The Times, They are a Sizzlin'

How many "I'm back!" can one blog have? Apparently one more. Things have certainly been happening in the Woo since December. Some fairly large life events went down so I figure I would give everyone a little update. My last semester as an undergrad had its shaky moments (Je ne parle pas le francais bien) but it went by very quickly and with relative ease. I had my 22nd birthday at the end of March, which really just makes me feel older than dirt. Seriously, a girl in one of my classes was talking about Usher's "Yeah" song and how she was in fourth grade when that hit the scene. Ugh. Like so many men and women my age, as spring approached, I became anxious about what my future might look like. A bunch of my friends are staying at Clark to complete a fifth year masters program they offer here, so it felt like they knew what they were doing (at least for the next year). I hip hopped around the internet looking for any job in the arts since I would hate to be one of the many that gets a degree in liberal arts and doesn't use it. I've also recently become very interested in the auction aspect of art. As luck would have it, Skinner Auction and Appraisers, the largest fine art auction house in New England was looking for Auction Assistants. I applied in the beginning of April, went in for an interview (just to see what it was like) and got the job. All of a sudden, I had an option for the future. I talked to my family, and I decided to stay in Worcester for at least another year, working in Marlborough and trying to figure out what the future of my career might look like. It is only a part-time position so I went on the lookout for another job to supplement the work at Skinner. I went onto www.hireculture.com (which is an amazing site for jobs in the arts in New England) and found a similar position at a different auction house called Altair where they really just need help on auction days. I've already worked one auction there and had a blast. I was beginning to feel like the decisions I was making were the right ones for me.

A blanket that I will probably be working on forever.

I graduated from Clark on May 19th with a major in art history and a minor in history. My whole family came up to celebrate, and it was kind of amazing to have everyone there supporting me. It was really the first time that both sides had been together and I really just appreciated the effort that went from both parties to make it into an amazing, and stress-free weekend. They were also around to help me move into my new apartment!!!! I'll put up pictures soon because I'm kind of in love with the place. It's a one-bedroom apartment that was just renovated in an old church built in 1865. It has so much character and the way I've been decorating it just makes it so personal and quintessentially me. I'm getting used to living alone, but I think I'm going to enjoy it. Between working three days a week, and the occasional weekend, it gives me a place to read, crochet, and hang out with my friends that stayed up here. It also has a bunch of room for people to stay over for a visit (wink wink nudge nudge to the friends to "the South"). I miss PA, but I think this change is a good one for me.

 I'm excited for what comes next, and I'm hoping the blogging regularly is a large part of that. I think it gives me an opportunity to connect with a larger community even while I'm rolling solo. So please, I'm going to try and reach out more and expect the same from anyone who is reading this. Thanks for letting my rant about the update. Anything massive happening in anyone elses' lives? Now I'm off to get ready since I have an auction at Altair today that I'm helping with the internet bids for.

Getting Back into the Swing of Things

Yeah, I'm back. And I'm not going to go through the whole "I promise I'll try to write more" schtick. Everyone's heard it before and I really don't need to bore you with excuses.

So what have I been up to? Well my fall semester has finished with relative ease which means that I only have one more semester before I get my degree. What?! How did that happen? It seriously feels like yesterday when I was freaking out about the whole college thing (something Katie's been recently going through and is making me all sorts of stressed all over again). I spent Thanksgiving in New York with my family where we ate good food and spent a snowy day at the Bronx Zoo. Stress-free finals followed and I was on  my way back to Lititz where I've been relaxing and chilling with friends and family. We were lucky enough to have a white Christmas which always adds a bit more magic to the holidays. It was so nice just to be around with family and cozy up with some hot chocolate (and amaretto).

I've been thinking a lot about making lists of goals I have. I've never been much for lists, but I think I just need something different and more directed in my life that I can easily follow. Instead of waiting to make some New Year's Resolutions next week, I thought I would start somewhere more manageable and shorter term and make some goals for this winter break (since it will likely be my last one for some time). So here it is in writing (or type, but you get the drift):

