took a nap. For dinner, I made my mom's macaroni and cheese. Nom nom nom! So good. I'm glad I'm starting to make her own recipes now... it makes me love my mom's cooking even more!

Anyway, I'm excited for this week. My 22nd birthday is on Friday. My family is coming to visit on Saturday and there will be so many good college football games on TV! It'll be a good week/weekend. I'm not entirely sure what I want to do for my birthday... I really don't have any preferences.

On a completely different note, this weather is FANTASTIC. I went out side and thought to myself, "Christmas is only three months away!" This means Christmas music is only two months away! I'm excited. I love Christmas music on the radio. I love it. Honestly, I could listen to Christmas music all year. But honestly, I love Christmastime because it's such a happy time of year... even though apparently it's the season with the highest suicide rates... DO NOT understand that. One day, I hope to be in NYC during Christmas and ice skating at Rockefeller Center!! :-)

Day 05 – Your definition of love?

Definition of love? Love is a relative term... I don't think there's one right answer. Clearly, the best way to sum this up is to use quotes from "The Notebook." ;-)

"The best love is the kind that awakens the soul and makes us reach for more, that plants a fire in our hearts and brings peace to our minds."

I've also heard other quotes like: "The true testament to love is how hard you will work to make it work." That is so true. So when someone tells you, "You can't do it," or "It's not worth it/your time," just look them straight in the face and tell that it's all worth it to you. I won't deny that Drew and I have had our differences and our ups and downs throughout the past two years, but we persevered, despite the comments I know my friends (and his friends) made.

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices in the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails." -- 1 Corinthians 13:4-8

To me, love is something that can't be taught. It's something you have to learn on your own through your experiences. No one can teach it to you. It's a feeling that passionately burns inside you and brings you joy from the moment you wake up to when you go to bed. Love brings you peace of mind. It challenges you, makes you stronger, takes your weaknesses and forces you to deal with them. Love is a great thing and I hope everyone experiences it at some point in their lives. I'm just lucky that I've found love more than once. I know how it feels.

Now, I have a fantastic boyfriend who loves me, makes me a better person, challenges me, helps me see outside my own views and beliefs, takes care of me when I'm sick, lets me rant when I need an outlet, keeps me grounded, and he watches endless amounts of Food Network with me because it's my favorite TV channel. We've come a long way... I'm a lucky girl! :-)

Day 04 – What you ate today?

Son of a monkey. I can't believe I forgot/didn't have time to update my blog! Anyway, I haven't eaten anything today yet... but I can tell you that my lunch will be Pei Wei. DELICIOUS. It's a good thing there's not one of those right down the street from me... I'd eat there all the time.

Anyway, onto something else. I've become incredibly busy over the past week or so. After my bank dilemma, which was stressful and completely unnecessary (thank you idiot for writing fake checks and trying to take money from me), I now have a ton of work to do! I'm working on this big campaign here at work and it's probably going to take all of my attention for the next month and a half or so. By then, my bank problems should be 100% gone and hopefully, they will catch the culprit. I filed a police report yesterday... it's supposed to be assigned to a fraud detective today... hopefully they will find something. Luckily, I have more than enough evidence to prove that I'm not the one who is writing fraudulent checks.

In other news, GO FROGS! TCU football makes me happy and makes my weekends much more eventful. :-) We play SMU this week and it's going to be awesome. I'm leaving work early to head over to Dallas with our little possé of people. I'm sure it's going to be madness trying to get over there.

My birthday is coming up in roughly a week... I hope the parents get me that digital camera I've been wanting. :-) I'll even hand over my $20 Best Buy coupon to contribute to my gift! I just really need a camera so I can record my happenin' social life, haha, and the cruise in January!! Drew and I are pumped. It's going to be a blast.

Day 03 – Your parents?

My parents are cool people... and they're crazy. If you've met them, you know what I mean!!

My mom has helped me A LOT in the past two days. She essentially took care of my bank account dilemma when I was nearly about to have a heart attack. That's obviously just one thing though. I don't think I could ever repay her for all of the wonderful things she has done for me or all the brattiness she's dealt with between both my sister and I.

