Sing a Song of Love

Deadbeat Summer

Nicole — Sat, 11 May 2013 04:48:56 +0000

(What I imagine is playing in the background of this summer)

Hey everyone! I can say with a relief that spring semester is over. Finals kind of roughed me up a bit, but I am all the more ready for summer. Academically, this semester was challenging and tiring. 17 credits was a lot to handle and my grades weren’t spectacular, but I would take B’s and A minuses over anything because I survived and it’s finally all over! I had the most wonderful and crazy experiences and memories and have met some amazing people. I’m going to miss my dorm because I’ve spent 2 years there and I have no idea where I’m living in August, but that’s all on the back burner for the next couple of months.

My summer plans are to really not have any plans. I’m not taking a summer class which is the best news anyone could hear from me, because if you were up to date with my life happenings last year around this time, you would know that I was a mess emotionally. Thankfully, there’s no one to get dumped by or be heartbroken over for months. I don’t have time for a boyfriend, and who wants to be held down in the summer of the beginning of their 20s? Not I. I have goals but have no order in which I plan on tackling them. So here’s my list of what I want to be doing:

Learning how to drive (It’s about that time…)
Reading as many books as possible – I used to read so often
Make as much money as possible
Go the beach as often as possible
Run on a schedule – I started this schedule a while ago but couldn’t keep up with it because of school. I recently ran my first race (a 5K) so I feel that I can dedicate 2 miles at the start! I need to workout more anyway and I kind of enjoy running (mostly the playlist running and my neon blue shoelaces…)
See more of my friends
Be crafty and make yummy food
Blog once a week

This is my last real summer as next year I’ll be doing a summer class and working on getting into dental school. I’m going to enjoy it as much as I can, and I can’t wait to see what’s to come ahead in the next few months. I’m starting work tomorrow at the chocolate store and trying to figure out balancing my other job at ODU. I’m off to sleep now, goodnight blog universe!

Protected: Friendship

Nicole — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 16:31:43 +0000

Protected: Premier.

Nicole — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 04:30:13 +0000

Back to Work

Nicole — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 03:58:50 +0000

So the week after Spring Break definitely kicked my butt. I’ll start off by saying my break was so crazy. The first part of it was great. My sister came to visit and I don’t get to see her often, so it was a treat to hang out with her and have sister time. That Wednesday, I left early on the Greyhound for D.C. with a layover in Richmond. This was my first time travelling on the bus like that and it was just me and my roommate Haley. The trip up went smoothly, I was just paranoid that my stuff would get stolen. We got there and I started feeling sickly, pretty much thinking I was going to die at Union Station. Our friend we were staying with didn’t know where that station was, so we had to wait for her to find us and then we had found out that she was going to a concert in Philly 3 hours away that night. Haley and I decided to just go back to her house and then take the metro into D.C. and explore until she came back, which we expected to be around 9:30. We had lots of fun being tourists and walking around and visiting Georgetown. We got back on the Metro (with dying phones) and tried to contact our friend. No answer. So her friend texted us saying they were still 3 hours away and that we should take a taxi. We didn’t know the apartment address and we were lost somewhere in Northern Virginia all alone in the metro station. We rode the trains back and forth trying to figure out what to do. I am freaking out, on the verge of tears and too panicked to be angry yet. We cave and get a taxi after getting her address and her telling us that she hadn’t even left the concert at around 10pm. Thankfully, the taxi only cost about $15. But we were cold and starving and angry. I also neglected to mention so far that we had to share a mattress on the floor with 2 other people (the girl and her mom). Haley and I didn’t know if we were okay to sleep on the bed so we just sat on her floor, charging our phones and being hungry (we ate before we left for D.C. at like 7am and then again at 4pm). I was angry beyond belief that things got that shitty on the first day. I told Haley that we needed to get out of there and we made a plan to try and stay with another friend who was coming up and lived 20 minutes outside D.C. She didn’t come back until 2 in the morning and we were still awake, but I just pretended to be asleep so that I wouldn’t be mean to her, even if deserved it. The next day, she did treat us to brunch, but the downside was that it was with her mom (who doesn’t speak English) and her mom’s boyfriend/neighbor. It was awkward, but I ate as much as I could because I didn’t know when I would get to eat again. We then had to sit in her apartment again because she had appointments to go to, so we sat around until 5pm waiting for her, went shopping and then got back home too late for her mom to go to the ABC store for us before the club. The club was fun, I was standing around awkwardly while my friends were making out. After the club, we discovered that the car was locked inside the parking garage and luckily, a security guard helped us out. Our other friend came and picked us up from the club and we stayed at his house. I have never been so relieved in my entire life to be out of someone else’s house like I was then. I slept like a baby at his house and he made us breakfast and we went out for more D.C. exploring. I returned on Saturday and on Sunday, saw Tyler the Creator with my little brother. It was a hectic break with tons of misfortune, but none of it was boring and Haley and I have had lots of bonding time.

