Last Friday of Spring Semester

Once again, the week has come and gone, and this time it's taking school with it. Today marks the last day of my faux-senior year of college (even though I'm SO thankful I have one more semester left). I'm feeling a little nostalgic about it but ready to continue moving forward (for the time being). I know I say this every week, but time is flying faster than I can cope with right now and everything around me is changing at a rapid pace. Yikes.

1. A song: This song is the perfect combination of one of my favorite singers and one of my favorite poems in the entire world. I'm so happy that this magic happened (this video is junk, but the song rocks).



2. A quote: "Too many people grow up. That’s the real trouble with the world, too many people grow up. They forget. They don’t remember what it’s like to be 12 years old. They patronize, they treat children as inferiors. Well I won’t do that." -Walt Disney

3. 5 things I learned this week:
-Flash is not as scary as I initially made it out to be.
-My family will be officially moving to Vegas this summer.
-Putting money in a vending machine is risky business. I'm never doing it again.
-The royal wedding is the biggest event this country has seen in years...and it's not even in this country!
-I will no longer have to go 3 months without cuddling with my precious kitty, Mooney (whew).

4. A picture/memory: Just reminiscing today about some of my favorite memories from my freshman year of college. It seems so close yet so far away now. I miss these girls every day. It's hard to believe I've already been at CU for as long as I was at KU.


5. A takeaway: Today on campus, I saw an old friend from middle school and high school walking off in the distance. I don't know if he saw me or not, but I could see him smiling and walking across campus, just kind of taking everything in. He's graduating next week, so this really is his last day. It got me thinking about how fast time goes and how short each experience is. It's already been 4 years since I started this college journey, and although it's not entirely over for me yet, for some it is. My high school's graduating class is now graduating from college. It still feels like just last year that I left high school. It's scary and weird and makes me so nervous. 4 years is such a short while which is why we all need to be like my friend on campus and take in every possible second of this time before we enter "the real world." I'm going to spend my last free summer and my last semester making everything count and making this time exactly how I want to remember college.

If today was your last day of college, congratulations. Wherever you plan (or don't plan) on going next, good luck. You can go anywhere you want starting now.

The End of an Era is Nearing.

I got some news today that I have very mixed emotions about. Our house has been on the market for a whole year now, and today it finally went into contract with a buyer. There's obviously a million things that could cause this to fall through at any point, but for the most part it looks like it's going to work out just fine.

On the one hand I am super happy for my mom who's been living in that house by herself for a year now. It's time for her to get out and move to Vegas with my dad and not have to keep an entire house together all by herself with 3 animals that shit and barf everywhere, every morning, in the middle of the carpet, on schedule. It's just long overdue.

On the other hand, I'm deeply sad. I've had almost 2 years to prepare myself for this day. I've known it was coming for a while, and I've even already packed up my childhood neatly into 4 boxes so that when the move finally happened, I'd be *almost* ready. However, emotionally I'm not there, nor do I think I'll ever be. My family has only moved one time in my life and it was one of the hardest trials I've ever been tested with. I had to basically start my life over in the middle of growing up and although it taught me a lot and ended up being a good thing in the long run, it's taken me 10 years to admit that.

This time around, it's a completely different situation. I'm nearing the end of college and in December will have to figure out what to do and where to go. Without my family here, I have no real secure place to be in case plans don't work out in my favor. In a way, this makes me feel slightly homeless. The house in Vegas won't technically be mine, and I'll have pretty much nothing keeping me in Colorado unless I get a job here after graduation. It's a nasty pickle I'm falling into.

I'm very happy that my family is becoming more stable. My sister just moved from LA to Vegas, making this the first time in 10 years we have lived even remotely close to her, my mom's about to head out there, and it's a lot closer to California than Colorado which means the entire family will be closer together once more, which is a really great thing that I've always wished would happen again in my life. But Colorado has become my home so I can't help but feel sad that once again I'll have to probably leave everything I know behind and start anew.

I know I can do this, and I'll be a hell-of-a-lot more ready this time around, but it's still not an easy thing to do. It's hard to say goodbye to something you've loved so much for so long. It's hard to pack up your home and give it to someone else. It's hard to make a new house somewhere you can grow into, and even harder than that is starting a home of your own - without your parents. My childhood era is ending, and that's the hardest thing to come to terms with.

Uh-oh....

Now is the time when I start freaking out about everything I have to get done before I leave for my internship.


I finish school on May 5th and start work on May 9th. Before all this even happens I still have to:

-Submit tons of paperwork for the company AND the school
-Take finals
-Pack
-Find time to get home to Parker to pick up some things
-Figure out what I'm doing with my car
-Shut off my electricity and internet
-And somehow get myself emotionally ready to leave for an entire summer (something I've never done before)

And on top of all this, I just realized I wont be seeing my precious kitty, Mooney for 3 months! What am I supposed to do without his cuddles and sweet meows of love? That will probably be the most painful part about leaving.

On the other hand, I am absolutely stoked for this upcoming experience. I'm going to learn so much while being able to spend time all summer with my dad, sister, and some really awesome god-siblings. I'm a total mix of emotions, sad to be leaving for the summer but so excited to get going. Less than 2 weeks now - it's insane how fast time is going.

Exciting News!

I have some VERY exciting news to share with you all!

Yesterday in my Friday post I had a takeaway about giving yourself more credit and knowing that you're better than you give yourself credit for. It was sparked by this experience I recently had that I touched on without really giving too much away, but now I'm ready to reveal it.

I had an interview on Tuesday with UFC (the Ultimate Fighting Championship) for a summer internship in their New Media department. I had also applied for an internship with them in Public Relations, but figured I had a better shot with New Media because of how competitive PR usually is. Anyways, it was my first interview ever and I was really nervous (although I'm very good at acting like I'm not) so for days I've been replaying in my head all the things I forgot to mention, all the things I'd say if I could re-do it, and each day that went by my confidence in myself started to slowly diminish.

