Distractions

This month's lesson is about distraction.

Which is probably the worst timed lesson I've ever had, because this is my last semester in college and there are things to do. All of the things to do. All of them. And I have until the fourth day in May to do them.
But I tell you what's odd. For the past three years I've been so focused, so channeled onto goals and working and the future that distraction has been a very small concern in the past, and I'm not exactly sure how to deal with this.
But also never before have I been newly 21 with way too many friends inviting me to way to many great parties and game nights and gallery openings and 'hey let's go grab a drink and brainstorm' date nights.

Hey, that counts as practicing networking skills, right?

On the positive side, I am carpe-ing all the diem Columbia seems to offer. On the negative side, I maybe didn't finish that diagram of the anterior torso exactly on time. Another semi-plus side, though, is that I never turn in late work. I'm just cashing in my 'bad student' chips while I'm still a student.

love, rudi

Animal Halloween!

Did you know dogster.com rated Stephens as the Number 1 Most Pet Friendly College in the nation? We've also been on the Today Show for our pet-friendly policies. 

I've been cursed with cat and dog allergies, but that certainly doesn't stop me from getting a little puppy love whenever the girls are walking their dogs. Around Halloween one of our dorms held a pet costume contest, and it was 'TheBestThingThat'sEverHappenedToMe'. I'm just going to show you all the pictures and let the adorableness speak for itself. 

 This is Lily (the dog) whom Allison (the human) dyed blue to be a pond!

 Look at that worried look!

And this princess fairy missed the party, which is almost as sad as it is cute.

Just wanted to share this with you guys. I hadn't squealed so much in a long time.

love, rudi

Zumba!

Hey everybody! 

So I have some catching up to do. I'll start with my Sunday afternoons first! Last week my gorgeous friend Annie (that's her in the neon cargos) started teaching a Zumba class on campus. I was terrified to try- exercise has never, ever been something I'm comfortable with and to do it in a room full of other people was sort of the scariest thing I could imagine- especially being around people I knew and would see every day! 

But now Annie gets to throw out a great big "I TOLD YOU SO!", because I love Zumba and I'm so, so glad I bucked up the courage to go that first time. I've always loved dancing (you remember my Dirty Disco posts?) and it's so wonderful to be able to just go dancing every Sunday and know my body's getting the benefits! And all of a sudden, I feel good and healthy and pretty and, dare I say it, on my way to being fit.

This is huge, guys. It's like I just tried coffee for the first time. Quite the game changer. 

And even though I (and everyone else?) felt like this:

We looked like this:

If any of you are interested, you should come! It's totally competition free- you're way too busy dancing like a fool to notice what anyone else is doing- trust me, I wouldn't go if I was uncomfortable. And it's nothing but fun! We meet Sundays at 2:00 in the second floor dance studio in Senior Hall- bring three bucks, some water, and a smile!

love, rudi

Tid Bits of Advice

Most of my friends, and I assume readers, are creative types, so I want to share this with you all. I love Ira Glass, the creator and host of This American Life on NPR. If you haven't listened to it before, it is a program that I highly, highly recommend- it's like meditation and yoga for your mind. It's just the best.

Anyway, Ira Glass created this amazing new concept of a radio show and has done really amazing, great things with it, so I am more than willing to take any advice he has. And it just so happens that the moment I watched this video was a moment when I really needed to hear what he had to say.

I hope you like it, too :)

love, rudi

My Birthday!!

YES! 

Not much else to say about that. Except 

MICAH

the BAKER

at STAMPER COMMONS CAFETERIA

made an amazing cake today.

And it happened to have a giant R on top!

For my reader that asked about the food at Stamper, not only do I have a *killer* post coming up talking all about it, but just know- these people care. And they listen. More on that later :)

MICAH MADE THE MOST BEAUTIFUL CAKE I HAVE EVER SEEN!

Also, in other *GREAT* birthday news, Joel was here this weekend. Some of you may think he is my boyfriend- and you are wrong. He's even better than a boyfriend- he's a friend's boyfriend. That means me and Courtney (The BFF) get most of the benefits of a boyfriend without any of the downsides.

