My turn!

I can't...
+ believe that I'm as excited as I am to be so busy in the next few weeks, and maybe months.
+ snap.
+ wait for a girls weekend in Vegas!
+ sing, but do you think that stops an awesome karaoke performance?
+ keep my blossoming flowers blossoming.

But I can...
+ handle anything that I really want to. (Especially with the amazing new friends who are super supportive!)
+ remember (seemingly) useless information like dates and random trivia.
+ skip backwards, and while spinning!
+ bake/cook decently. (And when I say decently it means I just don't have the space to do it well.)
+ see the positive in almost any situation. (Seriously, ask me how my most recent heart break will lead me to marry Joey Fatone if you don't believe me.)

I won't...
+ let a friend buy something that I don't think looks good without giving my honest opinion about it.
+ smoke.
+ ever stop trusting that there is good in everyone.
+ stop believing.
+ worry my life away!

But I will...
+ support anything that a friend does as long as they are doing it for the right reasons. I may not agree with their decision, but I will support them.
+ become better with my money.
+ start taking more pictures.
+ drink most things with grenadine.
+ hold onto that feeling.

I shouldn't...
+ put off my homework until the last minute.
+ sweat the small stuff. (And lately I haven't been!)
+ be up this late!
+ spend about 1/4 of the money that I do. (Well, at least not on what I spend it on.)
+ put off until tomorrow what I can get done today.

But I should...
+ let the people I care about really know how much they mean to me.
+ read more.
+ get into a more regular sleep schedule.
+ eat better.
+ find some wine that I like to relax with sometimes.

Stolen from this awesome lady. Hoping that another lady, or two, or three I know will follow suit.

Friends, a boy and some good advice.

I really can't express just how much fun I'm having lately. I've found some really amazing people whom I've somehow fooled into thinking I'm just as awesome as they are, and we're having a ball. Everything from Bowleoake and crazy Luau parties to just hanging out at home and having some home made macaroni, we've got good times no matter what.

I'm blown away by the kind of support that I'm getting from the amazing women I've found. Sunday night, we seriously hung out at my house, I made macaroni, and we repaired a dress. After a pretty crazy party the night before, it was kind of just what was needed.

Part of knowing these marvelous ladies is listening to the advice that they give, even when it's something that I've heard before and resisted. Last week a friend posted the suggestion of reading He's Just Not That Into You. I've heard of it before, and thought about reading it, but simply wasn't going to do it. I expected that it would be condescending and possibly demeaning, and I wanted no part of that.

Taking a risk based on the awesome time that we'd already spent hanging out, I asked to borrow the book. Worst that could happen is that I just don't like it, right?

Well guess what. That's not what happened. I'm only halfway through, and I love it. It's already helped me loads with some things that I was holding onto, and even with a boy I met up with last night! This is a boy I've know for about 3 years, and we've gone through a few different phases of romantic-type relationships. This time around he (let's call him Blue for ease of future references, if they should occur) has made it clear (as in stating it flat out) that he would very much like to date me as soon as he moves back to town.

I am very much in support of that idea, so I don't want to do anything kind of stupid that would scare him off. Especially not while he's still 2 states away. I also don't want to get myself too worked up to be let down, which the book is helping me to do. Last night we only had a few hours together, and I'm really happy with how they went. He moves back to town either mid August, or early September, and now I kind of can't wait.

It's a really good thing I've got these awesome girls to keep me occupied until he gets back and can take me on that date he's promised!

Money money money mon-ey, MONEY!

The Scheduled Disbursement date is the earliest date the Financial Aid Office is allowed to begin the check disbursement process and not the actual date you will receive your check. If your funds have been received from the appropriate federal, state, or private agency and you have no holds, the earliest you can expect your Fall 2009 check is around August 31 and your Spring 2010 check is around January 25.

