"If you want to know where your heart is, look to where your mind goes when it wanders."

When I have to study, I have this overwhelming urge to chronicle every thought I have on twitter or facebook or my blog. Most likely it's because I want to avoid actually studying, but partially it's because I become so HEY LOOK AT THAT. WHAT IS THAT. LET ME TALK ABOUT THAT. whenever I'm concentrating. I'm sure everyone who sews with me in the lab hates me because I yell at my fabric and talk to myself. (I'm pretty good at controlling the talking to myself now. The yelling at silk chiffon that WON'T DO WHAT I WANT IT TO DO....not so much.)

So I haven't posted in a while. Let's see what is new...

HA. Just reread my last post. How appropriate! I was studying for 447, working on history, and had a meeting at 6.

Today, I'm studying for 447, studying for history, reading for a 447 book report and freaking out about life and such.

And I have a meeting at 6.

HUZZAH.

So September ended. October came, Annie and I drove to Florida to go to the UA/FL game. I think I typed up a blog about it and never posted it, but long and short of it is that we had an AMAZING time. Chris and Amy did too, which made me REALLY happy and I'm so glad I got them tickets. It was SO nice to see them and my mom and dad and Kathy.

Uhm, came back, quality control ended, and we all huzzah'd. We took 15 people to midnight sushi, which was definitely a really really amazing night. I helped a lot more with homecoming than I ever expected I would, but it was a lot of fun. Friday of homecoming when it had to be up I was one of the few upperclassmen to show up and I'm really glad I got to help lead the set up. It made me feel useful, and I got to keep mentoring my lovely little freshmen (did I tell you I'm mentoring them and planning activities for CBH this year? Because I am.).

I skipped the homecoming game to study, but I went to the bonfire and parade with Clay and Heather. The bonfire was a little lame, but that's okay. The parade was fun, but waaay too long. After the parade we decided to go to Moundville for the festival. We drove all the way out there, discovered it was $8, turned around and came back. Bahahaha. We're cheap. The drive was fun though, so it was worth it. I spent last weekend being fairly useless. I did something else, but I can't remember what. Oh well.

So I guess that brings us up to this past week. Mrs. Batson closed the CBH office for the week, so I was literally in the sewing lab every single day, Monday through Saturday. I got A LOT done, and I'm really pleased with it. Thursday night we celebrated Heather's birthday with Olive Garden, Hocus Pocus and the most disgustingly awesome cake I've ever made. Two funfetti cakes + 3 jars of frosting + inadequate cooling time + poor planning = volcano/avalanche/landslide failure of a cake that turned into the best thing ever. YUP.

Friday I sewed all day in the lab, then I got into Debbie Downer mode until Erin rescued me. OH WAIT LET'S BACK UP. LET'S TELL YOU WHY ERIN HAD TO RESCUE ME.

I got my hair cut Wednesday afternoon because I was tired of it being boring. She basically did nothing, but I paid her $30 anyway. She said to come back if I wanted anything changed. Cut to Friday, I realize I want my bangs a little swoopier and maybe less in my face. So I go back after sewing, wait 45 minutes, and she gets to cutting. and cutting. AND CUTTING. Before I know it, I have these terrifying wisps of bangs bluntly cut across my forehead trying to defy the cowlick from hell and failing miserably. I was like JUST STOP I'LL FIX IT AT HOME and I left horrified. They are AWFUL. And you can't even say "they're not that bad" because they are. I have boy mushroom bowl cut bangs.

So yeah. I was talking to Erin and I was like hey come over and she's like hey let's go to dinner, so she met me at my place, at which time I proceeded to lose it over my hair and being overwhelmed by life. HOW AWESOME. God bless my friends and their ability to deal with my big bowl of crazy.

So we went to ihop and had the most adorable waiter and I confused everyone by ordering hard-boiled eggs (no breakfast serving places seem to understand why I could possibly want them that way) and Erin saved me from my insanity. Then Robert offered movie night and I really didn't want to study anyway so we came to my place so I could clean a little then we headed there and watched movies. Such a better night than how the afternoon started out.