Not that my boyfriend has any downsides. He's like, perfect.

But you get my point.

We love seeing Joel, and since he goes to school out of town, it's a wondrous and rare treat to see him! Also (and we love reminding him these days) we hadn't seen him since Halloween so it was a triple treat!

There are other photos from this awesome, frozen-yogurt-getting day, but that's a whole other post (coming soon!) that includes an entire story about dogs with strange and vibrant personalities.

So far my day has been an absolute treasure! And now I'm going to keep enjoying it while eating this giant gingerbread R and watching Modern Family. 

Best show ever, by the way. 

love, rudi

Coffe, Carolyn, Pie.

Meet Carolyn.

The first time I had a legitimate conversation with Carolyn, she told me that my blog was the reason she came to Stephens.

That blew my mind!!!! 

Besides my mom and friend George from home (miss you, George!), I didn't think anyone read my blog regularly, but now I have proof that at least one smiling girl benefited from me documenting my usually boring and somewhat goofy life. And now that girl has become a part of it. 

So I had to play paparazzi with her a little, and give her her very own blog post. Dedicated just to her.

Carolyn. This one's for you.

Two nights ago Courtney (that blondie you see everywhere) and I took Carolyn out for coffee and pie at our favorite diner, the Broadway Diner downtown. Unfortunately, because we were there an hour before the diner opened, we were forced to get lost on Mizzou's campus and cat call at boys. 

But eventually eleven arrived, and we un-lost ourselves with watering mouths to the diner. Not only does it have the most amazing coffee in town, but they also happen to have the cheapest. The same formula works with their pie. I highly recommend the banana cream pie, and the chocolate peanut butter. Or any of their cobblers...or their cheeseburgers or biscuits and gravy...

You get the picture.

Thanks for the fun night, girls. 

love, rudi

Nine Days!!

So maybe some of you good people read this title and wondered,

"Oh, hm, something exciting must be happening for this young lass in nine days."

Well you would be right you pondering, blog-reading citizens of the United States of Looking-at-the-Stephens-Website. Something totally exciting is happening for this young lass in nine days:

I'm moving into my dorm at Stephens!!!!

This event is kind of going to be the beginning of my life, since I'm officially moving out of my mommy's well kept house and into what will more than likely be a room resembling a clothes vs. general garbage war-zone (I'm just kidding, of course...I hope.)

I'm guessing, based on the type of people who are more than likely to read this blog, you fall in to one of these three categories:

1) The Experienced College Student, who has already gone through the exciting and terrifying experience of flying out from the nest, and can now gently scoff at their soon-to-be freshmen pals for being so silly and afraid of living on their own. "Aren't they just so naive?" Says one sophisticated college sophomore to another. "Oh, indeed. Do you even remember when we were that young?" And of course neither of them do.

2) The Panicked Parent, who is currently sifting through my blog posts in an attempt to reassure themselves that their beautiful baby girl will be just fine while away from the comforting boundaries of home. Either that, or they're looking for incriminating evidence that will allow them to gleefully announce at the dinner table, "I'm sorry daughter, but you must stay in this house for at least one more year." I'm pretty sure my own mother is in the last group.

I feel so sorry for my mommy. All she'll have when I leave is this little kitty to keep her company when I leave off for college. Well, and her husband and her friends and my baby sister. It's just that they aren't in this picture.

3) Fresh Faced Youth attempting to catch an inside look of what the first year of college is really like. Well, my beloved youth with fresh faces, I do hope with all my heart that I can help you out in that particular category. Which is why I'm going to tell you the truth right now:

I'm not scared a bit. I'm way too excited for classes and meeting friends, I'm too excited about meeting new friends and getting into adventures to be sad about leaving my old town. Of course I'll miss my mommy and my sister and house, and I already cried about how much I'll miss my boyfriend (I know, I'm such a girl!), but I know I'll only be sad for a little while.

But besides all the typical going-to-college positives- I'll be doing theater again!! I haven't been involved in my high school theater since the beginning of my junior year of high school, and I am so excited about jumping back into what I love most. I'll be able to properly show you later on in the year how much fun theater is. You'll have to guess until then.

love, rudi