Chicago and Tina Fey

Spending Habits -- Die Hard

So about two weeks ago my Chicago city train pass was sadly ripped due to my extreme abuse of it. It would no longer work and frankly the train people were getting REALLY annoyed with me every time I would ask them to let my sorry butt through the turnstiles. So two days ago, I decided to take the one hour train ride to Jefferson Street of the GREEN LINE, and get a new pass from the CTA headquarters. After walking around for about 15 minutes in lord knows where Chicago by myself at two in the afternoon, I finally stumbled upon Jefferson street (aka. my final destination). I walked in and was immediately confused with how huge and clean this building was, because if any of you have ever taken the CTA.. its nothing elite.. or clean. I laughed at the huge sense of importance the building was giving off as I walked up the stainless steel staircase to get my pass fixed. It was a piece of cake and I'll be getting a new one on Friday, excellent! After I left, I got back on the green line and OF COURSE saw this ad for an adorable little dress that cost 9.99 at H&M! It was perfect, I had to have it. I got on the train, transferred to the red line, and got off downtown and let my spidey senses guide me to the nearest H&M. I walked in the door, and was terrified of what might happen. I started in my search for the dress and before I knew it I had 6 items, none of which were the ten dollar dress, and was trying them all on in the dressing room. Now normally, I would have bought pretty much anything that sort-of fit that was under $30 just for the pure rush and excitement of adding new items to my wardrobe. A transformation happened in me. I tried on everything, and decided if I wasn't in love with the clothes, whats the point? I put everything back and even found the dress I was looking for on my way! I didn't buy that either. I left downtown empty handed, with the same $200 in my bank account that I came with. Somethings happening to me. I even went for a thirty minute run yesterday! (let it be known.. I have a mental grudge against running that I thought would be undying until yesterday.) I think I'm going again today. I never believed you could change die hard habits until now. We'll see whats to come..

Until next time,
MW

Blank

So, I apologize for not writing the past couple days but honestly, I could not think of anything worth sharing. Then I got to thinking about this and decided If I can't think of one interesting thing that happened every day, then somethings missing. I recently decided that I'm being completely lazy and I need to relish life and open my eyes. Its easy to put on your headphones, hop on a bus, head to class, get back on the bus, put your headphones back on, and daze off into your musical world. Truthfully I've been doing that for weeks now! I say tomorrow I'll do myself a favor and instead of going through my daily tasks with the humdrum monotonous likeliness of a cow grazing in a field, I'll leave my iPod at home and start listening to the hilarious things going on around me. Living on a college campus can be funny sometimes, everywhere you go something edgy, dramatic or creepy is going down. Example: My school has a quidditch team. Yes, LUC and about 500 other organizations are now sponsoring a fictional wizard sport inspired by Harry Potter books. This just goes to show when you pay attention, you will sometimes be rewarded with a good laugh (or tear in the quidditch case). So, keep your eyes and ears open. Because you never know what, or who ;) you'll discover.

All for now,
MW

Boy Meets Girl

There have always been a lot of men in my life. No, I don't have seven brothers or three illegitimate fathers, quite the opposite. I grew up with two much older sisters who used to pretend I was there barbie doll. They were the ones who named me (at 5 and 7 years old), dressed me up in girlie things like button up sweaters and put bows in my hair (which was weird because I had a bowl cut, I really just looked like a gender confused boy). It's a wonder I was drawn to man-friends ever since eighth grade. This was after I started developing real confidence due to my freakish statue-of-liberty height. (Thanks Mom ;]). Since befriending my first real guy friend in middle school and having about a million and one others since then, I've come to learn a thing or two about the 'Other Species'. So it was when I spotted the most desperate boy I have ever seen try to basically propose to this lovely girl sitting next to me on the bus, I decided to blog about it. This kid was sitting behind me and I couldn't see him, but the second this tall brunette chick sat down next to me I could literally feel the heat from his face beaming of joy from seeing her. He immediately started by greeting her with the ever so charming "HEY, how have you been? What are you up to? Has your week been as crazy as mine has? Where are you working? Whats up???", without giving her a chance to breath. Luckily, I was reading a Chelsea Handler book so every time I started laughing at this kid, it wasn't plainly obvious. She started talking about her work and I swear every word this girl said was repeated back to her by this ever so adoring groupie. You could tell he was desperately trying to come off as a great listener and to be honest, I don't think there was a person on the bus not listening to what was going on. He continued on asking a million and one pointless questions in order to keep the conversation going, all the while her neck is probably breaking from having to sit half way turned around talking to Mr. Unnaturally Agreeable on a bumpy bus ride. Then, he did the daring, he asked her about her boyfriend. She went on about how supportive she was of her guy's education choices and that even though they hadn't been dating that long it was wonderful because they had known each other forever. After a lot of nodding and agreements he paused for 30 seconds and said.. "Well, That's great! I bet you guys.. will really make it. I really do! And.. if you don't.. I.. uh.. I'm terribly sorry!" This was my breaking point, I broke into hysterics and caught her looking at me as if asking for mercy. I buried my head in my book and pretended Chelsea Handler was telling me the funniest story of my life. That poor guy went on and on until we all departed from the bus.. I'm pretty sure he walked he tried to walk her back to her dorm or to Crate and Barrel to ask her what kind of China patterns she liked.. you know.. just in case it didn't work out with her boyfriend. What a fantastic transportation experience.