Yesterday...I sewed for 4 hours in the morning, napped for 2, then studied for 7 straight. YUP. I LOVE YOU AMERICAN HISTORY. But good grief was I productive!! Today I've studied for about 4 or 5 hours. Apparently my dining room table has magical powers that keep me focused. Who knew?

Now I must continue to study/read then go to Mortar Board at 6.

The next two weeks are going to be pure hell, so let's all pray Theresa survives and passes everything.

In other news, I've been excessively awkward lately and I apologize to those of you who have had to experience it. I'll make it up to you with PICTURES.

“Sanity and happiness are an impossible combination.”

It seems I make my way to my blog every time I need to be working on something else but I just don't feel like it yet.

Ah well, such is life. I read one of my old posts and it's kind of funny how much I can talk. and talk and talk and talk. And it's funny just how much I type/write/whatever exactly the same way I speak.

Whateva.

I can't believe I didn't tell you about the adventure Julia and I had in getting the football game last weekend!!

So we got back into town a lot later than we were expecting. After a series of mishaps, we eventually arrived at my apartment, hopped in my car and prayed for the best. We almost got into the Ridgecrest South deck, but that didn't pan out. We drove over by the paid parking because I had heard the Bryce Lawn parking was only $10 for the North Texas game, but obviously an hour before kickoff it was full. As we drove by the rest of the paid parking, we realized it had all been upped this year to $30. Thirty dollars?!!? That's INSANE. Plus, we didn't have that much cash on us. (Fun fact, one of them takes credit cards. That is ridiculous.)

But anyway. I remembered that the deck downtown was free and there was a dollar shuttle to the stadium. So we said sure, let's do that. We were both SO tired anyway that we figured we'd go, swipe in, stay for a quarter then go home. So we drive downtown to find that the deck is full. CURSES. All the surrounding lots are full as well, so we decided that I would drop Julia off, she'd swipe in, then we'd switch, I'd swipe in, then we'd go sleep. So as I'm driving down Greensboro to do this, I look over and I'm pretty certain there's a spot in front of Chuck's. I cut across two lanes (empty, of course, because everyone else is already at the game), pull a U-turn and pull into the most fabulous wonderful amazing miracle spot ever. I just kept telling Julia God was smiling on us. haha. So we walked over to the deck where the shuttle runs, bought our tickets (a dollar. a dollar. It was amazing.) and jumped on the trolley. After the most convoluted trek through downtown ever, we were dropped off in front of Rama Jama's, aka right behind the stadium. We weren't sure the lower bowl would be open, but we went for it. We strolled right through security, went inside and Annie had saved us both seats. AMAAAAAZING. And we were still there 40 minutes before kick-off.

We still were exhausted, but SO proud that we made it. I figured we would maybe stay for a half, but we ended up staying the ENTIRE game. It was one of the best game experiences I've ever had. I sat with Julia, Annie, Clay, Cameron, Ashley and several other people. It was so much fun. After the game, (which we won, duh.) Julia and I got in the line for the trolley. It only took like 15-20 minutes, really. We grabbed Jimmy Johns, went to her place to eat, then we parted ways from our super amazing adventure weekend.

That night I also got to see Gerbs and Cassidy!! I was so happy. It was only for like an hour, but I miss having Dan in my life, and Cassidy is amazing. I need to go down to NOLA and visit them really soon.

So that was last weekend. This week, I finished my pants (just in time) got my in-class history write back and didn't bomb it like I had expected, changed my CBH project, planned a ton for the senior show, and slept so little that I'm not sure I'm going to catch up.

Friday I went to Birmingham to go to Jo-Ann Fabrics. (ps, it is Jo-Ann. not Jo-Ann's.) I got the teal I was looking for and AMAZING fabric for Annie's Florida skirt. Oh yeah, did I mention that in the next four days I need to make outfits for the both of us for the AL/FL game? Yep. No sleep this week!

So that was good. I also went to Ross and found a gameday dress for the Arkansas game for ten bucks. Woohoo! When I came back I studied for International Trade, which is just a big barrel of fun. Theeeen I went to dinner with Thew and Kevin because YAY Matthew was in town this weekend!! It was fun. Got to park in the downtown deck this time because everywhere else was SO full. Curse you, Miss Sorority Row Pageant!