Onto post-break, last week was crazy. Time flew by and I didn’t have any of my stuff together. I wasn’t on top of things and I started up my research job again, so I felt like I had started so many new things and I wasn’t ready for all of it. On Friday, I took a trip up to Richmond to visit VCU’s School of Dentistry for their predental day and to put it short: I fell in love. That whole week, I had been being really introspective and worrying about if what I’m doing now makes me happy. Friday resolved all of that. I know in my heart that I belong in dental school and that this is the career I was born to do. Even more so, I want to be at VCU so badly. I feel more energized to work towards this goal and achieve it.

This week has been very productive, and I’m back to working at my research job again. So I’m just trying to make it through this semester. I’ve got my work cut out for me but I’ve been able to find a good balance between working hard and having fun. I’ve had an extraordinary weekend, and parts of it I won’t ever forget.

Spring Break + Life Updates!

Nicole — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 17:24:31 +0000

Hello everyone! Know that I feel terrible that I up and revamped my blog and then got swamped by school work and abandoned it 2 months ago…nonetheless, I’m posting now and there’s so much to discuss. School as always is crazy, and I’ve been trying to balance my work load and emotional stress and being happy and trying to plan what I want to do this summer. School is going well, it just happens that when it’s test time that there’s usually more than one test on my plate for the week. I’m trying to manage it as gracefully as I can and this past week, I just had 3 tests right before my spring break. I have managed to be busy pretty much every weekend and I don’t really know when the last time I’ve had an empty Saturday just doing nothing. But I like having things to do, being bored is my least favorite thing. I have been working at the chocolate store for a little bit and I went to D.C. with my best friend for her birthday weekend. We stayed in Leesburg and spent that Saturday at the musuems and the next day shopping at the outlet mall and IKEA and returned home. Currently, I’m on a well deserved spring break. I managed to do well on my Ecology exam and get A’s on my business calculus and chemistry exams! I think I deserve to make up all of the sleep I sacrificed over to studying and to caffeine. Now I’m at home enjoying not having anything due on Monday and my sister is coming to visit on Sunday! On Wednesday, I’ll be leaving for D.C. again with a good friend to just see some sights, find some cool coffee shops and explore non tourist things, and go clubbing. I’m certain it’s going to be a fantastic vacation and it’ll be some great bonding time with friends I know from NOVA!

That’s the quickest recap I can give of my life right now, and so I’m off to download new music I can listen to on the bus up to D.C. so if you have any suggestions, let me know! I’ll give anything a listen, but I’m really into indie, alt-rock, or pop kind of music. But any suggestions would be great! If you’re on spring break, have a fun and safe filled week! We both deserve some relaxation and sleep!

Back to the Grind

Nicole — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 03:14:24 +0000

Hey everyone, I hope you all have had as great a weekend as I’ve had and enjoyed the value of having Monday off. I spent my Monday recovering from a crazy weekend by watching the Inauguration, doing laundry, and watching my latest addiction, Downton Abbey. If you enjoy dramas, I highly recommend watching it. The first episode starts off slow, but is enough to get you hooked to watch the whole rest of the season. You can find it on Netflix and Hulu Plus, the latter has a free week trial, so I’m hurrying to catch up before I have to pay… Anyway, I’m addicted and spend most of the time I’m not in class or sleeping by being in my bed, watching on my laptop. This weekend has been insane! Before I even get to that, I have to mention that my first week back to classes was last week and as much as I like being in school, I have to say that my schedule kind of kicks my butt. I have 8ams four days a week and it’s rough. January in Virginia is not my friend in the least, and trekking to class in 20 degree weather is to me, a sin. Nonetheless, I’m finding a way to survive, and the best part of this semester is that there is at least 1 person I know in each class, so I have some kind of support system going on here. This semester is going to be tough, but there’s so much I’m looking forward to that I can’t help but smile at the thought of how I’m going to handle all of it. I’m more excited by all the opportunities I’m going to take advantage of than scared by it! So with that in mind, I’ll talk about my weekend which starts around noon on Friday. My roommate had a friend fly in from Florida (who is over 21) and so I met them at 7-Eleven with a backpack that we stocked up with liquid goods. I went shopping and exploring downtown with them and we eventually rode the bus to the ABC store because we are desperate college students who just want to have a good weekend. The ABC store near my school is sketchy as hell and waiting for the bus in a weird part of town after the sun has gone down is not something I want to do ever again. Worth it in the end, and we played a Scott Pilgrim drinking game which was killer and is a good way to blackout… We stopped playing because I value my liver and my roommate is such a lightweight and was done by 10. The next night, my friends from high school and some new friends all went out to party and it was one of the best weekends ever. We all looked great and it was so much fun. Sunday night I had an employee dinner with the chocolate shop, paid for by my bosses and it was so nice to see everyone again since I don’t work there anymore. My bosses were so generous and gave everyone gift cards at the end and it was a great time. I had a great past 4 days and now there’s so much work to be done. I just had a short update, and aside from that, there’s a new theme up too! Enjoy your week, and I hope that you stay warm because I’m freezing just about all hours of the day.

