Stephens is my Valentine!!

Yay!!! Valentines Day was so sweet this year! Stephens took so much care of me this year- and it's a good thing too because this might be my last Valentines Day alone for a while- graduation means a big girl apartment in the same town as my boyfriend! 

Also- don't know if you guys knew this or not, but it turns out the real meaning of Valentines Day (especially at this girl's school) is cookies.

Yep. Cookies.

Well, plus these amazing cupcakes we decorated ourselves thanks to our baker, Micah. He spoils us, can't you tell?

Also note the genius of Carolyn. She filled chocolate...with chocolate...genius.

Also note the majesty of Arianne's cupcake decorating skills!

And then after cupcakes I was gifted with cookies from the camera supply closet! 

BUT OH MY GOSH THEY WEREN'T JUST COOKIES WERE THEY?

NO THEY WERE NOT! 

THEY WERE DR.WHO COOKIES! 

WITH TARDIS'S ON THEM!

And then we had bubbles in class! 

And then, well, did I mention cookies?

Yes. Yes I think I did. 

Happy Valentines Day to all of you lovely ladies!! 

(and to George, who reads my blog more regularly than I do! I miss you!)

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

How to Find Your Calling

So here we are, in the design studio and it's 12:41 in the morning. Neither Crystal or I really have to be here right now- there's nothing due first thing in the morning, we're not panicking over a project like usual; we're just working happily.

So it seems that I've had a small revelation to share with you- especially if you're still in high school searching for colleges, or just a person searching for anything at all.

I've realized that the definition of 'passion' or 'doing what you love' really just boils down to doing something that's intuitive to you. For instance, I was just watching Project Runway and a designer mentioned how he needed to 'add luxe' to his pieces. I can't even imagine how he would do that, but I realized that I would absolutely know what to do to 'add luxe' to a poster or magazine layout. Maybe this post is just a nugget of advice for freshmen and any high schoolers reading. Whatever you do, just know that you don't need to be great at it (and you never need to become the best), you don't need to have ever done it before, but you do need to have a little intuition.

Just a tiny, tiny bit. 

love, rudi

PS. Huge thanks to Quinn for playing photographer tonight!

SUSHI FRIDAY!!

Just a quick word: 

Every Friday I somehow forget about the genius that is Sushi Friday until, like, 6:30 every Friday evening right before the cafeteria closes, and then I FREAK OUT because I remember that

IT'S SUSHI FRIDAY!!! 

AND IT'S ALWAYS DELICIOUS! 

ALWAYS!

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

Open House with President Lynch

Last week the historic President's home was opened up for display! 

For those of you who aren't familiar with the situation, the President's home has been on campus since the beginning, but had recently fallen to ruin and extreme disrepair. The roof was caving in, the walls were rotten-- all sorts of bad stuff. President Dianne Lynch initiated the Home Again campaign to save the building, to preserve the integrity and history of the school and recreate the space to the beauty it once had. 

After lots of fundraising and hard work, significant changes have finally been made, and the house is almost completely livable again! 

Dianne (who, with her family, live in a small portion of the upstairs) decorated the house up in holiday cheer and invited campus to come have a look-see! The house was beautiful, the snacks delicious, and the experience heartwarming. It stirred up a lot of school pride to see that Stephen's is working hard to bring back the hospitable traditions that go along with the President's home. I hope the house is finished soon, so I can be a part of them before I graduate next year.

Also, the old-lady nerdy part of me appreciated how much the reconstruction focused on being historic and keeping the old charm of the building. I die for a good hard wood floor or an adorable nook-and-cranny. 

Plus, a big kudos to Dianne Lynch for owning Florence and the Machine in vinyl. 

Super hipster points, P-Lynch. Super.

love, rudi

Midnight Breakfast!

Stephens has this *awesome* tradition when finals week comes around.

Oh, yeah, by the way, it's finals week. That's why I'm fighting to keep my eyes open while typing this.

Anyway, the tradition is called Midnight Breakfast. It's not only the gift of a midnight snack of bacon and fluffy pancakes, but the gift of having that snack served to you by your teachers, admissions counselors, and even President Dianne Lynch herself! 

Oh, and also? We have a DJ, and everyone dances until their footy pajamas are threadbare.

 credit: Ericka Burse

credit: Halea Boulter

Yvonne, one of my teachers and the Director of Leadership and Diversity, with a group of students.

credit: Mariah Overstreet

credit: Mariah Overstreet

credit: Mariah Overstreet

 credit: Meghan Copler

Recognize these faces? That's Rachel, Rikki, Andrew, and Jamie from the admissions department! 

credit: Stephens Dining

And of course- lovely Margaret who edits our papers, Corrie from the library, and President Dianne Lynch! Serving bacon like a pro, despite being a vegetarian.

credit: Stephens Dining

Last night was a total hit! The cafeteria was full of people dancing and enjoying themselves, laughing and temporarily forgetting the terrors of finals week. I love that Stephens shows so much support during these terrible times, from Midnight Breakfast to the library staying open extra late and serving coffee and sprinkled donuts (!!!). 

So thanks, Stephens. We sure appreciate it.

love, rudi

Diversity Week

This has been quite a week to talk about!! Stephens just finished up Diversity Week, and I got to attend a good majority of the events.

Diversity is a subject that's be slowly becoming a bigger and bigger point of discussion on campus over the past year or so, and I think the Diversity Week and it's events gave us all a big relaxing deep breath. It's like everybody secretly wanted to say something about diversity on campus the whole time, and now we finally had a conversation about it. I think a lot of people benefited from the events, it was very cathartic.

Karith Foster and Adam Lehman were the big guests of the week. Karith is a Stephens Alum who now does stand up and all sorts of other entertaining things in NYC and LA. She and Adam are touring with their new program "Stereotypes 101", a half stand-up half heart-breaking-discussion about, well, stereotyping. Karith and Adam shared stories from their own lives about race and sexuality, and after that event students started talking, too. That's one thing I love about Stephens-- ripple effects work here.

(This picture was taken from Karith's website)

If you guys were in attendance at any of their events, or are interested more in Stereotypes 101, or just want to jump on the Diversity wagon, check these guys out on Facebook! They were extremely inspiring, and a complete joy to have on campus.

Did any of you attend any of the Diversity Week events? What did you find to be inspiring?

love, rudi