Well, today I got a call saying that I didn't get the internship in New Media. But I DID get the internship in PUBLIC RELATIONS!! I was so excited I could barely stand so I sat down on my kitchen floor for the rest of the phone call just beaming from ear to ear. I didn't really think I had any sort of chance for that position, especially because I hadn't even interviewed for it. But I guess sometimes good things happen and I could not be more excited to start working there and gaining some real-life corporate experience. I know it's going to be a great summer - and it's in VEGAS so how could it not be?!

I didn't tell many people before hand because I didn't want to jinx myself, but I still want to say thank you to everyone who has encouraged me or sent positive vibes my way or done a happy jumpy huggy dance of excitement with me. I am floating on cloud 9 right now and I can't wait to share all of my experiences this summer with you. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity and I'm going to work hard and make the absolute most of it!

Good Friday

Happy Earth day, everyone! Besides the 40 mph winds outside in Boulder it could not be a more beautiful day. We are closing in on the last week of the semester (typing that just kinda freaked me out, I still feel like it's February!) and that means LOTS of work and projects and papers and tests. I tend to get stressed out and frantic around this time of the year but somehow I am kind of relaxed at this very moment. Other than planning on spending my Friday night working on a project on campus, I'd say I'm in a good place. For now. This weekend will be pretty busy - Bridal shower on Saturday, Easter on Sunday, and then work, work, work any spare moment I get. Hope you all are planning on a glorious weekend with lots of good Easter food, and family.

1. A song: Obviously this would be my song this week. Not only because of last night, but because it's earth day what better song could portray the beauty of Colorado than this?



2. A quote: "Each morning when I open my eyes I say to myself: I, not events, have the power to make me happy or unhappy today. I can choose which it shall be. Yesterday is dead, tomorrow hasn't arrived yet. I have just one day, today, and I'm going to be happy in it." - Groucho Marx

3. 5 things I learned this week:
-When I'm nervous I have a hard time answering questions in a coherent way.
-I'm not above giving out horrible FCQ's.
-My DVD player is above playing brand new DVD's.
-John Denver was also an actor?
-The westboro baptist church is going to be protesting my old high school's graduation because a student there wrote a letter to the Denver post about them that got published (out of all the hate mail and horrible things people say about them on a daily basis, they choose this to react to? I think I hate them more every day).

4. A picture/memory: Since it's Earth day, I must say there is very little that is more beautiful than the Rocky Mountains.

5. A takeaway: I was going to do a takeaway about Earth Day but I felt it was a little redundant so I'll just say this and then move on: do something nice for the earth this week. There's only one day a year we even acknowledge the planet we live on so let's be aware of it and try to help out in some small way, even for just one day. Now, onto the takeaway. I often feel like I don't give myself enough credit for the things I do. I had an experience this week (which I'll talk about in the near future) that I've been playing over and over in my head for days. I've replayed everything that went wrong, everything I could have done better, and played out all the "what if's" in my head. What I've been failing to remind myself of is that even if this situation doesn't work out in my favor, it doesn't mean there's a problem with me as a person. If you ever feel like you blame yourself for too much or you have negative thoughts about yourself, remember this: You are always better and more than you give yourself credit for. And I'm a firm believer that everything will work out in the end.

Hope you all have a fabulous Easter weekend and enjoy the upcoming last week of school!
[And one more time, happy Earth Day :)]

John Denver

Tonight John Denver was inducted into the Colorado Music Hall of Fame [as their first member] and I got to go watch it happen! Let me explain...

My aunt Glenna and her friend Jill had to pass on these glorious tickets because the show was in Colorado and they both live in California and ended up not being able to make it. Luckily, they offered them up to my mom and I. There was a bunch of awesome people there all singing John Denver's best songs and well, let's just say I may or may not have *almost* ended up in tears several times.

I grew up listening to John Denver, long before I even moved to Colorado. Something about his music has always touched my heart and half of his songs make me tear up for no reason while the other half make me want to jump around and belt out louder than I ever have before. Bottom line is, I'm sad I was never able to see him perform live because that would have been such a dream come true. I've always said, if I ever had the chance to record again I would make an album of all John Denver covers. My parent's even had "Annie's Song" as their wedding song so he's pretty much part of the family by now (figuratively, of course). I could go on and on about my love for him but that could probably fill up another 7 pages...

[had to get a cheesy screen shot]

They chose this night to induct him because it's the eve of "Earth Day" and JD was so passionate about the earth (if that wasn't blatantly obvious in ALL of his songs). Hearing people talk about his love of nature and all the wonders of the world was so inspiring to me. He found beauty in everything. And on top of all the John Denvery goodness of the night, the whole event was hosted by Olivia Newton John (you know, Grease?) and THAT was really awesome. She's just as adorable now and in person as she was back then on the big screen.

[Olivia Newton John and John Oates]

There were some other really cool appearances too. John Oates (^^) from "Hall & Oates" (who lives in Aspen, by the way) was there, Lee Ann Womack was there (with her voice of an angel), and Annie Denver, John's wife (as in "Annie's Song") came on stage in tears. It was just one of those moments you never thought you'd be experiencing with so many different, random people. But that's what made the night so cool.

You have to love John Denver. His music is just so ridiculously epic and inspiring. Having a random experience to celebrate his life and work is the closest I'll ever get to seeing him live and I won't soon forget it. He makes me appreciate Colorado and being able to live and go to school in such a beautiful place.

Mid-Week Inspiration

[Via: tumblr - theycallmeMELLOWyellow]