1. Finish at least one book a week. It's only about 4 books, but at least it's something different than all of the academic articles I read for school.
2. Take more pictures. I just need to get in a better habit of documenting everything either with my little point and shoot or my phone.
3. Have tons of Jedark time. That's right, I'm in a Rock Band band and we're called Jedark and we're awesome!!!!!!
4. Have some concrete ideas about what I'm doing for the summer/future. I might have to phone up a few friends and see what they're doing too. Interviews and more research for job/internship opportunities is a must. I think this is the most important thing on my list this break.
5. Have some amazing sister bonding time. We're both going through a transition time in our life and I think we both need the stability.
6. Organize my life a bit. My laundry, DVDs, nail polish: basically everything in my life needs to be more manageable. 
7. Take some time on my nails. I just got these new nail stickers, and I've been having such a fun time making my nails all pretty. I'll have to make sure to put more pictures up of them.
8. Get up the courage to do just one outfit post. It just feels so weird going outside and getting someone to take a bunch of pictures of me. I just need to get over the embarrassment and celebrate my self-confidence. 
9. Work on finishing my chevron afghan. Oh right, I now crochet up a storm by the way. I'll have to write about that later. I'm loving this pattern though and I can't wait 'til it's finished.
10. Brush up on my French. I'm taking a  French course next semester for a language requirement, and I'm getting a bit nervous since it's been four years since my last French class.

So there it is. My first day of classes is January 14 so I'd better get going on some of these. Most of them seem attainable in the time given. I've already finished a book so I'm already off to a fair start. I think writing for this blog really helps me keep focused and organized so I guess blogging more goes along with this list. I already have some recipes and such lined up so keep checking back.

And on that note I hope everyone has a joyful holiday season. And I'll leave you with one of the most awkward Christmas photo ever taken of Katie and me. It wouldn't be Christmas if she and I didn't wear the same men's pajamas and do a half-assed titanic pose in front of a Christmas tree.

Toasty Varm

Today is totally one of those days where you just want to stay inside and cozy up with a blanket and some hot chocolate (with amaretto). For the last few days in Worcester it has been so cold, and today the weather went off the deep end. About an hour ago, it started snowing like crazy. Not pretty graceful snow, but blizarding, windy snow. It's already started to stick to the ground. Luckily, Amanda and I went out and got some groceries before the snow hit, but I am seriously dreading going to class in about 20 min. It just seems like the weather lately won't give us a break. Luckily, we weren't too damaged by Hurricane Sandy, but that doesn't mean we need the constant bombardment.

In going with the idea of staying inside and warm, I have a wonderful soup (which I'll post later) in a crock pot simmering for my dinner tonight and Amanda whipped together some cornbread and just took it out of the oven. Super cozy. I unfortunately finished all of my crocheting projects and need to run out to get more yarn because that would be the perfect activity for a day like this. 

As a little extra, we decided that we can go ahead and skip the charade of Thanksgiving. Don't get me wrong, I love spending time with my family over a large feast and being thankful for all I have. For some reason though this year it seems that once Halloween was over, people went straight into winter holiday mode. What's a girl suppose to do but throw on some Christmas records to occupy the time. I am seriously in such a happy time. The first record I ever bought on my own was John Denver and the Muppet's Christmas album and I have been in some serious states of heaven while listening to it. Between that and the Nutcracker album I have, I'm set for life. I hope everyone stays warm and safe and enjoy basically two months of holiday magical-ness!

P.S~ Can I get some love if you saw the post title as a Robin Hood: Men in Tights reference? Love Mel Brooks!

Riders on the Storm

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Let's have a report of Hurricane Sandy from Worcester shall we? School closed today, and what do you think Carly did? I sat by the window crocheting and alternating between watching Monty Python's Flying Circus. It was just that kind of day. Who wants to really go outside in Hurricane-like gusts? Not this chikeepoo. I'll probably end this action-packed day with some reading and studying for a midterm I have in two days. I might just paint my nails if I'm feeling saucy enough. Since I cleaned my room and did laundry yesterday, I thought I could treat this day like a mini snow day like back in High School. We in the Massachusetts area are definitely having some heavy storms, but I know that it's nothing compared to what folks back home in PA are dealing with. I just know that the Lancaster area is very prone to floods and I'm hoping that everyone is staying safe and dry.

I hope that everyone affected by Sandy stays safe and smart as we ride out this monster storm together. It's hard to think of anything with the name Sandy as something horrific and disastrous, but that's the name we're given. I definitely think that Frankenstorm fits the bill a bit more.

Life Lately: One of those Weeks...

You know there are some weeks that just take forever and you feel like you'll never keep it together 'til the end? Yeah. This was one of those weeks. On top of regular school work, I've been interning at the WAM two days a week (which I love), and I've spent 8 extra hours dancing. I'm sure it will all pay off. We've been dancing our socks off trying to prepare for this huge event we are co-presenting tomorrow (10/26) at the Hanover Theater here in Worcester. So excuse me while I place a shameless plug here.