After that, I went to Robert's to watch movies with him, Heather and Julia. SO much fun. Oh goodness. I had never seen Hunchback of Notre Dame. There are A LOT of innuendos in that movie that I assume happy little 7 year olds don't get. We had a lot of fun.

Theeeeennnn yesterday I picked Julia up, we attempted the deck again, failed, parked a block away and took the trolley to the Arkansas game. We showed up about 2 hours before kick-off instead of 2 1/2 and it was PACKED! I was shocked. We still ended up with pretty decent seats, but it's just so weird. Also, the band now sits where we used to, so that shifted things a bit.

The game was a TON of fun. We soundly kicked their butts, it was excessively hot, but so so so much fun. I love football. I'm going to have to get in good with the UANYC alums when I move there so I can still watch all of the games with a bunch of people.

After the game, for some reason we waited for the stadium to almost completely empty. That was dumb. Julia and I had to wait for the trolley, and the line was backed up from Calvary to the stadium. Oops. We got to bond? haha. Matthew walked to his car and Clay rode his bike to my apartment. He beat us there by like 30 minutes. Our bad...

But yeah. Julia, Clay and Heather came over for dinner. I made pasta and we watch more football. Haha. Then we went to Julia's to get movies and we ended up watching Date Night. I realized about halfway through it that I had actually seen the entire thing before. Oops. After that I took everyone home and went to sleeeeep.

Today I have A LOT to get done. Which is why blogging right now is probably a bad idea. OH WELL. I'm going to finish my study guide for 447, start my history paper and hopefully start at least one skirt. Oh, and I have a meeting at 6. YAY SCHOOL.

“I'm not concerned with your liking or disliking me... All I ask is that you respect me as a human being.”

so it's been like two weeks since my last update post. expecting me to remember everything that has occurred is setting yourself up for disappointment, but i'll try to hit the big notes.

the first football game of the season occurred, vs kent state. yaaay. it was fun. i've gone out a few places, we watched the penn state game at my place. i had to have kurt and dan come pick up a loveseat i bought like an hour before the game because it wouldn't fit in my car. that was an adventure. classes are kicking my butt. i found models, i finished a dress, i'm almost done with pants, i'm going to fail american history, and it's really stressing me out.

other than school, i've not really had much time for anything else. oh, that article i wrote did get published in the CW. they called it "controversial." HA. sarcasm doesn't translate when you don't know me i suppose. people were assholes about it, but i'm over it. it happens. cross getting published in the school newspaper off my college bucket list i guess.

this weekend was....a mess. i'm going to spend all day tomorrow studying. i'd detail out my life for the past few days, but i'm so damn confused and frustrated, it's not worth it. maybe later, blog. but i got 3 hours of sleep last night and i need more right now.

“Damned infernal gizmo. My kingdom for a left-handed can opener.”

So I wrote this for the opinions column at like midnight sometime last week. I doubt it's going to be published, so I figured I'd post it here, just for fun. :)

The University of Alabama is playing an elaborate game of hide and seek on this campus. They have hidden a select number of left-handed desks in the corners, sides, and backs of only a few classrooms and expect the left-handed students to seek them out. When we fail to win this game, our punishment is contorting ourselves into a right-handed desk attempting to take notes without causing great pain in our shoulders and backs.

As you right-handed majority sit comfortably with your arm resting on the edge of the desk while you take notes, us southpaws get to shift our entire bodies to the side just to get our arms to the point where we can scrawl legibly. If you've ever seen how most lefties write, it's already arthritis waiting to happen. Combine this with the inability to rest your arm while writing for hours on end and you have the right mix for back and shoulder problems.

I understand that only about ten percent of the world's population is left-handed, which is probably why less than ten percent of the desks on campus are oriented in our favor. The problem, though, is that when we need them, they aren't there.

