some little dears

i saw this print on pinterest and i loved it because i completely agree. 

hustlers > slackers

dear paris: birthday present .. taken care of! we're going to see pitbull! for those of you who know me know, this is more like a birthday present for me than for him. oh yeah. (p.s. pitbull is like .. my guilty pleasure of music .. generally i'm a ray lamontagne, the head and the heart kinda gal) dear exam week: early dismissals every day? i kinda like you. dear rocco: this week you have been my favorite right before bed, and right after you wake up. maybe it has something to do with the fact that you forget what biting is when you're so tired. dear ants: i really hate you. i dont know where you all come from and why you are so interested in running around this apartment but i wish you'd skedaddle.

history repeating itself.

in 2009 and 2010 i went down to Waveland, Mississippi and New Orleans, Lousiana on my college spring breaks to do volunteer work from hurricane Katrina. the first year i was a participant and the second year i was the team leader. those two weeks were definitely some of my favorite weeks from my whole college experience, although sometimes i feel a little bit guilty saying that.

i mean, the reason we went down there was because Katrina destroyed a lot of that area. more so, in our experience in Mississippi. and this was 4 and 5 years after the hurricane actually passed through.

so to see now, that hurricane Isaac is currently has the potential to do just as much damage, if not more makes me feel like smacking my head and saying, not again! it's like when you're younger and they teach you in history class that learning history is important so that we don't repeat our mistakes. well how can we tell mother nature, "okay we got it!! we don't need another devestating hurricane!" ?

i just can't help but think of all the houses and homes that haven't even recovered from Katrina. the families that didn't get the support they needed then and may have to go through the same thing now.

going down to volunteer was something that just warmed my heart. the amount of work that we did and the garbage we were pulling out of houses and off properties filled me up with a feeling of goodness, knowing i was really helping. i mean, we walked into walmart and a cashier woman just started crying because she knew that we were volunteers. 

it meant something. to them. and to us.

all of this news about Isaac has been reminding me of my experience with hurricanes and whatever comes from, i hope the response to the damage is fast and plentiful. whether it comes from the government or from volunteers. and if you have the opportunity to volunteer i would take it. it'll change your life and it'll change the lives of the people you are helping out.

and that's my blast from the past for the day.

typical.

we love going out to eat.

i think it's probably because neither one of us has mastered the art of cooking .... yet. i have plans for that though. maybe one day when i have a real kitchen

anyway, instead of cooking .. we go out! we're super lucky that there are some pretty cheap places to eat around us where we can spend around $6 each and leave bursting.

 during the week we go out at least once .. and last week we may have gone out, oh .. 4 times. it was just one of those weeks!

we went to a new (for us) place and i'd say it was a keeper! it has kind of a soda shop feel, something you would picture in an old coke advertisement. i got some chicken nachos and paris got buffalo wings (obviously) and we both agreed that we would go back.

all in all, week night date-nights are my favorite.

source


so i've been telling myself lately that it's okay ... 

to have a countdown going until the next long vacation at school (14.5 weeks!)

to wish i could do every tutorial/ make every recipe on my pinterest, but know i probably never will 

that i am seriously considering buying this within the year, even though i don't technically have the $$

 that i am constantly eating wanting mcdonald's mcflurries (currently m&m)

 to do a little less planning for school because i just need to relax a little more

that i haven't been on an exercise schedule in oh, months

and 

that i am so excited for grey's anatomy and revenge to come back!


yeah .. it's definitely okay.

when you're lonely for home

one of my all time favorite musicians once said, 

"when you're lonely for home, sometimes the home of a dear friend is a worthy substitute"

now, i read this from one of his blog posts years ago and it has always stuck with me. i tried to find the blog post he wrote it in but it seems that that blog no longer exists. so if you're reading this, andrew mcmahon (i'd die), i tried to credit you.

anyway, this sunday was a perfect example of why that quote has stayed with me. i don't always feel quite so at home in this country and quite often find myself missing home. however yesterday was one of those days where i felt right at home because of the company i was with. it was one of those days where paris's whole immediate family got together over lunch (and then another restaurant for coffee) and spent hours talking, story telling, advice giving, and of course, laughing.

and it felt like home.