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This Friday Clark University and WPI are helping to present An Evening of Swing Dance and music at the Hanover. It's going to be full of big band music, swing dancing (including Lindy Bop and Charleston) and some ballroom styles  for a night of tons of fun. Clark and WPI will also be doing some demonstrations and showcases. I'll be dancing in our Footloose number talked about here which will be awesome. We're also doing this pretty kickin' number involving a whole bunch of different dances. I'm sure WPI will impress too. There's going to be a ton of people there just having a good time. So if you're in the Worcester area tomorrow and aren't going to one of many pre-Halloween parties and like swing music, you should come check it out. Even if you don't know how to dance and just want to come to party with some pretty cool cats that would be coolio daddio (because I am that sad aren't ya glad). All proceeds from the night go to charity so you get to have fun and support a cause! If you want more info you can check out the Hanover's website.

So that's the major thing going on this week. Oh wait, no it's not. So Friday night I'll be swingin' on a star and Saturday I'm going down to New York City for a field trip with the rest of my art history peeps. We'll be hitting up the Met and talking to a bunch of art people so it should prove useful for future careers (at least answer some questions about that scary unknown). So it's going to be a fun, yet exhausting, weekend. I just hope that I live to tell the tale. On Sunday will be pretty chill for me so I'll try to get some research done for a paper. The rest of the ballroom gang is heading to a competition at UCONN so good luck to them! Let the weekend commence!

Fall Break: Woo!

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Eh, so this isn't quite the same holiday, but I'm not that creative, but you get the picture (ha! word play). Today was my first official day of Fall Break and I couldn't be more excited. It's just so nice to have a break (no matter how small) in the middle of the semester to give yourself some breathing room. Whether you stay near campus, go off to visit loved ones, or just go back home to chill it's wonderful to have some time where your brain doesn't constantly have to be on. 

I broke up my 6 hour drive down by staying overnight Thursday with my Maxine in New York and drove down the rest of the way yesterday. I'm catching up with my sleep and spending time with my lovely family. Today my mama and I basically went wherever the wind blew us. We started in downtown Lititz which was a hustle and bustle of activity because it was the annual Chocolate Walk , but we checked out a new thrift store that just opened, Uncle Funky's. It had a really funky vibe and I hope stays in business. Lititz really needed something a little funkier to give it that edge. We then headed out to another antique-y store outside of town where I scooped up some fun stereographs from the early 1900s for super cheap. It was just a hop skip and a jump over to my favorite record shop to pick up a few new albums. Last stop of the day was a trip to JoAnn's to get a new dress pattern and fabric so Mama B and I can start on a new little project that I'm super excited about. 

I'm tiredly waiting for Katie to get back from work so we can actually hang, but today has been such a great day and I can't wait for the rest of my break!

I Got My Hair Did

Well, I had it done a few months ago, but I wanted to share the new me with those who haven't seen it yet. During my semester in London, I was constantly thinking about chopping my hair off and getting bangs. I haven't had them since I was 9, and even then they seemed a little too blunt and silly looking. I eventually chickened out of getting my hair cut at all while in the UK just because I could never find the time, and before too long, I was going to be back home. By the time I did go in to see my hair stylist, my hair was hurting. Half of it was dry and dead and desperately needed a trim and a touch up to fix my highlights that had grown out at least three inches.

So I went in looking like this:

 

And came out looking like this:

We decided that I needed a change. I knew I wanted the bangs, but we decided to go for the whole shebang. I think I ended up cutting 8 inches off my long hair. I was fortunate enough to be able to donate it to Locks of Love even though my hair had been color treated since my stylist said they recently changed their guidelines. Donating my hair has always been on my bucket list and I'm so glad I was able to do it.

I really love the way it looks. I've actually had to do something to my hair (blow drying) for it to look good. It's been fun and I love the way it looks both with and without my glasses. Only downside now is that they grow pretty fast and I'm a little to lazy/scared to trim them myself. I miss my super long hair and the weird things I was starting to do with it, but it's hair, and it'll grow back in no time. It's still long enough to put it up in various braids, but I'll be excited to when it's back to a longer length. I don't have many other pictures of the way it looks because I never seem to have a camera around whenever it looks good, but you know how it goes. I am loving the bangs and will probably be keeping them for some time.

P.S.- Sorry about the crappy image quality. You know how it is.