I'm pretty sure the maintenance team is in cahoots with the bigwigs on campus to keep the southpaws guessing. On Thursday, my class had one left-handed desk. Obviously, I had claimed it on the first day. But today I came in and suddenly another lefty desk had appeared right behind the original one. I know there was not another left-handed desk in there, so where did it come from? Is there a secret stash of them and when the University sees that there are multiple lefties they plant more desks? While I admire the idea of lefty spies shifting the small number of desks around campus, I find it highly unlikely.

What is likely is that as we continue to increase the enrollment on campus, we will also continue to increase the amount of pain inflicted on left-handed students. In large lecture halls, all of the desks on the left side of the room are left-oriented. They have to be; there's room for tables to come off that end of the row. The problem though, is this removes us from the part of the room where we are most likely to pay attention, or to get involved. Even when the desks are freestanding, they are placed in parts of the classroom where the latecomers and slackers tend to sit. So rather than allow me to play an active role in class, I'm shivering in the back corner under an air vent, stuck next to the girl who won't stop texting and popping her gum.

It's a true dilemma, folks. The University has made it clear my well-being and my ability to take notes without causing myself physical pain are not on the top of their priority list. And the shooting pain in my side every time I spend two hours taking notes has made it clear that something has to change. As Mr. Burns of The Simpsons fame once said, “Damned infernal gizmo. My kingdom for a left-handed can opener.” Well, my kingdom for a left-handed desk in a prime location.

excessively long post that doesn't require a quote because there's way too much in here.

Oh blog, I'm so sorry! I've been neglecting you!

The start of school was...whatever. It's strange to be here, and strange to be a senior! I have Quality Control, Senior Design, Apparel & Textiles in International Trade, CBH and History. Don't be fooled though, I am far busier than I ever could have imagined. Especially with Fashion, Inc. on my plate.

The Monday before classes started I had a Fashion, Inc. officer meeting. It went really well and we got a lot of planning done. The first week of classes was intense. 450 is going to kill me, because we have a garment due every two weeks, in addition to any other ones we want to add to our collections. International Trade is a writing course, and Dr. Tong's first language is Chinese, so it can be hard to figure out what she's saying. Quality Control is condensed and ends October 5th, so we have lecture four days a week and 2.5 hour lab twice a week. It's intense. I was originally in history online, but it was WAY too much work, so I switched into an in-person class yesterday. It should be much better.

Let's see...I haven't been sleeping much. Saturday I should have stayed home and done homework, but instead I went to Bham with Clay to go to the Sidewalk Film Festival. I should have done work, but I'm SO glad I went. It was a lot of fun.

This week has been hard because I haven't had much sleep trying to prepare for Get On Board Day. From last Friday to the night before last, I averaged less than 4 hours of sleep per night, which really caught up with me. On Tuesday, I was SO dizzy and so nauseous that I had to go to the doctor. My hand-eye coordination was also so off that I can't read the notes I took that day. Apparently, I'm slightly anemic and my blood pressure drops when I move too fast. So that's fun. Last night, I slept 11 hours. That helped A LOT, though I'm still not 100%, so tonight will be another hibernation night.

Let's see..I've been to the farmer's market twice so far this semester. I LOVE it. I've cooked a lot, baked some, and managed to keep my apartment RELATIVELY clean. I'm trying hard to keep some order in my life, and I'm going to try to take this weekend to do that. I'm planning to finish my 450 dress tomorrow, go to the game Saturday, and spend Sunday and Monday on homework. Woo party, I know.

Oh, I also have done a LITTLE bit of shopping and gotten some really cute things, which makes me REALLY happy. I'd like to try to keep up the outfit thing during the year, so we shall see if that happens!

Let me share now a fun story that most of you will just laugh at but makes me REALLY happy.

So, I don't know if I've ever shared some of my childhood horror stories with most of you. But you probably know that up until around 10th grade, I dressed mostly like a boy. Band t-shirts and jeans, that sort of thing. However, middle school included an unfortunate phase of stretchy athletic shorts which has been permanently seared into my brain. It was a terrible time. Those shorts looked AWFUL and I really had no business wearing them. So as I got older, that not-so-repressed memory has haunted me and caused me to never wear shorts.