New Year, New Things!

Nicole — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 01:43:10 +0000

This is my first post of the year, and I can honestly say that if things continue they way they are, it’s going to be a great year! I’ve been generally enjoying life, finishing up working at the chocolate store and just savoring the last days of break before I return back to ODU. I’ve been hanging out with my friends and one day, my best friend was feeling down so I hung out with her and my friend John, and we went on an adventure through Virginia Beach. Mostly just endless cruising, looking at expensive planned housing communities and we decided to go to the Goodwill. I’m not very good at thrifting and I have never bought anything until recently. I noticed that a few of the blogs that I read up on regularly had posts on thrift hauls which I thought was funny, as I had recently taken a trip to one too! My friends found things they wanted and John even found a pair of shoes that retails for almost $200. As I was on my way out empty handed, I saw it sitting in a case with other higher end things. A cute little crossbody Dooney & Bourke bag.

It was only $13, and I had to have it. I love the shape and it’s so much fun to carry around as I had been toting around a Fossil crossbody purse for almost a year. It’s a little odd to open, but that’s what adds to the charm of it all. It also makes my bank account happy and keeps me on track with spending less.

After we did some successful shopping we drove around for no good reason and ended up in North Carolina on some scary roads in the night and we drove so far that the pavement ended. It was fun, it was scary, and I don’t want to do it again.

On Sunday, my best friend and I (we are obviously attached at the hip) went to get our noses pierced. It was a random idea thrown out while we were in her hot tub the night before and we wanted to put it into action. I didn’t exactly tell my mom I was getting it done, but I sort of hinted at it… Regardless, it was worth it and it didn’t even hurt (although my friend will say it hurt worse than anything). It was a quick pinch and my eyes watered, and it was done. I will admit that I went to to this sketchy place that I hope I never go to again, at least never ever for a tattoo, but it was worth it. Down the road, we can remember how impulsive we were when we were young. It was only $10, and we didn’t know what to do with ourselves right after. We were kind of too scared to go home for our parents to see (I forget that we’re actually adults…) My mom was the only one who was concerned with it, but I think she’s okay with it now and my sister texted me saying how much she really liked it. I think it’s a cool piercing, it’s my 7th one, and it’s going to have to come out in about 2 years when I graduate and go on to dental school, but I got it while I’m young and crazy I suppose.

Today, I caught up with some other friends before we all go back to our different schools, and got some small things. I’m really loving the Baby Lips balm, it smells great and it’s working so far. The Revlon lip balm isn’t too dark, which is nice. It’s a slight pink that works with my skintone and I got it in Honey.

Well that’s all I have for now! Tonight I’m going clubbing with my friends from high school so it should be a fun girls night! Have a great Friday!

