mid-week madness!

I need to come up for air!

This week has been insane.  As will be the next, and next, and next... and so on until Thanksgiving.  Had a quiz in Quantity Purchasing (foodservice, warehouses, lame, lame, contracts, supply, demand, lame...) and I totally kicked it's butt.  First Medical Nutritional Therapy exam tomorrow (awesome class x100).  Case study for Advanced nutrition due Wednesday (100 pts, yikes!), followed by quizzes, a massive group project, exam... and so on.  It will not end until... well, the end of the semester.

So!  Here is a mid-week breath of fresh air, perfect for this mini-heat wave we had, via Color Collective.  I need some color this week to put a little energy into my step.

I finally get to come home this weekend!  Headed back after advanced and studying with a friend on Friday.  Hopefully pictures to come, my dad's jeep is in the shop getting new tires and a bigger lift.  Yes, I said bigger.  For those who understand:  35" tires, new black rims, and a 3" lift.  Holy-moly, I can't wait to inherit this baby!  Wishful thinking :)

I can't wait to see friends and family, hit up my fav spots, eat some amazing food!

Speaking of favorites, my favorite bar is hosting the 2nd annual Zombie Run on Halloween weekend!  My light, well, in the middle of the tunnel.

Back to some med. terminology... woohoo!

sleepy sunday morning

Being productive before noon on a Sunday... not something I plan on doing today.  My time was better spent sleeping in with the boyfriend before he starts work, consuming larger quantities of fabulous coffee, and being inspired by beautiful things on this internet thing.  This is The Post of Random Things.  Enjoy.


First of all, check out Twin Shadow's "Savannah Howl" via Grorilla vs. Bear.  Love it.


More love, makes my eyes happy on this dreary day, via Color Collective:

The second reminds me of some newer Glenn Wolff projects.  

I definitely need some inspiration after last week.  

The semester is beginning to get brutal.  Classes are amazing but it is going to be a monumental task to keep my head above water.  With at least one assignment due each week per class (more often two per class), it's pretty easy to fall behind.

My main goal this semester (one of many, on a more personal, non-academic note) is to be a bit more outgoing, meet more fascinating people, and make the most of my college student career.  I'm not a typical college student but I know I'll regret it later on if I don't have a little fun.  I've found a great group of people to work with; we're meeting, studying, comparing case studies and notes, it's wonderful.  I know my grades are going be better because of it but these are also people I see myself hanging out with and missing after graduation.  

It's important to form these bonds; we're in this (pardon) shit together, learning about ourselves, constantly questioning everything around us, and each one of us understands that horrified look we have in our eyes.  It's a bond, relationship, understanding you can't get anywhere else.   I'm very glad I stepped out of my comfort zone and decided to make some changes.

On the crafting front (enough of that serious life stuff!), I knit a headband with some yarn from my secret stash.  Quick, fun, and goes wonderfully with my new semester haircut. :)  I finished my first one after an all-nighter of studying for advanced nutrition.  I discovered you can't go to bed after studying the nutrient absorption of the digestive system (among MANY MANY other functions) for five hours.  So many color combo's, patterns, oh my!  I see many more of these in my future (all-nighters AND headbands!).


New movie (for me): the boy and I watched The Count of Monte Cristo last night.  So romantic.  I hope he knows how much I adore him.


After being inspired by on of my favorite artist's sketchbooks, Stella Im Hultberg, I've decided to keep one of my own.  I love doodling and like knitting, I've found it to be very theraputic.  While I'm not an artist, I think being able to sketch the little things around me (on campus, in class, studying at Kaya - my new home) will be a great way to document this stage in my life.  Too much inspiration, energy, enthusiasm, hope, excitement to contain!


Some of my favorites to end, I love the tea-stained parchment:

How are you going to make the most of your Sunday?

smells like fall: mom's chili

I peaked in the freezer... guess who has a stock pile of goodies from home?!?