You Make Me Feel Like Dancing

So I've decided that since I'm jumping back into the blogging pool, I would be a little more personal and sharing my life as opposed to only caring about what other people might want to read. That's what these things are all about anyway right? And here's an odd fact about me that you might not know.

I ballroom dance.

That's right, I'm a part of my collegiate ballroom dance team where I dress up in gowns and am whisked around the floor by my lovely partner. I drive to different schools to compete against other dancers in waltz, tango, foxtrot, swing, cha cha, and rumba. And I have a blast.

Sorry to be so mechanical, I just wanted to get the facts out there before I go into my more flouffy reaction to dancing. When I was a child I did tap and ballet for a few years, but quit after it looked like I would need more than one day to commit to an activity. I wasn't a very driven child. When I was in high school, my mother actually took ballroom dance classes in town and would also compete with her studio. She's probably the one that made me want to do it. When I was looking at schools, one of the main reasons I was interested in Clark is because I knew they had a ballroom dance team. Next thing I knew, I was dancing at the Brown University Competition in November, and never wanting to stop.

For me, the best part about ballroom is having fun. It can be super intense and competitive if you let it be, but it's really just about the fun and trust you form with your partner and team. You learn a completely new set of skills and your body begins to do these things that you never thought possible.

This is basically just a plug for the nation of ballroom. If you've ever thought about doing it, then go out and do it. It doesn't matter how old, how big/small, or how rhythmically challenge you might be. Anyone can do it and they should! Especially if you are either entering college or currently attending. It tends to be significantly cheaper than getting outside lessons then when you're out of school. You also learn with your peers so there's no pressure if you get anything wrong. The only way to fail is to not try. So why not give it your best and see if you love it as much as me.

I think the reason I started writing this was because I am currently deflated in my bed after two days of back to back ballroom practice getting a choreographed dance to be perfect and my muscles are pretty tired, and I'm exhausted, but I love it and would never want to stop dancing.

Here's the dance we were fine tuning for a performance we have next week in case you're interested.

I'm Back!

Sorry about the super long hiatus. After getting back from abroad I decided to spend most of my time with my friends and family at home and less time on the computer blogging. My summer flew by as I'm sure everyone's did and I'm back in Worcester to finish off my undergraduate career (yikes!). There are going to be a lot of changes happening in my very near future so I thought it would be fun to document them in one cohesive place. Maybe then people will share their similar woes about what the future might hold for all of us. Grad School? Work? Travel? There are just too many questions out there that only we can answer for ourselves. I'll soon have better posts to get back in the swing of things, and will hopefully publish posts everyday...ok, it'll probably be more like every other day since I apparently don't have much discipline when it comes to posting. This was more to let everyone know that I am alive and have a lot of things I would love to share about my past, present, and future. I'm so excited to be back!

My Week Through Pictures Continues

Phew! What a week. I think I'm going to need some time to get my summer schedule ironed to see where regular blog posts will appear. I actually meant for this to post on Tuesday, but I've just been so tired. My body just needs to adjust to the whole going to bed early/waking up at 6 routine. Once it does though, I should be all set. Today is my day off so I slept in (until 9 whoohoo) and need to do some things around the house. Here was my week through pictures. Note: I've only done up to last Tuesday and will hopefully have this present week to post on next Tuesday. Just bear with me.

 
 

A) New package from ELF. Always love new makeup. B) Having some down time to actually paint my nails. C) Finishing getting ready for the Red Hot Chili Pepper's concert with my rock star eyes. D) The less glamorous side of being Carly B.; throwing away weeds 'n' things at the local garden dump.

 
 

A) Celebrating Mother's Day early with Julie and ice cream cake from Maggie Moo's. B) Dress worn to visit the g-ma on Mother's Day in Chambersburg, PA. C) BIGGEST NEWS EVER!!!!! While visiting my grandparents, I told them about my new obsession with records and my grandfather just happens to have an extra portable turntable that he just gave to me!!! He also gave me a whole bunch of his old records to play on it. I am seriously in heaven. I'll probably do a whole post on it soon because I'm so excited. Seriously!? Simon & Garfunkel originals??? D) Katie and I breaking it down to our new obsession Big Time Rush. It is true. There are times when we definitely have questionable taste in music.

Hope everyone had a wonderful week and a wonderful Mother's Day. I've got some more posts lined up that I need to work on today, but then I should be back on track. 