My dad is all sorts of smart and he's the rock of our family. He also has an awesome sense of humor and his inappropriate jokes make dinner time fantastic. He's also a hardcore republican and has sound Christian beliefs. If I were you, I wouldn't debate with him on the politics... you'll get more than you asked for. He keeps up with the news and trust me, he knows his stuff!

My parents have been through a lot... dealing with my and cancer sickliness at a young age with my sister's crazy shenanigans... I don't know how they've done it!

I think I'll turn to be a good parent someday because they raised me well. My sister, on the other hand... haha just kidding. ;-)

Day 02 – Your first love?

Well, this is awkward. I'm assuming first love would have to do with a person... and surprise, my first "love" was not my current boyfriend, the wonderful Drew Talley. He knows this already so no worries, it won't be new news to him.

So, my first love was Chris and that occurred back during my sophomore year of high school. It was quite the experience. I was absolutely crushed when he broke up with me at the end of our sophomore year. The next few months became a life-changing experience. I grew as a person and changed for the better. Anyway, Chris and I dated again my senior year of high school... it only lasted a few months, so don't get your hopes up! So after he and I broke up, I dated a few other guys that year and then happily graduated and moved on to TCU.

I can proudly say that Drew is the only guy I dated while I was at TCU. We dated my freshman year but it also only lasted a few months. Chris and I dated again, it was love all over again, and it lasted for about a year. Well, because we were doing long distance, it just wasn't working for me. I just wasn't in it anymore and I was shocked that I was the one to call everything off. I didn't think that would ever be the case. But honestly, he just "came to his senses" too late. The whole "third times the charm" saying didn't work this time... he brought me a promise ring and everything. It was extremely difficult, to say the least.

Anyway, that's the story of my FIRST love. And now, I'm happy with Drew. We will have been dating 2 1/2 years next month! I'm very excited. This has been my longest relationship and with all of the ups and downs, it's been worth it.

Now, onto a different kind of first love... I fell in love with writing at a young age. When I was going through cancer treatments, I remember I used to write all sorts of things on this little note pad. One of my favorite doctors once told me, according to my mother, "Never stop writing." Well, good news. Writing essentially ended up being my career! Some of you know this, but many don't: I used to write poetry! I even got one of my poems published when I was in sixth grade. I even got invited to this ceremony... but I didn't go. I was too nervous! Oh well. I still have the massive book it was published in.

Day 01 – Introduce yourself

Well, hello there. My name is Kimmy. I'm a TCU graduate with a B.A. in News-Editorial Journalism and a Spanish minor. I work at Alcon Laboratories, Inc. in Corporate Communications (in a nutshell, I do global and internal communications). As an official "adult" and "real world" individual, I'm determined to never let work become my life, or as some may say, "work to live, not live to work."

Meh, I don't feel like giving you my whole life story so I guess I'll throw everything into bullets. I likes lists.

• I was born in South Korea, put up for adoption and adopted when I was 6 months old.
• I'm a cancer survivor and proud of it. I totally made cancer my bitch at the age of 2.
• I will forever be a band nerd... I was in colorguard in the marching band for eight years and I've played clarinet since fourth grade.
• I'm a libra.
• My favorite color is purple.
• I'm proud to be a U.S. citizen and I come from a fairly patriotic family.
• I know a fair amount about wine... thanks to my parents who drink the stuff daily.
• Writing is my outlet for intense emotions, anger, aggression, etc.
• I give trust easily, which tends to hinder some of my friendships.
• I'm honest and I'm not afraid to speak my mind on the good and the bad.
• I'm also stubborn... I get it from my mom and my sister is the same way.
• I don't like to fight. It's not in my nature. Usually, fighting gets people nowhere.
• I'm an optimist and try to find the positive or "bright side" in everything. Consider me your little ray of sunshine!
• I'm 4'11 3/4". Sad days. So close!
• I take pride in having an active social life. I'm fairly good at keeping up with people... I still keep in contact with many of my middle school and high school friends!
• I say this in a non-arrogant manner, but I think I've lived a great and incredibly blessed life. I'm excited to see what the next decade has in store.
• I don't like politics, nor do I care who runs this country or which senator is kissing ass to who. Sometimes, I care about Congress--only because they actually have the power to make real decisions in this country, but for crying out loud, they were seriously talking about NCAA football. As far as I'm concerned, that's not a nation-critical topic.
• I love dogs! I want one asap!
• I used to be BAD at managing my money (thanks college life), but since I graduated, I've turned over a new leaf.
• And finally, I LOVE TO COOK!!