I just found that on MySacState. My birthday may not be much fun this year. I had thought that my Financial Aid was going to come through on my birthday, but it looks like it may not be for another week or two after that. I guess it's time to start picking up shifts wherever I can at work. Oh wait, I've already been trying to do that! I did work with my manager last night, who had mistakenly been under the impression that I lived with my parents. Maybe now that he's been corrected he'll give me a bit of priority when it comes to hours. I mean, giving the 20-year-old bubbling idiot who happens to be trying to save up to get married is only doing his fiance a disservice.

Anyway, I get to start doing things like returning my plastic bottles and cashing in any spare change I can find for any amount of spending money I can get my hands on. I know that it may not be ideal, but I don't want to stop having a social life just because my loans don't come through until September.

If anyone has any other ideas for me to make money please let me know, when I have some I'll buy you a drink!

Temple time!

I'm currently at a coffee shop so I can used their internet. Before leaving the house I looked in the mirror and decided that I didn't need to wear make up today. I feel prettier than I have in a couple weeks.

There is a boy who I find rather adorable behind the counter here at Temple, but considering he's got long hair, and is wearing mostly brown while working in a fair trade coffee shop, I definitely look more sorority than someone he would probably typically go for. Plus, even if he was interested, I probably look too sorority right now to seem like I might be into him.

Seriously, if they were casting for Legally Blonde from the pool of people who have been here since I got here, it wouldn't even matter if my singing voice gave people hives, I'm the only one who could possibly pull of that persona.

I don't really have too much more to do here right now, but I don't want to leave. It's nice and cool, and there is internet. Even if I don't have anything to do, we all know that I'm addicted and I don't want to walk the 5 blocks home to a warm house where I have to move stuff around.

I just noticed that the adorable boy in brown paisley (don't judge me) has replaced one of the buttons on his shirt with a green one. I would imagine that's because it was lost at some point, I have to admire the functionality of replacing it with something that doesn't match over not having a button because you don't have one that matches.

A couple hours later, Blythe has joined me and she is a bit more interesting than this, so I will now be off!

I remembered to post this!

I had totally forgotten just how amazing life can be when one has a living room that they are comfortable hanging out in and leaving your door open during the day doesn't mean cat hair all over your room and clothes.

In other words, my roommate moved out on Saturday. There are a few things that I wish she had brought to my attention before she left, like that since the cable was in her name she would be taking the interwebs with her, and that the good shower head was hers. I had to find out about the later when stepping into the shower, and this shower head does nothing for my hair. I've enjoyed the less than 48 hours without a roommate though. I guess technically for some of that time my future roommate was here, and that was fortunately just as enjoyable. I have lots of calls to make tomorrow to set up cable and utilities in my name, but I have the whole day off, so it will be pretty simple. I guess I should also see about getting to a cafe or restaurant with WiFi so I can post this, since I'm failing at writing it as though I'm there now.

I'm kind of liking my time being a little disconnected from the interwebs. Probably because I'm not actually all that disconnected with that wonderful little thing called the iPhone. Lots of other fun things happened this weekend, maybe I'll stay connected long enough to write about them when I get a chance to post this.

Sad Katherine.

I don't think I'll be going to Camp Hollywood after all. It seems that in the time that I've been put on the waiting list and have still been socializing and such, I have depleted my CH Funds. Because of that second factor, it looks as though I will not be able to go to the Seattle Lindy Exchange the following weekend, which I'd hoped would be a decent alternative. It's looking like I will have to wait until September for the San Francisco Lindy Exchange to be my first event.

Only a week after that one is the Cowtown Jamborama in Omaha, which I'm hoping I'll be able to make it to as well. I think that my school schedule will probably have an impact on that one though. Maybe I can email professors now in hopes of getting some fort of syllabus early.

I've heard quite a bit lately from more experienced dancers (though I think it's all been leads) who believe that going to Lindy Exchanges is actually better to learn than going to events like Camp Hollywood, though I haven't heard much about why. Any of you dancers reading care to answer that one?

Tonight there's a Jack and Jill competition at Midtown Stomp in which I'm almost considering participating. For those of you unfamiliar with social dancing, a Jack and Jill is a competition in which all dancers sign up individually, and then the leads and follows are paired up randomly for each song. Rather than being judged as a couple, as other competitions are, each dancer is judged as they entered, individually. I'm going out to happy hour tonight, so it will probably be decided then. Wish me luck in case I do it!

