Ace!

47/50 on my Abnormal Psychology exam! I'm so happy about it considering we only have three grades, each one an exam, in that class.

Now it's time to continue reading for history.. Maybe I'll be more eager to read now that I'm in a good mood? :p

Summer's just around the bend..

I have my first summer exam tomorrow, and I'm kind of nervous!

I'm taking HST 260 and PSY 280, both online, and both through Michigan State, for the first summer session. Since I'm a member of the Honors College, I can substitute HST 260 for my second IAH (Integrative Arts and Humanities) course and PSY 280 for my second ISS (Integrative Social Sciences). My history class is called the Age of Discovery and it covers European exploration of the Atlantic, and my psych class is Abnormal Psychology. 

History is going fairly well so far, I suppose. I have online weekly lectures to watch and excerpts from historical literature to read every week, and then I have a two page paper due every Friday at 5pm. My professor, Liam Brockey, is very good about responding to any questions I have, and he grades our papers very quickly and sends them back to us with all of his comments and our grade. I've never been good with history and writing, but I'm getting better at it as this short semester goes on.

My psych class is another story. We have three exams that make up our final grade. Each exam is 50 multiple choice questions covering two weeks worth of lessons, and it is to be taken on ANGEL with one hour to complete it. I haven't had a solely multiple choice test since.. first semester freshman year, maybe? And these tests can go either way: it can either be really easy with the answer super obvious and straight from the book, or it can be difficult because the answers are similar or there's A-K choices (just like in CEM 141 and 142, if anyone has ever taken those..). So, I really do not know what to expect. Due to my hectic work schedule, I had to cram 5 chapters of psychology into the last week, so I'm hoping that I haven't missed anything important!

I suppose I will have more feedback tomorrow. Wish me luck! :]

I scream for ice cream!

I absolutely love my summer job! I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but I work at an ice cream shop in my outdoor mall called Marble Slab Creamery. It's similar to Cold Stone Creamery, but we were established first :p (Us in 1983, and them in 1988, PLUS we're international!)

Well, I love this place, I love the people I work with, and I LOVE the ice cream! My coworkers are all mostly my age or younger, and some of them even go to Michigan State with me, or will be enrolling there next year! It's great to work there in the summer because we have to keep the store cool so the ice cream won't melt, but it doesn't stop the heat from rising when it gets super busy. Thursday-Saturday nights are our busiest nights, of course, and we stay open later than the rest of the mall because there is an MJR Movie Theatre right next to us that stays open later too.

When I say busy, I mean busy. On a typical weekend, there is a line that wraps twice around the store of often times out the door. It's loud, there's a ton of kids running around everywhere, and half the time, people cannot make up their minds about which ice cream to choose. It's hectic, but I have so much fun there. We joke around behind the counter and in the back, and our customers love to see that we have just as good of a time as they do.

I think one of my favorite aspects of my job is the kids. They are always so excited to bubblegum or cotton candy ice cream, because it's colorful and a special treat from just eating regular bubblegum or cotton candy. But when I mix in the sprinkles or gummy bears or M&M's into it on the slab, they are just so amazed by it and they're faces light up like nothing else. It's just too cute!

If you're ever in Clinton Township at the Partridge Creek mall, you should come visit! I have a ton of shifts there, so I will most likely be working, especially on the weekends. I've also seen a ton of people from Michigan State there too! It's so nice to see that when I'm away from East Lansing :]

Plus, OUR ICE CREAM IS DELICIOUS! :D

I'm on the edge of glory, and I'm hanging on a moment with you.

I also just redid my entire layout after about eight months.. hope everyone enjoys! :]

My new baking obsession!

Target is probably my favorite department store. I buy clothes, food, accessories, dorm essentials, and even technological equipment from there. Just last week I bought a super cute swimsuit for when I go to Florida, and also a new baking book. It's called Cake Pops by Bakerella. It's essentially cake crumbs formed into balls, stuck on sticks, dipped in colored and flavored candy coating, and decorated to whatever design you wish. There are designs for every holiday, season, sport, and a bunch of adorable animals. You can even make them look like mini cupcakes!

I decided this was a brilliant idea for my brother's high school band concert. We have an "afterglow" with desserts for the performers with their family and friends. This year, the parents who volunteered wanted to have a pink and baby girl theme for the very recent birth of our band director's daughter. There are these adorable baby face cake pops in the book, so I figured, why not give it a shot?

It took me almost all morning and afternoon, but I had fun doing it!

Step 1: Baking the cake and turning it into cake crumbs.

Step 2: Rolling the crumbs into balls and dipping in candy coating.

Step 3: Decorating!

I arranged the cake pops in a cute basket with pink gift grass!

Once again, the final product at the concert.

I received a ton of compliments on the cake pops too! I really hope that everyone enjoyed them. I'd say they were quite tasty.

Much credit goes to Bakerella, Angie Dudley, for these stunning creations! You can visit her blogging website at www.bakerella.com for tons of cute baking recipes. I particularly love the bite-sized treats under "More Topics" on the left-hand side. Hit me up if you can think of any other cake pop ideas! I'm definitely going to be using these for parties and special occasions in the future. :]

Memory lane up in the headlights, it's got me reminiscing on them good times.

So I'm not really that into country music..

Strike that. I've never been a fan of country music. I don't have a single country song in my iTunes. Or at least not yet.

I grew up on rock, alternative, and classical. I can listen to pretty much every type of music imaginable, but country (and heavy death metal too) have always been towards the bottom of the list. Three of my friends, Shannon, Jeff, and Geo, are what you would call die-hard country music fans, and they've been trying to convert me since we first met. Any time we did homework in the study lounge, that would be the first thing they would turn on, and they would always just look at me and smile. It's not that I don't like the music, it's just that I don't get into it as much as I do with pop, jazz, rock, scores, and everything else. 