El fin.

New 30-Day Challenge

Well, that was one challenge down. Time to start another one. I'll begin tomorrow!
 
30-Day Challenge
 
Day 01 – Introduce yourself
Day 02 – Your first love?
Day 03 – Your parents?
Day 04 – What you ate today ?
Day 05 – Your definition of love?
Day 06 – Your day
Day 07 – Your best friend?
Day 08 – A moment?
Day 09 – Your beliefs
Day 10 – What you wore today ?
Day 11 – Your siblings?
Day 12 – What’s in your bag?
Day 13 – This week
Day 14 – What you wore today
Day 15 – Your dreams
Day 16 – Your first kiss
Day 17 – Your favorite memory?
Day 18 – Your favorite birthday
Day 19 – Something you regret?
Day 20 – This month?
Day 21 – Another moment?
Day 22 – Something that upsets you
Day 23 – Something that makes you feel better?
Day 24 – Something that makes you cry
Day 25 – A first
Day 26 – Your fears
Day 27 – Your favorite place?
Day 28 – Something that you miss?
Day 29 – Your aspirations?
Day 30 – One last moment

Day 30 — Whatever tickles your fancy: 10 people I want (or would have like) to meet

Alright, there are quite a few people I'd like to meet... although a few of them will be impossible considering they have already passed away. Regardless, they will be on my top 10 list!

1. Frank Sinatra -- He is one of my all-time favorite singers. I love "The Way You Look Tonight," me and my daddy's song! I think Frank Sinatra is one of the first artist's I heard when I was a wee child.
2. Princess Diana -- She was a fantastic lady... with a lousy husband. But regardless, she did so much good for the world, even when it seemed that many were criticizing her for x, y and z reasons. She totally deserved the Noble Peace Prize when she was ALIVE.
3. Franklin D. Roosevelt -- He was an awesome president. While my AP History class often made me want to burn my textbook, learning about FDR was a highlight.
4. Rascal Flatts -- I LOVE THEM!! I saw them in concert when I was in high school. I think they will always be one of my favorite country groups.
5. Lady Gaga -- Now, don't judge me, but I really just want to meet her in person. The media portrays such a weird side of her... I totally want to meet the real Lady Gaga (her real name is Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, by the way.)
6. Sara Bareilles -- She's an awesome piano player and signer. In some ways, I think I definitely idolize her.
7. Michael Jackson -- King of Pop, you were THE man.
8. Condoleezza Rice (that's totally how you spell her name, by the way) -- What a beast of a woman. I have so much respect for strong-willed women who know what they want and can really compete with men in this crazy society of ours.
9. Eleanor Roosevelt -- This woman was so inspiring to the nation. In my opinion, she was probably the best First Lady that America saw.
10. Mother Teresa -- Again, wonderful lady. She deserves so many high fives, it's not even funny.

Day 29 — Hopes, dreams and plans for the next 365 days

Too bad I didn't do this challenge (or kept up with my blog) last year. I would have had so many future plans! But not that I've graduated, I don't have as many future plans as before!

Anyway, I'll just keep this short and simple... and in a list form!

• Take the GRE at the end of September or in early October... The goal is to do well the first time and not have to take it again!
• Pay off TCU loans asap... no late payments!
• Find a permanent job... one that has a real salary and isn't hourly, but don't get me wrong, I still love where I work now. :-)
• Actually make sushi at my apartment. Now that I've taken the class, I need to use those skills at home!
• Buy a dog. I WANT A DOG NOW! :-(
• I would eventually like to go to grad school... but unfortunately, most of the places I'm looking at are out of state!
• I would also eventually like to get married and have two kids. Let's be honest, I probably couldn't handle more than that.
• Get into a daily (or weekly) workout regiment. I think I will be able to do this successfully once the club house and fitness center renovations are complete!

Alright, that's all for now. Whew! I'm glad this post was much shorter than the last one!

