Creole Wisdom

the early bird really does catch the worm...

You might call me early, but I'm going to get my mother's day gift sent off.

In the past few years I haven't been too good about the whole mother's & father's day thing.

Blame the time of year, blame my busy schedule, or just blame me, but usually I'm late.

This year is not going to be like the previous ones.

For mom I went to Blue Tulip yesterday with Jay and picked out the most beautiful card, it has the word "mom" written across the front in all sorts of colorful beads (sounds weird, but it's beautiful). I ended up settling on a fun magnetic notepad with an inspirational photo and quote at the top- so my mom. Like me, she's a "note taker." Actually, a pretty cool tidbit is when she was younger she worked as a secretary. They had all these symbols and such that made dictation go quickly, and she still uses them today- looks like code to me though : )

Sort of had too much fun wrapping this- it's going to be really, really nice. I cannot wait for her to get it!

how do they put up with me?

Always flashing my camera in their face! I have amazing friends : )

Jay came over yesterday around 2 and sat down on my bed to chat with me. A few minutes later she decided she wanted to take a nap LOL. All my buds comment on how comfy my bed is... I guess that's a good quality, right?

Keep in mind this happens all the time! Arlene used to come over and take a nap, but then she'd never want to wake up and we'd end up having a gossip-less sleepover, because, well she'd already be asleep LOL!

I think it's the mattress pad. One of the few things I splurged on when I shopped for college was bedding. The pad is wonderful, feather-filled and from Pottery Barn : ) Worth every penny...

Here's a fun storyboard to illustrate : )

livin' in the time-warp that is the cross county mall...

Going to the local mall is like stepping back in time... to 1975.

I don't know what it is, but all the commercials seem out of date in Westchester and well, so do the malls!

Bwah! This is not to say it's a "bad place," after all if it were any nicer as my friend Molly says, 'we wouldn't be able to afford it.'

Going to cross county is not just a normal "mall" experience. First of all everything's outside, and since it was one of the first shopping malls built the layout isn't that good.

Because I adore lists: weird and/or funny things at cc:

-The dark tunnel you have to walk through just to get there (scary, not joking here folks)
-People racing their cars in the sidewalk-less parking lot...
-Buses with overused horns
-Scary 1950s 'comb-over' mannequins sporting fubu and rocawear
-All the teen boys loitering (get a job!)
-The ramshackle "cab" house where you can call for a less-than-legit, but better than walking home drive...
-The sign that say "cross county: the center of your universe" (uhh maybe yours but not mine!)

Best of all there's the movie theatres. Now where I grew up when you went to the movies you could buy: popcorn, candy, pop, maybe ice cream, and nachos. Oh no. Not at CC theatres... you can choose from:
Fried Dough
Elephant ears
Nasty Ben n' Jerry’s (it's not the same, I swear!)
Sabarro
A candy corral (like at "sweet factory")
& All the usuals...

Not only that but they give you small trays with a spot for drinks.

No wonder we're all obese!

So Molly, Jay, and I walked from campus (single file b/c the sidewalks are a mess) to see Silent Hill

Not bad, pretty scary actually. Lots and lots of religious, Christian motifs. Reminded me quite a bit of the book of Revelations... ::shudder::

Got me thinking to the whole concept of "ghost towns" in general. Tried googling some to maybe check out in Oregon. Does anyone know of any cool ones out west to visit? I am so intrigued!

Of course the movie could not just be a normal movie without drama:

First the person who was running the reel forgot to turn the lights off. LOL. Way to ruin the scare factor of a horror movie!

Then the people in front of us talked the WHOLE time, brother man was on his phone at least for 20 min. The worst part is about 1/2 through another man came up to the people in front of us and said "hi" to them, slipped something, and then took some cash.

Jay goes "could you be any more obvious"

Drug deals in the movie theater. We're reached a new form of tackiness!

After the movie, needless to say we were all ready to get back home to the safety of our little dorms : )

Our nightmare in 1975-ish suburban New York was over!

capitalism at its best...

One of the best things about being a college student is the community. Think about it, you've got 1000 or so other students your age around you and a wealth of yes goods.