So the Downtown Hoedown was in Detroit this past weekend, right? Well, these three had been planning on going since they first heard Jason Aldean, a HUGE country star, was going to be there on Sunday night. I wasn't all hyped up about it as them; I just wanted to go because it was going to be one of the last times I got to see Jeff and Shannon before they study abroad for almost two months this summer.

Dressed in their boots, plaid, and cowboy hats with me in a denim jacket (for that's the closest to country apparel I owned), we trekked down to Detroit in the cold, windy rain to the Hoedown. Just like at any other music festival, there were booths selling shirts, food, and beer and TONS of people despite the sour weather conditions. We ate dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe (it was delicious!) and then headed over to the stage. The rain still hadn't let up, but it wasn't stopping a single person from enjoying the live music. We listened to the John Deer Girls and Steel Magnolia before the main performance of the night, Jason Aldean. For not being a country fan previously, his show was pretty good. I found that I do like a few of his tunes, especially the song "Don't You Wanna Stay" featuring Kelly Clarkson.

What can I say? I'm a sucker for live music, and I had a blast being there with people who truly enjoyed it. Looks like we'll be heading down to Detroit again for the Downtown Hoedown 2012. :p

Whistle while you work.

You know what I've been neglecting over the past week?

Unpacking.

It's such a dreadful and daunting task. It's both a reminder to myself that I simply have way too much stuff and also a reminder that I'm not in East Lansing anymore.. (I mean, it's a little more than obvious to me that I'm not in East Lansing, but still, I would rather be there). I do have an excuse for the lack of motivation for unpacking though. I work at an ice cream shop over the summer and I've been on call basically everyday since I've gotten home, so since the weather has been so nice, I've been called in for every shift. Not that I'm complaining at all, I really like getting the hours in, it's just that I haven't been able to do anything of the things at home that NEED to get done (thank goodness for my mother, she did my laundry for me already!)  

Unfortunately, my things are sprawled out EVERYWHERE. Not only did I take up my entire bedroom floor with duffle bags, bins, and boxes, I also filled up half of the family room:

Look's like I better get to work!

Maybe it's not my weekend, but it's gonna be my year.

It's that time of year again.. and to be honest, it's my least favorite time of year. Sure, it's summer and the weather is gorgeous and there's a lot less school work to worry about, but I hate leaving East Lansing for long periods of time. Now being a sophomore (oh wait, I'm a junior now, YEAH UPPERCLASSMEN!), you would think that I would be used to the four month break between Spring and Fall semesters, but I'm not. I'm so used to seeing my best friends EVERY day, so it's weird to me that I'm blogging on a Friday night instead of spending time with them. Though I must admit, this break will be nice considering all of the exciting things I have planned for this summer!

In review of this past year, it was incredible. I have met some of the most amazing people, people who I know will be in my life for a long, long time. I'm going to miss them a lot this summer, more than they know, but we have plans to get together, travel, go camping, and go to a Tiger's game or two. Actually, I think there is a bonfire planned for tomorrow already.. :p Having all of them just makes me that much more excited for next year!

Moving out was crazy this year. My parents just barely were able to obtain a parking spot to pack up all of my boxes and such. Luckily for me I took home about half of my possessions at Easter because everything would NOT have fit in the car today otherwise. I never knew I had that much STUFF. Thank goodness for my friends Geo, Jeff, Cody, Eric, Jack, Will, Noah, and Steve though! Without their help, I never would have been able to get my modular furniture put back together and the carpet out form under it. Thank you boys! :]

It was sad taking apart my room. My desk area went from this:

To this:

NEXT year though, I get to litter ALL the walls with my posters and pictures since I will be living in a single room in Wilson! Once again, just another reason I'm excited for Fall!

Overall, this has been such an amazing experience sharing my year with all of you! And I am thrilled to be able to continue sharing my summer and junior year with you also!

So, farewell for now, MSU. We will meet again in the fall. GO GREEN! GO WHITE!

Keep Calm and Blog On.

I lied about the not blogging thing:

I think these posters and related items should define finals week:

The original and probably my all-time favorite.

Yeeeeeaaaaahhhh!

Yum!

These would make my day so much brighter if I had them for my lunch!

Or just have a real one. :]

Yeah, I'm a bit of a Harry Potter nerd. :]

I WANT THIS SHIRT. And I would love to meet the man wearing it! :D

I am definitely going to purchase the original version in poster form. I'm not really into the whole motivational poster things, but I really like this one because it's so simple. Gotta love life wisdom! 

So to all of my fellow bloggers:

:]!

May the force be with you.

I know this is a couple of hours late, but:

GOOD LUCK ON FINALS EVERYONE!

I unfortunately will be studying from right after this blog post until Thursday afternoon, so I probably will not be able to blog much between now and then. :[ I hope everyone does well not to stress too much and that you all do well on your exams, projects, and presentations!

History will be made.

This is an incredible moment in American history.

Osama Bin Laden has been declared dead.

Justice has finally been served, after almost ten years of fighting this horrific war against terrorism.

Apparently there was a patriotic riot inside of the South Complex courtyard because that's where the majority of the James Madison students live, so it only makes sense. Unfortunately I was unable to attend because I was across campus at the Finals Flash Rave 2.0 on top of the Shaw Parking structure.

Either way, it's a party tonight.

Also, the nerd in me would like to inform you all that Bin Laden's death has fallen on the 66th anniversary of Hitler's death and the 13th of the fictional Tom Riddle's, otherwise known as Lord Voldemort. Coincidence much?