Day 28 — This year, in great detail

Oh wow... this year. There is no way I could write about my entire year in one post! I'll break it down by month... that will be easier.

January -- Ah ha, the first week of January, I was in Arizona for the Fiesta Bowl! While the actual turn out of the game wasn't pleasant and getting up early was a huge drag, the weather was awesome and we had a pretty awesome hotel. My lovely roommate was Myra! We had a fantastic time and socialized quite a bit. New Year's Eve wasn't exactly pleasant (for reasons that will remain undisclosed),  but we did get to go to downtown Scottsdale and enjoy the New Year's festivities. It was alright. The drinks weren't cheap though. The parade was so freakin' long... it was like three miles and spinning for that long was absolutely not fun! I'm surprised no one passed out during that time. For it being January, it was pretty darn hot outside!

Other than the bowl game, January was the month Tauship began. I bonded with my wonderful second little, Amanda. Ha, I'm glad I got to do a first degree redo since I wasn't at Jenn's first degree (darn hospital visit)! Amanda was so excited and luckily, I got her lots of fun gifts. ;-) I like to spoil my littles! Speaking of Tauship, the rose family got a lot of wonderful additions. And I'm pretty sure our family got closer throughout the semester. It was so nice! I especially love my grand little and great grand little, Rachel and Nicola. :-)

February -- While I've never been a huge fan of Valentine's Day, Drew and I celebrated it well! I cooked him a lavishing dinner the day before Valentine's Day... all recipes from the Food Network, of course. ;-) On Valentine's Day, he and I went to the Cheesecake Factory. Originally when we got there, there was a huge long freakin' line just to get to the hostess. While we were waiting, some random guy came up to us and gave us he and his girlfriend's little buzzer thing. Apparently, they got too impatient and didn't want to wait any longer. He said that name was under "Crystal" so I was "Crystal" for the next 30 minutes. Luckily, we didn't have to wait three hours like some couples did! It was awesome.

In February, I also got a corporate communications internship at Alcon. Actually, I also got a social media internship at the Fort Worth Opera. Obviously, I picked Alcon. Deep down, that's the internship I really wanted. I had also interviewed at Range Online Media, where Kevin works! Needless to say, I made the right choice!

March -- VEGAS!! Now, this was a great trip. Mark and I were totally traveling buddies. The last time I was in Vegas, I wasn't legally able to drink. I roomed with Hannah, Amy and Hailey. Hailey's guitar full of alcohol was priceless. The cheap liquor stores were awesome and we walked The Strip multiple days/nights in a row! Actually, a group of us, Beth in particular, decided to go see someone get married at a Vegas wedding chapel. Ha. While we got there too late, we had our "own" little wedding ceremony on the gazebo. Beth and I totally got married.

Spring break brought a new set of dilemmas. The New Orleans trip we had planned a month in advance fell through at the last minute... huge suck fest, but no worries! Drew and I ended up going to visit his family in Arkansas. The drive wasn't bad either. It was nice going to Drew's hometown--I had never really been to Arkansas other than passing through. We played house all week and his two half siblings, Sydney, 6, and Ethan, 7, were ADORABLE. I got to read books to Sydney and we played I Spy. It was a great time and turned out to be a fun spring break!

April -- Wow, the semester flew by fast. Tau Beta Sigma took up most weekends... convention, slating, voting, etc. Convention at Baylor was so nice... it was such a short drive compared to last year! It just wasn't the same though. Without Kappa Kappa Psi there, it felt like something was missing. The banquet was the hardest part. I think I can speak on behalf of many of my sisters when we say that listening to KKY sing their chapter song is harmonious and music to our ears! Not hearing our guys sing it just wasn't right! Anyway, it was a fun weekend, regardless.

April also brought the end of many things I had done at TCU, including copy editing at the Skiff and writing for Image. It felt like I was "peacing out" to all of things I enjoyed doing in school. It also felt weird to be so close to graduation. Band formal was creeping up soon and that's when I realized, "Wow, things really are coming to close." Nevertheless, band formal was fun... I didn't stay long this year though. Drew's not a huge dancer and while I should have just made him stay, he would have been way too cranky for his own good!

