MYOD

American Apparel is now offering a dress that you can customize to look six different ways, using different colored straps (sold separately).

I thought that sounded interesting since since of the pictures of the dress looked like pieces of fabric were missing, but the dress was able to be switched into different "looks." I guess this is how is works:

1) Pay $38 for the "Le Sac" Dress - the name gives it away
2) Like the photos on the left and right, take a marker and decide where you want it to end. Then, using a scissors cut the dress.
3) After you've done that, wear it and hope that it doesn't look like you bought the fabric at JoAnn's and spent five minutes cutting and sewing it at will.
4) Buy it in different colors, at $38 each. And then buy a three pack of straps for $24.

Here is the website:
http://store.americanapparel.net/rsa0300.html

Happy 1st Anniversary, Blog!

Sometime around now marks the one year anniversary of my blog. Yay! To celebrate, here is a random grouping of stories:

*Today I was awarded an $800 scholarship by the UW Classics Department! It is the Gertrude E. Slaughter Scholarship, and it will be formally awarded on May 7th at the End of Year Reception held at the University Club. I'm extremely excited!

*I ate a Milky Way for the first time ever today and hated it.

*I often think about the awful headlines given to stories in the Badger Herald and feel superior
(examples today: "Over 18,000 brave storms for Crazylegs" which lacks a subject, and "OK Go rock in finale of All -Campus Party" which makes the band seem plural).

*I had an amazing weekend, which I will elaborate on later this week when I do not feel rushed

*I really want Hilary to win president of APO tonight. She deserves it!!

*Tonight is Caroline's birthday so I'm meeting her at the Nitty! :)

I did it

I talked to Ronnie about "us."

I voiced all of my concerns about being in a relationship that, if we stay together, might leave me feeling lonely. He stressed to me that he had known this was coming for a long time, and that he is okay with it, though surprised that it took me so long to figure out that things just weren't the way they used to be. My problem is that I am an eternal optimist and never thought realistically about the potentially married "us." I plan on traveling, going on family road trips, and going to new places. He seems to be more of a homebody and is perfectly content staying in, and would prefer it over "wasting" money on a trip. It seemed like even if our relationship reached fruition, we would still be different people wanting different things.

So here I am now, officially not in a relationship, not seeing anyone, and trying hard not to look back and regret telling him that I'm just not in it anymore. I know it is for the best, for both of us. I want to be in a whole relationship. Not somewhere between "it's complicated" and "we're kind of together, but not dating." I want the romance, the love, and the companionship. I want someone who will kiss me all the time and miss me when I'm gone. In no way do I mean any slight against Ronnie. I think that what we had was incredible, but it petered out, and we have been left trying to balance long-distance with all of the changes that come with growing older.

He asked if we should consider dating other people and I said yes. The prospect of dating other people is daunting, but I think that good will come of it.

Caitlyn and I are headed to a movie to help me get my mind off of it.

April seems to have flown by

What a crazy, busy month this has been! I have been working my normal schedule at JSM, plus I decided to play bass guitar again for Humorology. We began practicing a bit later than we did last year, which means that the barrage of lengthy Humo practices seemed to blindside me. For the past few days I have been trying my best to do my homework during practices, since I have been waking up for class, then going to work, coming home to change, and then going to Humo until 11 or midnight. I am definitely looking forward to just hanging out tomorrow and doing nothing. I plan to sit down by the lakeshore path and get a nice tan, watch the boats, and maybe even go on a little canoe trip. We'll see. It's nearly 4:30am and I have Humo in about 25 hours. It will be the final show, so I might even go buy a new shirt to wear. We'll see.

I also had Relay for Life tonight, which made the night seem extremely long. I stayed until about 3am or so, because by then everyone else from APO had been gone for almost forty-five minutes or more.

I've been really thinking about Ronnie and I lately and what we "are." Techincally we're not dating, but we're not-not dating, so I guess you could say we're on a break. But what's a break? I'm not sure that I could define a break, since neither Ronnie nor I seem to be able to define it well. I've been trying to picture myself doing the things I like to do and aspire to do, and lately I'm having a hard time picturing him even wanting to do any of those things. Like going to the beach, hanging out at a bookstore or library, dancing, going out on the town, going on vacation, taking a road trip, and going to concerts/movies/performaces. It's not to say that we haven't done some of these things before, but we don't do them together nearly as often as I'd like. I guess that I'm just trying to be realistic. It's just taking a lot of time to sort everything out for myself, and I don't want to do anything rash just because I'm feeling lonely. Gosh I wish he'd come up!

Why I get up each morning

I thought I would share with you all the things I look forward to each day (literally). Here goes:

Monday

• Nothing in particular as Monday is a crumby day
• Facebook, playing Food Friendzy and Fish Wrangler (a new game I've decided I like)
  

Tuesday

• Latin lecture with the unforgettable Professor McKeown
  
• Watching "The Biggest Loser" and rooting for whoever seems to be the nicest and most sincere
• Classics Society meetings (bi-weekly) which are always interesting...!
• Knowing that I can stay up late (past 11pm, if I'm feeling particularly reckless)
• Facebook, playing Food Friendzy and Fish Wrangler (see a recurring theme?)
  