The founders of this country would love to have been in my apt. Last night where I offered up my old digital camera complete with all instillation software (at a killer price mind you) with yeah, PS Elements thrown in.

That's how it works here. We make sales, we bargain, we advertise. Its really good times.

When it comes to jobs, especially in the New York area it's so, so easy to find something great that pays really, really well.

For instance babysitting. Laugh if you want. But honestly did you make $20/hr when you were 19? I didn't think so. Going rate for sitters in the metro-ny area is crazy. People are desperate to find a good person, and if you have the credentials and the references to match you're as good as gold.

Of course there are less-than-savory ways to make money during school, as we've seen from the Duke case that's riveting our news lines right now. I don't know because it isn't my thing, but apparently if you're willing to strip and or sell yourself you can make a lot of money that way.

Sadly much of this has to do with the rise in tuition during the late 90s and the decrease in federal aid. Want to lower the rate of HIV infected women every year? Increase financial aid! It really could be that simple. You'd be shocked. Lots of girls go down a road of darkness in order to make tuition deadlines. This is disgusting. It's not the scandalous-type girl who sits in the back row of English 101 anymore it's just the average-everyday girl. Here at my school which boasts some of the most expensive tuition in the country I know of at least 3 girls who've had to take this road. It saddens me.

Drugs are a problem, they always will be. Were you aware that not only drugs and selling drugs were an issue, but selling prescriptions were a problem, as well? Anti-depressants are on the rise, and not for those suffering from depression. Students left and right have been placed under "medical leave" for their heinous drug addictions. There are specified dorms for buying everything from cocaine to zantax.

Now back to the most positive side on things let's get one thing straight- teens (well at least the older ones) are not stupid. We might act like it, but we're really not.

Thanks teens for livejournal, facebook, myspace, heck the entire blogging world. Thank them for all the MTV shows I *know* enjoy watching. Teens have always and will continue to play a major role in culture as we see it. Especially consumer culture.

On that note I'm off to buy some flip-flops. : )

progress!

Okay so here's a work update:

Black History Paper: 21 pages so far (I write my introduction and conclusion once I'm done writing everything so I know it will all be longer, plus I'm not done with the body part either)

Writing Short Story: 15 pages

Art History: Finished (pics to come! I made a 'historical scrapbook')

I am so excited to go home for the summer. I know I'm weird. I called African-American Family Services to see about getting a job there. I might just do retail, but I thought- why not try? The woman was so nice on the phone, thought she'd cut me out right away after learning I'm only a college freshman. Nope, sending the resume right on in : ) Maybe they'll have something for me! How fun. I know I'd love it if I worked there-

Mom has been so good about getting my old room ready. : ) I cannot wait for her food.

Glad that I'll have that whole month of may with Matt, then it's off to mom's to get focused and be silly with friends!

I added Jay, my very good friend here at school to my blogs I read list. Check it out! I know you want to!

sometimes I can be a bit crunchy-

We're in the midst of the last few weeks of school folks and things are a gettin' stressful!

Here's my to do list:
-Hand in Art History scrapbook by May 1st (almost done with this yeah!)
-Hand in huge black history paper by May 8th
-Hand in writing packet to professor by May 9th
-Pack up room, have it ready by May 10th
-Get up at 3am and leave on a 6am flight to go home on May 11th!
-Say goodbye to friends, professors, and lovely charges
-Try to find a summer job

Oy! I hate when everything is crunched into a small period of time. Luckily I'm almost done with my Art History project and at least 3/4ths way through my writing stuff. It will be my paper for Komozi that will be the kicker.

Achk.

So what am I doing to stay stress free? I'm drinking this:

Did you think only hippies drank this stuff? Wahhh no way. Keep in mind I also am a fanatic of Welches' white grape juice (it must be wine, I'm telling ya!)