May -- BETA RETREAT and GRADUATION! We'll start with Beta Retreat. Good times. Peanuts, we are awesome planners. Props to Casi's family for making us delicious Greek food. While the night took longer than we had planned, luckily, we picked a Saturday night. As I was willing stuff down, I felt like I was emptying out my closet, haha. I gave Ashley one of the most significant items I had, the locket. Ash, I hope you love it and cherish it as much as I do. :-)

And of course, graduation. That whole day was a blur. I wasn't really excited or sad... I didn't really feel anything at all. If anything, I felt numb! I was also flustered that I was within the first 100 people called to walk across the stage. Well, it was nice getting my diploma. It felt like a huge accomplishment. If any of you knew where I stood academically freshman year, I think you would agree that graduating with above a 3.0 was a BIG accomplishment!

Also in May, I moved into my new apartment. Leaving the Sandage house and my roommates was pretty difficult, especially because Kim and I had lived together for almost our whole college career. It was so weird being split up! Anyway, now, I love my apartment. I feel like I have a place that I can call mine. I can decorate how I want, organize how I want and clean how I want! I also can watch whatever TV show I want and never have to wait on anyone for the washer/dryer. :-)

One tradition that I never fail to miss is Mingo Fishtrap at the Concerts in the Garden. We always cook and have a big ol' picnic. Honestly, that's a perfect Friday night for me. Spending time with friends, laughing, eating and drinking, listening to good music and having a great time.

June -- Nothing big happened this month. I continued to work at Alcon and get settled into my new place. I really enjoy the "living on my own" life. I visited Round Rock, hung out with the family (minus my sister because of her conundrum).

A group of us went to see Mingo Fishtrap perform at the House of Blues in Dallas. It was AWESOME. I had a great time and I always love listening to Mingo perform! Their music is jammin'.

July -- Everyone loves Fourth of July weekend. I spent mine at the pool with awesome friends and relaxing. Jessie and Sean came to visit! We had a grand ol' time. Jessie introduced me to Super H Mart in Carrollton, a super awesome Asian (mainly Korean) grocery store. We also went to an all-you-can-eat Korean grill. It was fantastic. I need to go there again. I also bought all the makings for sushi and just Asian food, in general. We also went to The Ginger Man off of Camp Bowie and played some epic games of Jenga and Uno.

Drew and I visited Round Rock for the weekend of my sister's birthday. We didn't do much, but we did get to go toward downtown and enjoy time with some of my high school/middle school friends. It was a pretty chill weekend.

August -- I took a sushi class at Central Market!! It was fantastic. Really, I love sushi that much. I need to start making my own... it's probably cheaper anyway. I also bought myself a TCU v. Oregon State ticket... and waited in line for three hours with Jenn, Chris, Drew, Stephen, Rob and Hailey. Good thing that there was a group of us to keep us entertained.

September -- And here we are. Football games, nights downtown, etc. These are all good times, clearly.

Whew. That was a mouthful. Happy reading... if you actually read it all!

Day 27 — This month, in great detail

Well, I'm not a fan of writing about my life in "great detail." As for last month, all I'll say is that it went by so fast! I can't believe it's already September... I graduated four months ago. Now, that is weird. It's so weird to me that I'm no longer a TCU student, no longer a TCU CG member and going to all of the football games as a band kid, no longer going to class, no longer having the privilege of planning out my day-to-day schedule exactly how I want to (10 a.m. classes were awesome), no longer getting to be a night owl because I have wake up at 7 a.m. and worse, no more going out on the town on Thursday nights. I miss those college nights... good times, good memories and cheap drinks!

Senior year went by so fast. It's also weird not going to TBS meetings every week. Can't say that I miss them that much (ha), but it was always a part of my weekly routine. I miss seeing my sisters on a daily basis. Thankfully, it's not hard to keep in touch with them. :-) To all of this year's seniors: enjoy every moment like it's your last. There will be a lot of "lasts" and honestly, it's hard to let go and say goodbye to it all. But don't be sad! There's a time for everything. As for me, my last year of colorguard was a great way to "peace out" of the TCU marching band. Eight years of that was enough. My last year in TBS was truly amazing and a great experience. The Peanuts became closer than ever and my hope is that the M&Ms will have the same sort of "extra bonding" experience!