Farewell 2012

Nicole — Tue, 01 Jan 2013 03:27:35 +0000

It’s finally New Year’s Eve and the end of the year and it has honestly been the wildest year of my life so far. I’ve had so many times to reflect on everything that’s happened to me in the last 12 months and it makes me tired and just ready to start over in 2013. Just as a recap: I was in my prime at the start of the year, I had a fantastic Valentine’s Day with Scott, we went skiing, we had our first kiss, and then he eventually became my boyfriend. I had a wonderful time dating him and when the end of the semester came, things just fell apart. We went on a break out of nowhere and I had my heartbroken. I was miserable for an entire summer and I missed him so much and wondered what I did to mess everything up. I worked hard for my anatomy class over the summer, had my 19th birthday, and generally didn’t take care of myself. At the end of the summer, I raised my GPA but didn’t get my boyfriend back. I was miserable going into the fall semester. I learned upsetting things about Scott that pretty much sealed the deal that we were never getting back together but it hurt that he couldn’t man up and just break it off with me in person. I had to go after him with text messages and ask him if he was going to take me back. I found out my mother had an affair. I watched my family fall apart. I saw a therapist. I cried more times than I ever did in my life. I wanted to run away, find somewhere to jump off, be isolated, forget all the ways people had wronged me and broken my heart. But that’s not how you live your life. You have to experience it all, and find a way to make something out of it all. It’s been a rough year and I still get emotional when I think about how many times people have apologized to me for something they did to hurt me or how much better my life was a year ago before everything fell apart. But I’m learning to deal with the heartache and try and make it through. I hope the next year will greet me with better opportunities than this year did. I love my friends who were there for me when I broke down and thought it was rock bottom, my family who isn’t perfect but wouldn’t leave me behind, and you, the reader, who made it worth it for me to confide in something and find a way to keep everything from boiling over. Thank you.

I had a wonderful Christmas, and a great paycheck to go with it. I went shopping and bought a much needed bomber jacket to replace my broken down one and a few new sweaters to feed my obsession. What I really want to talk about is resolutions for the new year. I have a few….

Be more responsible with my money. This year I kind of blew through my money just because I had numbers in my account. It was stupid and I kind of got myself in trouble with it (I fixed it but it’s scary enough that I had to go through it at all…) So I’m planning budgets for spending areas using Mint. I can’t let myself become irresponsible with money as I get older and I need to find a more stable job.
Stay fit. I’m planning on running a 5k in May and I’m not even close to being in shape for it. I’m going to start training in January and I’m just running it for fun and to be able to say I’ve run that much and participated. I’m going to be doing a run called Color Me Rad that’s done all over the U.S.
Keep my grades up. I’m trying to get into dental school so I need to stay competitive.
Be happy. If I could change something about the way this year went, it would have been to keep myself happy. Despite who I thought I was, I let my happiness depend on a boy and in the end, I don’t think he cared about my happiness. I never want to make that mistake again. I want to enjoy my life and try not to be so down.1

That’s all I have! I hope you all have a safe and happy new year’s eve and that you find it in your favor. See you all in 2013!

Work party function!

Nicole — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 03:21:07 +0000

Had a tacky sweater/white elephant work party last night! I got a Starbucks giftcard, lots of food, and good times at the oceanfront in the rain with some great people.

The holiday season!

Nicole — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 17:50:54 +0000

I really can’t believe that December is here and that Christmas is coming so soon! The end of 2012 is coming too and what a year it’s been. I finished my semester of college on Wednesday, and academically, it’s been a pretty good one. Some of my grades are rolling out and I got an A in chemistry, which is such a great feeling. I hope that I can do the same for the second part of chemistry and for organic chem next year. I was lucky to only have to do 1 final, as I got myself exempt from my other 2 for having good grades! Now that I’m home, I’m working at the chocolate store again. As much as I had complained about working there, I miss the store and my friends I made while being there. It’ll be nice to be around chocolate again and have money for the holidays, because I need it so bad. I’ve been unemployed for about 2 months and it’s been a struggle. One of the goals I need to work on for the next year is to better manage my money. Right now, I’m also trying to find on-campus jobs for the spring and the summer. I’m also seriously looking into becoming an resident assistant for next year. Several of my friends are RAs and it would lessen the financial strain of living on campus as I don’t really want to commute at all. It would also be a great leadership position and I’d have lots of new experiences. Hopefully I get hired because it’s something I really want to do.

Other than those things, I’m ready for Christmas! Things have been shaky at my house between my parents, but I’m hoping that in the name of Christmas, we get it together and all enjoy each other while I’m home for a month. There’s no better time of the year to get along, right? There isn’t anything I really want for Christmas, other than clothes I guess. I already got my phone which I love so much, so I never really asked for anything, but any books that’ll help me get ready for dental school would be nice. (Sad right?) I have to figure out what to get for my family members, but I’ve already taken care of my friends’ gifts. It’s hard to shop for people who don’t know what they want and won’t give you any clue as to what they might want. I’ll just have to do my best and hope that they like it enough for me not to want to return it.

Tonight’s the first night back at work so I’m excited for that. I’m also trying to get over this virus that I’ve had since the first of the month and I went to the doctor yesterday and ended up getting medication for so many other things… I have also finally been activated as a member of Gamma Sigma Sigma, I’m excited to join the sorority and can’t wait for more next semester. Have a great Friday and a great weekend!