Reflecting on 2014.....

Blogging used to be something I really liked to do. Then life got in the way, I became way too busy, and suddenly blogging was no longer a priority.

And I honestly don't miss it as much I thought I would. I'm not planning on picking this up regularly like I used to either. I no longer feel the need to write about what I did last week or what kind of books I'm currently reading. But as 2014 is rapidly coming to a close, I've had too many thoughts that I just needed to write down somewhere.

2014 was an interesting year. I changed this year. Like, a lot. I'm not the same person I was at the beginning of 2014.

Sure, certain aspects of my personality remain the same and my faith/beliefs haven't changed much over the year, but the direction of my life has changed.

I started out this year with a lot of unanswered questions. There were a lot of things that I would "cross that bridge when I got there." In other words, I didn't have a lot of things figured out, but I assumed that I would deal with them later.

And now it's the end of 2014, and I've never been more happy or sure of my life before. I came into this year feeling like I was in the middle of a busy train station with a very vague idea of where I wanted to go but no idea how to get there. And now I feel as though I am on the right train, full speed ahead. The pieces of my life have really started falling into place this year, and that's why this has been such a year of change.

One of the biggest things that has changed for me during 2014 has been my attitude towards change. I used to hate change. I put up a fit when my family decided to go to a difference mass time on Christmas Eve a few years ago ;) I kind of hated graduating high school and having to say goodbye to that period of my life.

And although I still would not say I have totally mastered accepting change, I'm gotten way better at it.

I changed my major this year. I started off in finance, but was never passionate about it. I don't really care about annuities and perpetuities or the stock market. I switched to Operations Management and have found that I actually enjoy it. I took my first OM class this past semester and was so relieved that I found the class extremely interesting and that the material came naturally to me. Do I know exactly what I want to do with OM yet? Nope. But I can feel that I'm in the right major, and that's one of the best feelings ever.

It's also funny how quickly your mind can completely change its outlook on certain things.

When I started college, I wasn't totally set on my major. I didn't know what organizations I wanted to be involved in. I wasn't sure which study abroad options I wanted to do. But the one thing I was sure of? I would be living at home all 4 years of college.

I laughed at the idea of "the college experience". My high school friends would talk about finding roommates and buying things for their room. I would see pictures of them moving into the dorms, and I was never felt even a teeny bit jealous. I never wanted that - any of that. I live close to campus, so why on earth would I need to pay a bunch of money to live on campus or within walking distance?

I joined a sorority with a 1 year live-in requirement. But being the numbers person I am, I knew that there would be more girls in my pledge class alone that spots in the house, so I assumed that there would be a way (if the house filled up on its own) that I would not have to live there. It was one of those things that I figured I would deal with later, but that I might be able to get by without actually living in the house.

And now I'm moving on campus into the Kappa Delta house in less than 2 weeks. As I'm writing this, I am actually laughing at myself and how I've done a complete 180 degree turn.

I can't pinpoint a moment when my mind changed either. I guess it was kind of a gradual thing. It started at the beginning of the semester when we had our Spirit Week, and I had to be up on campus every day preparing for recruitment. Then we actually had recruitment, and I felt like I lived at the house anyway with the amount of time I had to spend there.

I was Assistant VP-Finance and was over at the house helping with things for that. I got a lot closer to girls who lived in the house. I spent time there crafting for my little. And then going home every night became inconvenient. I would be at the KD house until 11 or 12 at night, and I hated the fact that I had to drive home just to go to sleep, wake up, and drive back to campus early the next morning.

Over the course of the semester, I got more and more involved in Kappa Delta, which meant I was spending more and more time there. Fairly early in the semester, I made up my mind that I would be running for VP-Finance. I was already the assistant and felt like this was going to be my way of taking on a large leadership role in chapter. Council members are elected at the end of fall semester for the following calendar year and are required to live in the house for the following school year. However, I decided that if I would be elected as VP-Finance, I would want to live in the house starting in January.

I knew that being on council requires an even greater time commitment to Kappa Delta, and I was already at the point where I was tired of driving home every night just to sleep. So I emailed the woman in charge of housing and was told that I would be on a waiting list if a spot opened up. For weeks, I was nervous that I would end up not getting in.

There was one week where I spent the night at the house 3 nights in a row, and I remember driving home thinking how much I wished I could just live there already. It was so weird because a few months before that, I had never wanted to live anywhere but at my house.

The day I got an email saying that a spot had opened up for me was one of the weirdest days. I was so happy, but it was still strange to me that it was something I wanted so badly.

Now don't get me wrong, living at home and commuting was great.....my freshman year. I do not regret it AT ALL. In fact, if I had to do my freshman year of college all over again, I wouldn't change a thing. But this year has just been different because I was always at school anyway. Fifteen hour school days were not uncommon - they probably happened at least twice a week or more towards the end of the semester. I felt like I never even saw my family anyway because I would often come home after they had gone to bed.