Whenever Nick and I head back home, we bring a cooler knowing it will be packed full of tasty goods from Mary's Kitchen Port, Oryana, and most importantly, home!  We now have a collection of 5 or so varying-sized coolers because we often forget...

Well, I pulled some homemade chili from my mom's crock-pot along with a loaf of Zingerman's Sicilian Sesame Semolina Bread

Oh!  And I finished knitting my bag!  Just a few more details and it's done.


I love fall...

smells like fall: spiced walnuts

My home smells like cinnamon!

Nick and I made manicotti (from a favorite place back home), cucumber salad, and asiago bread (store bought, hehe).  In the fourty minutes it took to bake, I frantically came up with a dessert idea.

After assessing my pantry situation (yikes!), I found

brown sugar

seasonings

vanilla

oatmeal

flour

walnuts

eggs

(soy) milk

among other seemingly impossible ingredients.  What came out was warm, buttery, cinnamon-y goodness. Spiced walnuts.

This is really dangerous - ice cream, yogurt, salads, ALONE!  So I was a good girl and individually bagged appropriate portions, but they magically disappeared very quickly... but think of all those omega-3's!

I'm pretty sure fall is here. :)

time for sweaters.

School's in with a chill.
This time of transition feels different. Waking up in the morning, getting ready for class, it all seems a little easier.  Graduation is tangible, somewhat, but there's something in the air.

Everyone seems so studious already - I began studying within the first week.  My friends and I have our routine at our favorite coffee shop, Kaya, and we've been pretty good at keeping to the ever-growing list of things to accomplish (pretty good).  Student Dietetic Association meetings have started, unifying and motivating all us dietetics majors.  And my classmates have been surprisingly warm about my decision to not apply to internships in the spring - apparently I'm not the only one!  The pressure is off and I feel focused and motivated.

Maybe it's the fact that this is Nick and I's last summer, fall, winter here.  I began to think about it right before classes resumed.  This is the last time we watch the trees across the road change into three diverse colors, all circling their trunks.  The last time we watch our retired neighbor bag them all up, every day (literally).  This is the last time we sleep with the windows open.  Carve pumpkins from the farmer's market.  We're not sad, but starting to realize we finally can think beyond mount unpleasant.

In the back of my mind, I felt this relief all summer

Summer carried a nostalgic tone.  Dreamy beach days, chill melodic beats, and shades.  Color!  Summer was fun and energetic with a color scheme to match:

(thanks to Color Collective)

The fun, flirty colorful wardrobe of course made its way into the classroom, but seemed out of place.  There was no hot weather to prolong shorts season and out came the cardigans, dark wash jeans, and flats.  We're muting our colors and polishing the leather shoes.  I expect to take full advantage of the cooler weather tones...

The transition into sweater weather has been strange!  The beginning of fall happened sooner than I think we all were ready for.  I feel disconnected from the changes that surround me, oblivious.  Prior to this long weekend, I was still expecting a September heat wave.  With overcast dominating, followed by continuous rain, the sense of fall is setting in.  A new knitting project doesn't hurt...

I woke up this morning, brushed my teeth, put in my contacts, grabbed a cup of coffee, and hopped back in with a book.  It was marvelous.  I'm not sure if this will ever happen again, but it happened today.

This seems to be the last bit of relaxing I'll be doing before mayhem takes over.  I'll finally be making my way home at the end of September for a 5k and from there on out my social calendar is full!  October will bring my family down for a football game, two weeks later, the homecoming game, and the zombie run back home for Halloween...  Boston at the beginning of November (I can hardly contain myself!!!), and once we make it to Thanksgiving break, the semester's end is a week away!  I'll leave out the gory academic details. :)

I'm all packed for my bike to Kaya tomorrow to study before class, dinner is in the works, and the wine is breathing.  This rainy Labor day weekend was heaven sent.  Time to knit and take it all in.