Wednesday

• The one hour break I get between two of my classes
• Being able to sleep in
• The potential to get out of class before 5pm
• Facebook, playing Food Friendzy and Fish Wrangler
  

Thursday

• Having the weekend in sight!
• One word: Survivor
• Going out/catching up with friends
• Work
• Not having Latin homework due
• Facebook, playing Food Friendzy and Fish Wrangler
  

Friday

• Friday ipse!
• Not having Italian
• Again, not having Italian. It's a lot of work and meets four times a week.
• Work
• Being able to relax
• Facebook, playing Food Friendzy and Fish Wrangler

Saturday

• Sleeping in
• Perhaps going to a movie and eating delicious movie theater popcorn
• Catching up on readings
• Reading for pleasure
• Facebook, playing Food Friendzy and Fish Wrangler
  

Sunday

• Doing nothing, usually
• Being able to go on an extended bike ride
• Facebook, playing Food Friendzy and Fish Wrangler

It doesn't take a lot to get me excited about the day, as you can see!

Top 25 Gaming Hunks

I thought I would share this with you all since it is perhaps the worst list I've ever seen. Some of the more ridiculous characters include:

#13 - Kratos from God of War

Sexy? Probably not.


#11 - Brett Favre
Um...isn't he IRL?


#2 - Zac Efron??
He's not even in a game!

So who was lucky number one? Captain Jack Sparrow, which is apparently in a Pirates of the Carribean game. Quite a disappointing list. I mean, if we're going to pull from images of characters that aren't in games, where was Yami Yugi? I was glad to see that Squall made the list. That was about the only thing I was happy to see when reviewing this list. They even put Link on there, comparing him to Legolas since "women love elves." And the Master Chief...I've never seen him out of his armor - how can he even be on the list?!

I would say that you shouldn't spend your time reading this list, but it is so ridiculous that you have to! Now!

Stuff I just couldn't leave out

I just realized that the every-handsome Justin Berfield is younger than Frankie Muniz. For those who were not obsessed like I was, the former played Reese on Malcolm in the Middle, and the latter played Malcolm. There's a two year age difference between them. Crazy!

I want to meet The Ataris some day. When I was in high school, I went to Down on Haley, which used to be their official store. I bought some guitar picks while there, but even cooler than that was getting one of their actual drumsticks for myself and for Katie K. According to IMDB, "The Ataris used to run a record store in Santa Barbara called 'Down on Haley'." Notice the past tense? I'm guessing it doesn't exist anymore.

Finally, I just have to point out how ugly leggings paired with a short shirt can be. I thought it was a faux pas last year, but apparently it's ok now. I'm tired of seeing the outline of vags all day. This article explains it all perfectly. I'll put up some pictures if I can find any, though I personally wouldn't want to be caught wearing leggings as pants...

April - here comes the rain?

I cannot believe that it is about to snow again. I thought that we were always told to expect showers, which would eventually bring flowers. I guess not.

On April 1st I managed to find a houseplant that suitably replaces my long-dead banana plant. I don't actually mean to say that my plant produced bananas, but rather, its leaves were long and spotted with yellow. It was a Croton, and on my most recent trip to Sentry I managed to find a similar Croton. So I bought it and repotted it yesterday with glee.

The first picture on the left is a perfect example of my "banana plant" which I had to finally get the strength to throw away (it died sometime during Thanksgiving Break because I didn't water it before I left). The second on the left is a decent example of my new plant, but the rich, colorful lines in the picture are unlike the bright, unmistakable mottled leaves on mine. Like I told Beth, it was an April Fool's Day miracle that I found a plant that was similar to my banana plant. I also found out that these are some of the most difficult houseplants to maintain....we'll see how long this one lasts!

Yesterday I took myself to a movie at Market Square. Katie and Trent went there earlier this week and mentioned that it was cheap - and it was! It was only $3 to see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. I wish I would have read the book since the story was captivating. I loved it. I can't help but find myself looking for stories that will have such a profound effect on me as this movie did. Here is what is in my Amazon.com shopping cart: A Separate Peace (John Knowles), The Wedding (Nicholas Sparks), and A Thousand Splendid Suns (Khaled Hosseini).

I am behind on keeping up with John Grisham, since I have spent the last few years catching up on books I have always meant to read. In case you were previously unaware, I have been trying my best to keep an updated list of every book I have ever read. To date, I have 208 books on the list. I have tried to think back and remember the books I read when I was younger, an some of them are on this list too. One day, I hope to read The Count of Monte Cristo, which is still one of the best movies I have ever seen.

A while back, my mom's coworker mentioned the website ColorQuiz.com. I kind of forgot about it, but took the quiz today. I never do these things or take them seriously, but this one was freakishly accurate. Oh how I love to procrastinate! It is so much better than writing an Italian paper! Here were the results:

Your Existing Situation

"Creative and emotional, looking for ways to further expand those qualities. Looking for a partner who enjoys the same activities. Seeking adventure and new and unusual activities."

Your Stress Sources

"Feels empty and isolated from others and wishes to overcome this feeling. Believes life has more to offer her than what she was experienced thus far, and doesn't want to miss out on anything. she purses all her goals and dreams, fearful that any missed opportunity will cause her to miss out on even more. Quickly becomes an expert in any field she pursues and can sometimes come off as overbearing and nosy."

Your Restrained Characteristics

Current events leave her feeling forced into compromise in order to avoid being cut off from affection or future cooperation.

"Current situation makes her feel unable to prove herself, but tries to make the best of things."

"Insists her hopes and ideas are realistic and achievable, but needs encouragement and support. Her self-centeredness can cause her to take things too personally."

Your Desired Objective

"Highly optimistic and outgoing personality. Loves to learn new and exciting things, and craves new interests. Looking for a well-rounded life full of success and new experiences. Does not allow herself to be overcome with negative thoughts or self-doubt. Takes life head on, with enthusiasm. "

Your Actual Problem

Is afraid she will be held back from obtaining the things she wants leading her to act out with a hectic intensity.

Your Actual Problem #2

"Fights resistance or limitations, and insists she is free to develop in her own way. Rewarded by accomplishing things on her own, with little to no help from others."