A Dumb Comparison

Tonight, as I was brushing my teeth, I came up with a dumb comparison while I stared at my never-ending to-do list.  There is a reason "to-do" rhymes with "bamboo," you can cut it down as much as you want, but it is always going to come back with a very frustrating vengeance.  I know this post is a bit silly, but hey, it's midnight and I have a thousand things to do tomorrow.  I hope your to-do list feels less intimidating than mine.  More interesting posts to come! (Yes, that is a line item from my list of things to do)

Feeling guilty while I should be sleeping

Well shock, I'm feeling guilty about not blogging again... and I deserve to, because it has been over six months since I have posted here.  Can you tell that my life has been hectic?  Here's the quick version and yet another promise to get my crap together and blog more soon!

The Highly Condensed Version (of the past six months)

- Went back to Mizzou for the spring semester

-Took my first journalism class (loved it!)

-Took another costuming class (So much fun!! Definitely didn't see this hobby coming)

-Went to the Dominican Republic for 72 hours of bliss (and along the way, I spent my birthday in Miami with one of my best friends (honestly, what more could a girl ask for? (especially when there was a 50 degree difference between Missouri and Miami)))

-Did a lot of homework

-Did more homework

-Didn't freeze (too much!)

-Saw snow fall for the first time! And experienced my first snow day(s)! 

-Started working with STRIPES, the safe-ride system on campus! (Now I have lots of stories about funny drunk people)

-Went home for spring break!

--Saw all of my beautiful, amazing, hilarious, talented, brilliant friends

----I was even lucky enough to see a handful of them in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (a musical, that I just might have seen three times...(what can I say?  I love them))

- Went back to Missouri

-Got hired at White House Black Market! 

-Got hired by Mizzou Theatre's Summer Rep program to work in the costume shop and backstage on Anything Goes! 

-Did more homework

-Took finals

-Moved out of the dorms

-Slept on a very generous friend's floor for a week

-Moved into my new townhouse!

-Spoke Spanish every morning at 8:40 for two hours with a group of hilarious people 

-Worked in the costume shop five days a week! 

-Worked at White House Black Market after

-Did a lot of math homework (and I mean a lot of math homework)

-Did a lot of Spanish homework (and understood it... I'm sorry, but when the hell did that happen?) 

-Worked on wardrobe crew for Anything Goes! (Possibly the best job ever!-- Minus the very sweaty t-shirts and more specifically, the adult onesie I had to collect at the end of the night, but other than that, so much fun!!)

-WENT HOME AFTER ALMOST FIVE MONTHS!!

-Had a crazy airport surprise

-WENT BACK TO CAMP BRAVO AS A COUNSELOR AND HAD AN INCREDIBLE EXPERIENCE (I cannot even begin to describe Bravo, if I started to, I wouldn't get any sleep tonight, or for the rest of the year)

-Played in Huntington Beach and Del Mar for a couple of days

-Maximized my time with my friends before returning to Mizzou

And there you have it, the past six months in a nutshell (concise really isn't my thing....).  I'm now back in school and working my ass off already.  If you are so inclined, feel free to follow my academic/professional blog at lesjay.wordpress.com .  I will probably be posting there more often because, well, I am graded on it.  I hope you're all doing well and that there aren't too many spelling/grammatical errors in this post because honestly, I am prioritizing going to sleep over proofreading it.  Talk to you soon! (hopefully about something other than my life)

Thanks for reading. 

New Years Resolution- Blog More!

 Yes, I know, I suck.  It's been way too long since I've posted, but it's a new year, so here we go.  The world didn't end on December 21st so I have who knows how long to "keep current" with my blog.

Here's a little bit of catchup before we move into the new year.

After eating way too much over Thanksgiving break I went back to school, took a bunch of tests, then came home again.  The holidays went well and recently I've been spending a lot of time with friends.  It's also been nice to have the opportunity to get out of the WC and explore different parts of The Bay.

Here's a little taste of my winter break adventures! 

One one of my first days back I took a hike in the hills with one of my very good friends. We had to avoid the mud because of all the recent rain, but the hills were green and beautiful.





Don't judge me for my use of Instagram pictures... I was without my actual camera that day.











Again, if you want to follow me on Instagram my name is LeslieJay. Gotta love the annoying plugs.... *rolls eyes*

Took a trip out to San Francisco with my friends for one of their birthdays.  We had dinner at the Ferry Building, sat by the water, then just walked around and went in all kind of stores we couldn't afford to shop in.  I forgot how nice it was to just sit by the water.  I occasionally feel a bit land-locked in Missouri.... go figure.

And I've been spending lots of time with this lovely girl! (Even though it's never enough)

We took Pear's beautiful new camera and went to Berkeley to explore the Cal campus!  I love college campuses.  Each campus is so different and is home to a unique group of students.  It was really interesting to look at Cal from a student's perspective and not just as my dad's, my uncle's, and my cousin's (and many many more) alma mater.  I wouldn't trade Mizzou, but Cal has a gorgeous campus!

I wanted to take pictures of the ginkgo leaves in the grass at Mizzou, but they lost their color before I got a chance, so CA Weather to the rescue!  