Hopefully I'll be able to stay sweet all through the stress : )

good things : )

life is good. really good.

so my swimsuit came in the mail a few days ago. bottoms fit like a dream! thanks to all you blog and 2peas ladies out there who were willing to offer great advice to help me and more importantly cover my ample derrier : )

here's what i went with:

a) the color is so in right now, and i love it!
b) it's so comfy!

so after taking a break from working i discovered cafe press and basically decided to set up shop...

now a little background: arlene (who you learned about in the earlier post) and i are really domesticateed. seriously. we have this ongoing jargon about it; i'll say "i'm domesticated, so don't play!" lol as in "don't mess with me, i'm a domesicated woman d*mmit!" : )

so without further ado here is my shop, named quite well: creole wisdom's cafe press shop!

i'm thinking about upgrading to a more professioinal account, but tell me what do you think? do you like it? is it stupid? let me know!

i got tagged!

this is my first "tag," thanks Sophia!

okay: I'm honnering this entry to my two best friends at school: Arlene and Jay so without further ado:
five things about my favorite girlies!
Arlene-

One: Arlene and I were destined to be friends. When moving into the dorms (the apt. she lives in is just a door down from mine) my father ran into her dad. Since I wasn't feeling too well and stressed with the whole process of getting my stuff into my room (I'm ocd go figure!) he wanted to find me some friends so I wouldn't be lonely LOL. He pulled me out of my organizational bliss down the hall to 4A "Katie this Arlene, she likes to cook, too!" LOL. Dads!

two: She's one of the funniest people I know. No kidding. Who else makes up songs and dances about the late shuttle besides me LOL. Or how about when she threw all the boxes my suitemates had been promising to clean up for weeks back into their room room and came back over to defend me when one of them freaked out about it!

three: Arlene is neurotically domesticated like I am. One of the first things I remember her saying (after I'd removed my shoes at her request when I walked into her room) was reffering to boys; "I cook, I clean, I fufill all your needs" : )

four: Arlene is so together, I wish I could be as on the ball as she is. She manages to pull excellent grades, reads almost all of the "suggested texts," pulled being a theatre third first semester, and got harambe (black student union) to shape up. Don't mess with Ar, she's got it together.

five: She is so loving, honestly. I never had a friend just drop everything and come over to sit there while I cried!

Jay -

one: She's a sassy southern princess. Who could not love that? I never knew anyone who could just lay it out so well like she does. She's the perfect combination between grace and intelligence.

two: Her style. Literally she could write the book on preppy. This girl has the most adorable clothing and carries herself in such a modest and refined way. Talk about class!

three: She's conservative! In a school that's totally off the wall to the left it's nice to know that there's another out there with the same views. I love her blog entries and how she talks about "George" : ) Not only is she conservative, but she's a very intelligent AND conservative. Anytime one of the kids in class steps over the edge trying to work their political agenda into black history Jay pulls them right on back to their place. I love it!

four: She has such a strong faith in Christ. I love that and it's so refressing to meet someone who is open and unashamed of their very sacred beliefs. I love that Jay stands up for herself on tough issues like abortion and gay marriage. Of course she's an inspiration to me for this very reason : )

five: Her work ethic. Jay is so deciated to whatever she does. Weather that be cleaning her new room that she just moved into or working on a conference project. You can always count on her to pull her weight in group work. She goes the extra mile.

God, how did I get blessed with such amazing friends. I am truly humbled.

I'm passing on the tag to: Shannon

just a taste...

is she not beautiful? okay i need to upload and edit the rest of em' that i took, but so far this is my favorite!

spring has sprung!

seriously. we've had a few days of gorgeous weather here and I am so hoping it lasts!

a few days ago Jay and I decided we needed to escape the campus and go out to dinner.

we took the 6 downtown to canal street and walked until we hit little italy. we found a reasonable, really good restaurant and had a three hour dinner!

it felt so good just to sit there and talk and eat : )

the food was out of this world, too!

so I added some new pictures to my album so check them out and let me know what you think!

I'm still tinkering around with my camera until I find my "favorite" settings.

I'm hoping to actually make some money with this this summer. I'll probably be in OR & MN most of the time if anyone is interested, let me know!

Right now I'm just trying to build up my portfolio

Oh and keep the swimsuit er. tankini shopping sites a comin! Oh and you know I need FULL COVERAGE bottoms (I like the bikini line, but I've got a big butt so...) LOL

: )