Anyway, on another good note, in less than a month, I'll finally be 22! And in four months, Drew and I will happily be on a cruise. I'm extremely for this and once my fitness center opens back up at the Villas, I'll be getting myself back into shape! It's cheaper that way anyway.

For now, that's all. I guess I didn't really talk about my month in great detail, but honestly, who would want to read all that anyway? ;-)

Day 26 — Your week, in great detail

Dangit!! I skipped a few days. :-( Oh well, I'll make up for it now. So, my week in great detail... Alright, we'll cover last week.

The big thing that happened: TCU FOOTBALL!! Saturday was AWESOME. Drew, Jenn Haase and I all rode together and we got to Cowboys Stadium around 4 p.m. We actually got a pretty good parking spot and we met up with all of our ex-band/alumni friends. We got there just in time to see the band march in. My colorguard babies looked wonderful, as always! I definitely felt bad for the band kids in their wool uniforms... it was definitely hot that day. Anyway, "Jerry World" was just as awesome as everyone said. That screen is HUGE and the smaller screens are at the least the size of your average movie theater screen.

My whole group of like 15 of us sat in section 218, row 11. Pretty darn good seats! I mean, we couldn't really hear the band from where we were sitting, but we got a good view of the game and luckily, we ended up sitting next to some of our other friends that weren't originally a part of our group that we sat with! Lorenzo was two rows up from us, Mirza was in the row in front of us and wooo. It was awesome.

The game itself was good, a little too good though for some of us. Luckily, we won. It was such a strange feeling sitting in the student section and not with the band! I ran into Amanda Graham and Caroline! Love them both! :-)

As for the rest of my weekend, Drew's family (dad, step mom and half-siblings, Sydney and Ethan) was in town! The day of the game, we went to Red, Hot and Blue... I had never been there before! Their BBQ isn't that bad, however, I think Central Texas BBQ is way better. ;-) We got to spend some time with them before Drew and I headed off to the game. Sunday, we went to the Fossil Rim Wildlife Park! It was AWESOME. It was one of those drive-thru wildlife safari things. I got to feed some zebras, elk and giraffes by hand! It was definitely a fun experience. It took like four hours though... and apparently, I fell asleep at some point and totally missed an elk sticking its head into the car! That's OK though. I was awake to see multiple zebras stick their heads into the car! After all that, we went to the Dinosaur Valley State Park... we got to see dinosaur tracks! Very cool.

The week before was kind of bland, except for the night we went to Sushi Axiom for Drew's 23rd birthday and the night Mel and I went to Dick's Last Resort in Dallas for Amanda Diaz's birthday!! That was definitely an experience and I was reunited with Kim. I've missed my roomie. :-) Mel and I then joined the rest of our friends in downtown Fort Worth at the Library for many drinks! I had my first shot of Goldschlager. It was divine!! It tastes and smells like liquid Big Red, as in the gum. It's definitely a good drink for the wintertime.

Alright, that's my week in a nutshell!! :-) It's definitely been a blast.

Day 25 — Your day, in great detail

Hmm, so I guess I'm supposed to explain my day in "great detail." Well, lucky for all of you, I'll be keeping this short. I do just about the same thing every day, with the exception of going out with friends some nights.

I wake up around 7:30 a.m. every morning and get to work around 8: 30 a.m. From then, I work till 5 p.m. Right now, I'm working on this big Corporate Giving campaign that's coming up, as well as preparing next week's editorial calendar and learning to do some video stuff.

I usually leave right at 5 p.m. although lately, I've been staying late to get more stuff done. I take I-20 to get home and I usually spend my dinner eating a home-cooked meal and watching either the Food Network or Bones! :-) It's the highlight of my evening.

After dinner, I get to work on those GRE vocabulary words that I need to memorize. I'm up to 225 right now. I thought this was going to get harder every day, but I'm finding that it's actually getting easier. I'm getting better at retaining things faster! It usually takes me 30 minute to an hour to memorize 10 pages, 30 words.