Poor sap.

All for now,
MW

Urban

So yesterday I bought these shoes from Nordstom called "Tom's". If you haven't heard of them they're basic canvas shoes and every pair you buy the organization gives a pair to a child in need. YAY. I feel pretty awesome every time I put them on. I'm walking down the street and I feel like i'm constantly doing a good deed. I'm no saint I'll admit, but I do donate the occasional dollar to the Jimmy fund at the grocery store. So these shoes were a pretty cool thing in my eyes. Then i started thinking about all the kids I see on campus in these shoes, flannel shirts, recycled material corduroys, and Starbucks coffee cups. It's weird.. I started to feel less good about my shoes.. only because it seems every kid who shops at Urban Outfitters and occasionally forgets to wear shoes while playing acoustic guitar outside in the grass thinks their the most "urban", earth crunchy philanthropist on the planet. SO, stepping down from my high horse I decided you can try to look the part all you want, but its how you treat people from day to day that really makes you a cool kid. So, be nice people.. and wear shoes outside because the streets of Chicago are gross.

That is all until next time,
MW

Thursday

So when you're in school (or working) one of the major things running through your head all week is the proximity of the day it is today to Friday. As for me, I start celebrating the fact that it is almost the weekend on Tuesday. Tuesday is a small accomplishment because its already two days past the most fun day of the week, Saturday. It feels as though last Saturday is already so far from view, that next Saturday is almost closer. Then Wednesday, this day passes in a giant blur for me because I have 3 classes that all end before 2. I come home and its not even 3 yet. I've already had lunch, and dinner is so far away that I don't know what to do with myself. I almost always fall asleep until five, and then I have dinner because that's the earliest you can eat in college and still be socially acceptable. Thursday, is one of the best days of the week. For me, I get to wake up at 11, go to class at 2:30, come home and do virtually nothing else but still feel accomplished. It is the day I feel most relaxed. No matter what happened earlier in the week, Thursday never fails to come around and motivate you to push through the next day.

Until Tomorrow,
Mags

Epic Fail

October 11th

Good evening followers,
     5:26pm. This is my first blog so I figure I better make it count. It's the second to last day of my break from fall semester of school and given the fact that I live 1000 miles away from home, I'm chilling alone in the wonderful city of Chicago. Actually, correction, chilling alone in the wonderfulness that is my apartment. I pretty much haven't left my room all day.  I organized my drawers, cleaned up my roommates mess in the kitchen, and bathroom, and oh yes, I even picked up that nasty bag of garbage she left on the dining room table which officially started to leak after about 3 days of immobility. Besides that, I decided to torture myself and watch the movie Benjamin Buttons for the 30th time. I should let you know, I'm not a crier, but every time I watch Brad Pitt live life in reverse I can't help but be inspired by this 3 hour long saga and drown myself in a pool of my own tears. For those of you who haven't seen Benjamin Buttons, I warn you, by the end you will either feel as though you've wasted and taken for granted all the years of your life by not chasing your dreams or you'll feel like you wasted 3 hours of your life by watching the film. Either way, you're some shade of wasted in the end. As of now I'm contemplating doing my body good and going for a run. I've recently decided to set some short term goals for myself which is essentially an after effect of watching endless television dramas like Grey's Anatomy, Make It Or Break It, and So You Think You Can Dance?. My goal for December is to run 6 miles straight without dying. I know what your thinking, this must be a fifteen year old fatty who sits in front of her television all day eating Ben and Jerry's wishing she could be a surgeon, gymnast, or straight up street dancer turned contemporary. I can assure you I'm a 19 year old, 6 foot tall and decently fit Journalism major who is just BORED out of her mind every day but the glorious weekend.

Thats all for now. Until tomorrow.

MW.