More ginkgo leaves

My favorite picture of the day

HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE! 

Honestly, who does't like pie??

There are some conveniences that are lost when one goes off to college, one of them being a kitchen.  There is a kitchen in my building... but ask 90% of the people who live there and they will say that they don't use the kitchen (and a slightly disgusted look will come over their face).  So, since I had some time at home last week, I took complete advantage of the fact that there was an available kitchen at my fingertips and a glutinous holiday in the very near future.

Every year on thanksgiving we make three pies (gotta love traditions): Apple, pumpkin, and chocolate.  This year, my mom wanted to make the apple, so I took over the responsibility of making the pumpkin pie and decided to change up our typical pudding filled chocolate pie.  People, like my dad, like the pudding filling, but personally, I was convinced that there had to be something better out there.  So, I went to GOOGLE, the best cookbook ever and found this lovely recipe, and so it began.  My epic afternoon of baking.  Check it out! (Oh, and I have no idea why, but cliche as it may be vignettes, mattes, and edge blur effects look good with food...)

Surprisingly few ingredients for two pies. 

Graham cracker crusts- super easy! Just mix graham cracker crumbs and butter.

Melting chocolate and butter for the pie filling- no double boiler needed.

Couldn't find the real splash guard... oh well. 

Mixing the chocolate  with eggs, sugar, and salt.  Took a bit of effort to mix them together, but it looked cool.

 Ready to bake

 Fresh out of the oven

Chocolate pie, final product. 

Thanksgiving dessert. 

Hope you had a fantastic Thanksgiving! 

Thanks for reading!! 

Forgotten Photos

Over the summer, I replaced my computer in preparation for college and even though I thought I transferred all of the pictures from my old computer, apparently I was wrong (need to work on that over break...).  But any who, I recently plugged my camera into my new computer and discovered a collection of random pictures I took over the last year.  Here are a few of my favorites.  It was a fun, memory evoking surprise.

Flowers on my dining room table from when Zach asked me to his prom last spring.
(No, I really don't empty the photos on my camera)

Playing with my new camera when I was bored on an airplane

What can I say?  I like to play with my camera. Blooms from a tree in my yard in CA. 

Old tiles found in rainwater by my car.

Found on the beach after a long walk with Sam.

Old posts on Del Mar Beach that you can only see during low tide.

Sam likes to model.

Del Mar sunset and surfers. 

My favorite place at my favorite time.

Busy Busy Mizzou Days

Okay, so I haven't posted in a while.  Life has been crazy!!! I had multiple tests last week, a story due and a bunch of other stuff going on.

Here are some brief updates on random stuff:

I GO HOME IN FOUR DAYS!!!!! And I can't believe it!!! I haven't been home in three months and I'm really really excited to see my friends and family!! :D  Sometimes, it doesn't feel like I've been in Missouri for very long because I am constantly busy.  However, I am not counting the days until I get to see my friends, sleep in my own bed, and shower without shoes (I'm not sure why that detail is so exciting... but it is).

I wrote my fifth Maneater/MOVE story!!! Which means that next time I submit a story I will get paid for it!!! (It's like ten bucks a story, but still!!!! I will be getting paid to write :D )
Here is a link to my latest story! College Photographer of the Year Competition  It came out today and was on the front page of the news section (aka, page three of the paper).

I've also been helping backstage with costumes for Mizzou's production of The Glass Menagerie.  If you have any way to get to the Rhynsburger theatre tomorrow or Thursday night you really should see this beautiful and impressive show.  When I originally read The Glass Menagerie, last year, it really wasn't one of my favorite scripts.  However, seeing it on stage with MU Theatre's amazing cast was a perspective changing experience.  I highly recommend the show to anybody who loves theatre or just wants to see a story told in a really touching way.

Any who, that's really it for now.  I'm very excited to go home on Saturday (in case you haven't already figured that out).  I'm sorry for being so sporadic with my posts... I am working to fix that.  Let me know if there is anything specific you want me to write about.

Lots and lots of writing!

Recently, my time has been filled with lots of writing.  I write texts, emails, psych study guides (which I am totally procrastinating on at the moment), to-do lists (god, so many to-do lists...), class notes, postcards, essays, and articles!  And speaking of articles, here are my two latest MOVE/Maneater articles!

Emigrate to a new sound

The result of my "squirrely" day!

Okay, so if you clicked on the second link you probably noticed that the actual story title had nothing to do with what the hyperlink said.  There's kind of a funny story behind that.   I went in to interview one of the ladies quoted in the story at 8:30 on Monday morning, I was told that she couldn't come into the office that morning because she had a squirrel trapped in her closet.... No joke.  My only response was "well, at least she has a good story."  It was a completely true story and definitely not something you hear very often.  As you can see by the story, the woman and I were able to chat later that day and she ended up being completely fantastic, but still, all I can think is.  Wow, what a way to start your week... with a squirrel in your closet.

Hope you enjoyed that little story.  Hopefully, I won't have to write a follow-up to this if/when I find a squirrel in my closet over break.....