However, tonight I won't be making myself a home-cooked meal. I'm going to Dick's Last Resort in Dallas for Amanda's 23rd birthday!! Jen and I are carpooling. :-) That's going to be a blasty blast. I can't wait to be reunited with my best friend and roomie, Kim Little! I've missed her a ton and it's been at least a month since I last saw her.

After dinner, I plan on heading to downtown Fort Worth because Ryan Frazier's in town! I'm so excited to see him! I'm also super pumped for the football game tomorrow. GO FROGS!

Speaking of tomorrow, I plan on sleeping in, as late as I can, and then heading to lunch with Drew's family. I'm so excited to see his half-siblings, Sydney and Ethan. :-) They are so cute! I'll be decked out in TCU gear, fo sho.

My new TCU jersey should be coming in the mail today! I'm impressed that it only took a day to get here. I definitely thought I was going to be without a cool jersey for at least a week. It was totally worth the $65. My sister made fun of me, but hey, football is my life during the fall... even if I'm not in the marching band!

Day 24 — Whatever tickles your fancy: My job at Alcon and more

Many of you have asked me what I do at my job and usually, I give some convoluted and unsophisticated  answer.So I'm dedicating this post to my job and what I do.

First and foremost, I love my job.

To give you some background, I started interning at Alcon Laboratories, Inc. as the Corporate Communications Intern in February. Originally, I was "hired" to go through 30 years worth of Alcon World News (AWN), the company's global print publication, and pick out the most prominent stories that adequately told Alcon's prominent history (I had a company timeline to go off of.) Anyway, it took me two weeks to go through three huge binders full AWN magazines and skimming every story. It was tedious work, but I liked it! Unfortunately, the project ended up not coming to fruition, but all of the data I collected and stories I organized became useful later!

Anyway, after I graduated, I continued working at Alcon under "contract" status. My main job is working in internal communications. I help communicate important news and local announcements to all the employees.

We have two e-newsletters, Localconnection and Globalconnection. Localconnection goes out weekly and I'm in charge of the editorial calendar. I pick the stories, I write the stories and I've added new and creative features to make the publication more interesting. One of those features is called "Flashback." I took all of those stories I collected back in February and re-purposed them in Localconnection. The stories go back as far as 1981. It's a great way to incorporate the company's history in a fun and light way. I'm also in charge of retrieving the stories,  teasers, art, etc. for our company intranet homepage. We refresh the U.S. homepage twice a week and I have to make sure we have all the content we need.

I'm in the process of carrying out the Corporate Giving campaign. We've essentially planned the campaign from start to finish, what stories will be published (off of a long listed provided by Corporate Giving), when the stories will be published and what other media components (e.g. video) we will incorporate. Luckily, I love community service and volunteering, so this campaign is right up my alley! In case you haven't guessed, Corporate Giving is essentially an organization that provides volunteer opportunities and funding to other community organizations.

I also help write a ton of stuff for Globalconnection. I help carry out communication plans and tomorrow, actually, I'm learning some video techniques! Kim would be proud of me. :-)

In a nutshell, that's what I do. I also do a lot of side projects and it keeps me busy! Just recently, I've gotten to contribute to more digital media projects.

Like I said, I love my job. It's fantastic! However, like I said earlier, I'm on contract so I'm still looking for something permanent. I'm finding that I would like to work in either a big company in a corporate communications setting or in a non-profit organization. Actually, if I could work for a company in their corporate giving division, that would be swell too! I love to volunteer and give back to the community!

On an entirely different note, I joined a NE Tarrant County Relay for Life committee and I signed up to volunteer at the Gladney Center of Adoption! I'm very excited to start volunteering again. Without Tau Beta Sigma, TCU LEAPS or Chords for Kids, I need to find other ways to volunteer. :-)

Day 23 — A YouTube video

Ha! I like this video. It's by Weird Al and it's based off of R. Kelly's "Trapped in the Closet" music video series. The R. Kelly version is all sorts of crazy! Anyway, I think the Weird Al version, "Trapped in the Drive-Thru" is better.


Oh, and another video I'd like to show y'all is the Bon Qui Qui skit from Mad TV. I'm sure many of you have seen it. It has to be one of me and my sister's favorite videos... mainly because we're pretty darn good at quoting the whole video. :-)

Mad TV - Bon Qui Qui