NEVER?! Well, technically not never. Whenever an athletic event required it (soccer, volleyball), I did. Well, volleyball included some unfortunate spandex days, but let's move on from that.

When I say I never wear shorts (besides during sporting events, and when working out/moving) I mean it. I wear capris a lot, and skirts and jeans and whatnot, but not shorts. Those damn stretchy shorts will forever haunt me.

Except now, I'm changing that.

WHAT?! THERESA IN SHORTS?!

Yes ma'am, Theresa in shorts.

It started this summer when I saw a lot of girls in the really cute pleated shorts. I love them. So I started browsing around for some plus size ones, thinking I could at least SEE what they looked like. Well, as per usual, they didn't exist, at least not in my stores and not in my price range. Once I got back to Alabama, I had moved on from the pleated shorts. They're cute and all, but they're only really cute in the shorter-ish styles, and these thunder thighs were not having that. But I still figured it was time to explore my shorts boundaries.

Like I said, I wear capris. A lot. They hit just below my knee, mid-calf, or somewhere in-between. They're all denim, mostly dark, and really freaking hot when it's a thousand degrees outside.

So I figured I'd attempt a change. I was in the Target in Bessemer (which has an infinitely better plus section than the T-town one) and I found a pair of green shorts on clearance. Granted, they were two-three sizes too big for me, but I figured I'd try them on anyway. They have drawstrings at the bottoms of each leg, so I could cinch them in to look like bloomers! Of course, I was sold then. So I bought them, even though I'm vehemently against elastic waistbands on pants. I KNOW they think fatties need elastic EVERYWHERE but we can fit in a damn pair of pants without ballooning the waist out 20 inches.

Anyway, I digress.

I bought these shorts, and I promised myself I would wear them soon. I had planned to wear them to the film festival, but I found a better outfit and went with that. Also I had an unfortunate event with a shirt I bought at Ross smelling like fish...it was a mess, but needless to say, the outfit was changed at the last second.

Cut to...two days ago? Maybe. Yes. Tuesday. After my near-death experience (just kidding, I'm not a drama queen). I have a $25 off $75 coupon for Lane Bryant that expires that day. I was with Annie, so I said hey, we should run in really fast, she agreed, and we did. Well wasn't it just my lucky day? Everything in the store was buy one get one free!! So I picked out a skirt, a top, some shorts and some camis, after trying some things on. The shorts have an elastic waist again (why I oughta....) but they were cute! AND SHORTS!

Also, fun fact, Tuesday night I stayed up til about 3 baking 200+ cupcakes for Get On Board Day. What a mess. I was near death but hey, let's bake! It worked out fine.

(Side Note** Get On Board Day was AMAZINGLY successful for Fashion, Inc.!!! Thank you SO MUCH to everyone that came out to help! Fashion, Inc. is going to be AMAZING this year!)

Anyway. Wednesday I get up at 7, pick up Lindsay and Stephanie, drop Stephanie and all of our stuff at Get On Board Day, then rush Lindsay and I to quality control lab.

Oh wait. Sorry, we were on our shorts story. I REALLY need sleep...

So ANYWAY. Let's cut to...today! I'm trying to decide what to wear, and I decide to give the fish shirt another try. (I had thrown it in the dryer...it smelled better) Then, remembering a conversation Annie and I had about how the black shorts would look good with it, I give them a try. AND IT'S SO CUTE!

So I get ready, and spend the day grinning about the fact that THERESA MINCE IS WEARING SHORTS.

I just don't think you can understand how exciting this is. AND the shorts are TWO sizes smaller than what I was at the beginning of the summer. I KNOW I'M EXCITED TOO.

So it was a really good day, and I'm just glad my weight loss plans haven't been derailed. It's slow going, but it's going. And I'm still eating healthy, and we're getting there.

Annie and I made AMAZING dinner tonight. Tons of sauteed veggies we got at the farmer's market over wheat pasta. YUM!

NOOOW I'm going to clean up my apartment and go to sleep early again. YAY SLEEP!

OH I PROMISED PICTURES. HERE YOU GO.