My Week Through Pictures

See! I told you that you wouldn't have to wait another week to hear from me. Ever since I got back I seem to have been very determined to actually do something with me time. I've always been a sort of lazy procrastinator to put it mildly. My first morning back, I woke up at 6 am and immediately started doing laundry and organizing my luggage. Along this resolve, I've decided to take at least one picture every day. So far this week, I've been successful. I also decided to get back on Instagram (my name's framedpersonality if you want to follow along!) and have been having a lot of fun looking back at my week through various little pictures. I usually don't do the most exciting things, but that's my life and I feel we need to document the little things to get some retrospect. So I think I'll do a good job at keeping this up and you can look forward to more crappy iPhone photos in the future!

  

  

A) It's almost summer time, which means my crafty bones are shaking. I'll let you know if this actually gets started/finished. (has anyone out there attempted punch needle and if so, any pointers?) B) Owl met a new friend in Austin's car C) New shade of lipstick that I'm super in love with D) My Swedish Embroidery afghan that I started last summer is almost done! So excited to show you guys the finished product.

  

  

A) Listening to probably the best song ever sung in the car B) Saying "Hi" to Katie's horse Derby C) Eating a Bleu and Pear salad at Tomato Pie Cafe. It's so good to be back in Lititz D) Going with Katie and Maxine to See Madama Butterfly in Lancaster.

  

  

A) Grabbing a beer with my Pops at Annie Bailey's on First Friday in Lancaster B) Zoe's artwork at her school's cute little art show. Love the bright colors! C) Lily's contribution to the show. She painted Harry Potter and his broom stick D) Chicken lasagna with fried parsnips on top at Ma(i)son.

  

A) Margaritas for Cinco de Mayo B) The girls reading while waiting for their dance recital to start. Zoe's got  Hop on Pop while Lily's reading The Adventures of Luke Skywalker 

So that was my week. In retrospect a lot of stuff happened. I got to spend a lot of time with my littlest sisters and got to see them tap to "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah" which was just a lot of fun. After their recital, I went out with my sister and a few friends to see The Avengers, which by the way, was pretty kick ass. I walked out of there super pumped and felt like I was a superhero. Luckily I realized I wasn't before I did anything reckless. That would have been bad... Hope everyone else had a great week!

Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder... Right?

Sorry for the bit of the silence on the blog. I've been back in the States for a week now, and I'm just trying to make sure I get reorganized before this summer gets away from me and I'm surrounded by both material things as well as summer goals that are never achieved. I'm hoping to hop back on a more "regular" blogging schedule, but we shall have to wait and see if I become more inspired these next few months. So bear with me. I'm planning on finishing documenting my travels (Paris, Rome, Florence, Venice) as well as some other lighter posts. I've never been much for New Year's Resolutions, but I'm thinking about writing out a few summer resolutions to see if I can keep to any of them. So until next time friends! I promise it won't be more than a week until our paths cross. So are the days of our lives.... You know. That sort of thing.

I'm Going to Overtake You!

You know how it's the simple things in life that keep you going? At least for me that's how it is. I just had a really nice self-reflection today while walking paintings across London. The other day I might have actually attempted some exercise and at the time felt really good about myself. Then yesterday I kept waking up from all this pain that seemed to course through my body. When I woke up, I almost didn't go to class because I couldn't move! I bit the bullet and plowed through our field trip to the Sherlock Holmes museum (which was so impeccably detailed it kinda amazed me). I even pushed through to go to Singing in the Rain with my dear friend Amanda. It was my birthday present from her and it was so much fun! Highly recommend it. It's not Gene, but he did a darn tootin good show of it. The only real complaint I have are the stairs going down to our seats. They were so steep! Even if I was feeling one hundred percent, those steps would have been a nightmare. I almost fell twice. Hey West End! Buck up on the health and safety! Anyway, I had a little victory when schlepping a painting around: I passed a person on the street while walking. I just had a Top Gear moment like I was driving in a race and "I've just overtaken someone! Yeah!" Of course two steps later my knee gave out and they passed right on by. For the moment, I had accomplished something.

 

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I was also surprised by Amanda again and got to see Sweeney Todd tonight! Phenomenal does not begin to describe the experience. The lady playing Mrs. Lovett was none other than Imelda Staunton. You might know her better as Mrs. Umbridge from Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix. She was brilliantly funny, but for me the man that stole the show was Mr. Todd himself Michael Ball. I could listen to his voice for days. He had this great mixture of terrifying, crazy person meets tragic romantic which is exactly what Sweeney needs to be. I can't wait for their cast recording to come out. I must be getting better because walking home after the show, I didn't want to chop my legs off. Here's to a pain-free tomorrow of art fair going!