And I did end up becoming VP-Finance. Which even that is something I laugh about because I never used to see myself as a leader, and now I'm in charge of the finances for an organization of 130 women that pay substantial dues every semester ;)

So in 2014 I changed my major, took on a major leadership role in Kappa Delta, and made the decision to move out of my house for the first time.

But it wasn't all just big changes - I also traveled to Charleston, Montreal. Alaska, Georgia, and New York City.

I made a lot of real friends. The type of friends who you always lose track of time when you're together, who you can laugh with over movies, but who will also really listen when you have a problem.

This year was truly great.

But I'm more excited for 2015 than I ever have about any other year. 2015 is going to involve some pretty big changes as well and it will be a very different year, but I am so ready it hurts.

2015.....I can't wait to see what you have in store......

The Last Week of Class

It's so weird how after 12 years of school ending in late May or early June to suddenly be finishing school at the end of April. I mean, my birthday is now a summer birthday. What?!?

My last week of normal class was April 14-18. It was a busy week since I had a presentation, a quiz, a test, and a bunch of other things to complete. I really tried to take it all in though and enjoy the last few days of class before summer.

I kicked off my last week of class by making cake pops for my friend's sister's birthday. I always love doing cake pop orders. It also made me a little sad because a part of me missed being 16 since I was doing Sweet 16 themed ones.

For the most part, the weather has been nice and warm around here. But then it snowed. This is so not what you want to wake up to in the middle of April.....

Lately I've been listening to music at work a lot more. With my job, I can listen to music on my iPhone while I work, so I've been listening to iTunes radio, especially the Frozen station which only plays Disney music. I always get happy when this song comes on since it reminds of Royal Caribbean's commercials and just puts me in a better mood. Sometimes it's the simple things like a good song on the radio that can make your day!

Speaking of work, the big thing I was doing at work during the last week of class was prepping diplomas. The students who are graduating get their actual diploma mailed to them, but we had to stuff the diploma covers with a letter from the president of the university. It was so weird to think that I'll be getting a college diploma in just a few short years.

That Tuesday I had my last Kappa Delta meeting of the year, which was so crazy! Since my birthday now falls in the summer, I got a little treat for my birthday too.

When I was leaving the KD house, I turned back and caught a glimpse of the sun setting over Stratford. I thought it was so pretty and also kind of fitting since I had been thinking about how my first year of college was coming to an end just as the sun was setting over campus.

On Wednesday of that week, my friend Courtney and I celebrated the end of the school year with a trip to Yagoot. Wahoooo!

I also had a celebratory lunch with another friend at the nice sit down restaurant on campus on Thursday for getting through a particularly annoying class. I have a tendency to like to celebrate things with food. Oops ;)

My family also colored Easter eggs on Thursday night. You're never too old to color eggs, right?

My last week of class may have been filled with a lot of homework and stress, but the fun times and memories made with friends made up for it!

Freshman Year of College: Check

I am officially finished with my freshman year of college. It's so weird that it's April 24th and I'm already on summer break. What's even crazier to think about is that I'm 1/4 of the way finished with my undergrad.

I've been doing a lot of thinking back over my first year of college, and it's crazy to me to see how far I've come.

I was thinking about how on orientation I didn't know most of the people in my learning community, but now I've come to be friends with a lot of them, and we're all leaving on a trip together in a few days (!!!).

I also can't help but laugh a little bit when I remember back to the fact that my chair broke in the middle of one of my professors talking to us on orientation, me screaming as I fell out of my chair, and then being completely mortified about it. If that would happen now, I wouldn't really think much about it, but when I hardly knew anyone in KBS? It was super embarrassing :)

The first day of college.....that was also pretty scary. I had a break between some of my classes, and I remember having no idea what I should do or where I should go - ha! I think I ended up going into work even though I wasn't scheduled just to give me something to do.

Looking back over this past school year, here's a few of the highlights that stick out....

KBS formal

Joining Kappa Delta!

Lots of meals with new friends!

Introducing my KBS freshman class to cake pops ;)

Spending school days doing non-traditional things like eating cupcakes downtown.

Kappa Delta semi-formal

Lots and lots of snow days.....

Visiting Danielle in Clemson and road tripping it to Folly Beach and Charleston!

Exploring Jungle Jim's for a class assignment.

Kappa Delta Mom's Weekend.

Shamrock!

KD Formal!

Visiting the Zoo a few times for a school project.

When I look back over my first year of college, all I think about are good things.

I've completed projects I thought would be impossible. I've made a lot of new friends and joined some great organizations.

Of course there were times when it was tough, but I wouldn't trade in a minute of it. There were incredibly long days (I may not have technically lived on campus, but there were many days that I spent more time at UC than at my house).

I am incredibly excited for the next few years, but also a little sad at how fast it is going. This is my last summer for who knows how long - probably many years.

Even though the time is going fast and 40 hour work weeks are quickly approaching, I am looking forward to my remaining years of college and the many memories that are sure to come!

Formal & Other Fun Things

I'm still trying to get caught up! I guess that's what happens when you go several weeks without publishing anything.

April has been a crazy busy month, but it's been a lot of fun. I've had to work hard on a lot of projects for school, but I've also just been doing a lot of fun things with friends and family too.