My tortilla just tasted like peanut butter.

Yesterday I checked the website and was actually going to sign up for Camp Hollywood, only to find out that they have closed registration for Follows until the number of Leads signed up balances things out a bit. Funny thing, I'm not terribly upset about this, which surprises me.

I did send an email to them to get on the waiting list, so I guess I'll leave it to fate. If I don't get to go, I think I'll spend the money I would've spent there on private lessons. Considering the bang I can get for my buck with the lessons at CH, I'd still prefer to head there, but if it's not meant to be then it's not meant to be, right?

"I don't believe I want to live in a country where you have to be open on Sunday to do business."

Anyone else ever think that it would be kind of awesome to go back to the time where stores weren't open on Sundays and a National Holiday would close down all businesses?

I've thought that might be nice since seeing That Thing You Do! oh so many years ago, and then I had it even more reinforced after some contemplation post-Utah trip frustration with everything being closed. While it's very annoying if you are not expecting things to be closed, just a bit of warning could make it completely kosher.

Based on this, I'm going to do my best to not shop at all on Sundays. I don't know how successful I will be, but I do have a vote in how businesses are run by the way that I use my money within them, so why not support this crazy ideal of mine?

I just had to work on the 4th of July, and couldn't really get over the absurdity of it. In an attempt to turn that negative into a positive, I give you...

An open letter to anyone who is a customer anywhere on a national holiday.

Dear Potentially Awesome Customer,

Your smile and great attitude is grand. It's the type of thing that can make my day when I have to be to work on a Sunday or a National Holiday. Seriously, if I can't be spending my time with friends or relaxing in any way of my own choosing, seeing you and your wonderfully smiling face totally makes up for being on my feet for eight hours. I can't tell you how much I would rather pretend to be interested in your confusion over which smoothie to order instead of reading a new favorite book by a pool somewhere.

The smile that you flash on your way out the door to enjoy your afternoon with family is more than appreciated and keeps me motivated throughout the rest of my shift.

Either that, or it makes me want to hurl a frozen strawberry at your face.

Sure, it's great that you're friendly and wish me a Happy 4th when you come in to get your smoothie, but unless you're dropping a fiver in the tip jar, I promise you I would rather be spending time with my own family and friends. I know that you think that since we're open you're actually doing us a favor by giving us something to do, and sometimes I would agree with you, but not on National holidays.

You see, the only reason that we're open is that the company expects to be making money. If you were not there to be giving them money, they would have no desire to have us in the store taking money from them.

So this Labor Day, please show businesses that you really do care about the holiday and believe that their employees should be allowed to enjoy it as well by not spending your money in these places. Do you really need that extra 300 calories anyway?

Jamba Juice Team Members Everywhere.

Good Friday!

Yesterday was a grand day.

I started my day at Home Depot with my dad, where we bought the lumber for him to make me a counter for my kitchen!

I get to get creative with it and paint it any color I wish (though with my red kitchen I'll probably go with black or white). Since my dad is kind of awesome, he's making it so I can get super creative and figuring it out so I can set the top with epoxy and decorate the top with something even more creative while also making it a surface that is more than easy to wipe spills off of.

I think I'm going to put vintage recipes into it, hopefully some that I might actually end up being able to make! I'm a bit stoked about a reason to go thrifting!



After that we went to get burgers, and I think I'll post more about that later.

The rest of my day was the laziest I've had in a while, which was quite nice. I napped in the park for about an hour, and then I napped in bed for about 4 1/2 hours.

The only thing that would have been able to follow that would be the awesome night of dancing and great conversation with friends at Lyons!

I think I'll do what I can to make every Friday something like this.

Club 21

Tonight I had a night of dancing that I really needed. Lots of good leads and some super fun Hustle at Club 21.

I can kind of feel that some awesome changes are happening my life concerning the making of super awesome new friends. I think the best part about that is that I don't in any way have to drop any old friends in the process!