First off, just because she's so adorable (I may be a bit biased though......), I have to start off this post with a picture of my sweet pup.

The weather around here has been pretty gorgeous these last few weeks, so one weekend my family went downtown to the Banks for dinner. I absolutely love going down there since it's a new development right along the river. We went to a restaurant called the Yard House. It was my first time going there, and I really enjoyed it.

I absolutely love this city.

Every time I look at this picture I crack up, since it was my dad's idea to take a selfie ;)

My family always has a bet for the NCAA brackets - the loser has to buy everyone else Graeter's. Unfortunately I lost this year......

A couple Wednesdays ago, I had a test in one of my classes and then my class that I usually have after that was cancelled, so I decided last minute to go with a few friends to Taste of Belgium for waffles. Delicious!

On the 12th, my sorority had our formal. I loved high school dances, but I think college formals might be even more fun since you pretty much know all of the girls there. I re-wore my prom dress since I love it still so much.

Some of my sweet friends from my pledge class! I had so much fun dancing with these girls all night ;)

I really love college - I'm a little sad my first year is already almost over. I've made so many new friends already, and I can't wait to see where the rest of college takes me!

Finals....EEEK!

This week is finals week. As in, after my exam on Thursday, I will be completely done with my freshman year of college. What?! How did that happen?

The rest of this week is going to be a little crazy, and I realize I've been doing a terrible job of blogging anyway, but it may be another week or two until I get back in my normal rhythm of blogging. I've missed posting, so I am looking forward to getting completely caught up since there are some things still from March that I haven't posted about but that I would like to. I think that once summer really starts, I'll be back to my normal posts!

As for now though, I thought I would work on getting a little caught up on some of the fun things that have happened since I last posted.....

This semester, I didn't have Friday class (although it seemed like I was still up at UC for something just about every Friday). One Friday at the end of March I had to go in for class (my Monday only class met on Friday - I'm still trying to figure that one out too). Anyway, my mom and I went and had breakfast at First Watch, one of my absolute favorite breakfast places just for fun!

We also got BonBonerie cookies since we were out that way. My favorite!

That Friday night my sorority had our annual fundraising event for Prevent Child Abuse America. We all had to work it, and it ended up being super fun. I'm already looking forward to next year's!

The event was "Taste of Clifton" where we sold small food samples from local restaurants. I thought it was a great idea, and we were able to raise a lot of money from it.

We also celebrated Red's Opening Day a few weeks ago, which is basically a regional holiday around Cincinnati. The last few years on Opening Day we've got together with my aunt and cousins, so we decided to continue the tradition and celebrate with some Mexican food and sopapillas!

Why is she so cute even when she's just been caught chewing up tissues? Ha!

For one of my classes, I had to do a project on the Cincinnati Zoo. It ended up being a really fun project since I love the Zoo so much. One of my friends and I were able to meet with a few people from the Zoo (including the president of the Zoo which was so fun!), and we ended up visiting the Zoo two Fridays in a row. I learned a lot about the Zoo and as a result of the project, we were able to get the Zoo a $700 donation for their sustainability efforts. I love that I live in a city with such a great zoo!

The giraffes are my favorite.

They even have a baby camel at the Zoo - so cute!

I've also been spending a lot of afternoons/evenings on the couch doing homework with Coco cuddled up next to me :)

I hope you all had a great Easter. I've still got a bunch of things to catch up on, but I'll do that another day. Have a fabulous week!

Cupcakes & Mom's Weekend

I absolutely hate how little blogging I've done this semester. It's something I really enjoy doing, but I've been so busy that I have had to prioritize. School, work, homework, extracurriculars, and sleep are ranked a little higher on the list than blogging, so I just haven't got around to it.

But it is finally spring break! A whole week of no class is just what I need. I still have a lot of school work to do (group projects are slowly starting to take over my life...), but I am also planning on relaxing, taking it easy, and finally getting caught up on some posts.

Oh - and I'm planning on doing some baking, which I have hardly had time to do at all and that I miss like crazy. I made some cake pops for an order last weekend, but aside from orders, I haven't really baked anything just for fun and for my friends in such a long time.

I took this picture a few Fridays ago when I ended up working on homework for 5 hours straight. This pretty much sums up my last few weeks. Have I mentioned how excited I am that it's spring break? ;)

Earlier this month (I can't even remember exactly which weekend it's been so long!), my mom and I went over my aunt's house and helped watch my cousins for a few hours. I took this picture when we were hiding in the corner during a game of hide-and-seek.

My aunt had also just got back from Hilton Head and gave me a cupcake from Sweet Carolina Cupcakes - one of my favorites! I visited their Savannah location over the summer, and their cupcakes are so huge, delicious, and cute.

That same weekend my sorority put on a Mom's Weekend, which was so fun. We went to the Aquarium with our moms and then went back to our sorority house for dinner. I really enjoyed it, and I'm already excited to do it again next year.

I hope you all have had an excellent few weeks, and hopefully I'll be back more over this next week!