Stuff from Stephers

I used to share a blog with Melissa, but she's been MIA for a few months, so I made it all mine! Random thoughts on my every day life to bore you with.

Wednesday, January 31, 2007

E.L.F.

I just wanted to comment on the website that Danielle left us all for cheap good stuff - E.L.F. I shopped at it, and I have to say that I really like it! I got my stuff in about 4 days, which is definitely quicker than Danielle experienced. They aren't stingy - the amounts are about normal for the $1 you pay for it. Shipping is a flat $5. The website has "Looks" that you can shop. If you pick one, they put everything from the "look" into your cart. I really have to say that I like this website and I'm probably going to use it again. Especially for testing out colors, stocking stuffers or little gifty things. Thanks Danielle - I love it!

Friday, January 26, 2007

Help me please!

Hey guys, I need to find a pretty short meditation for group - anyone know of a good podcast or one I can buy on iTunes? I'm multi-tasking and it's getting weird. I'm going between searching for a meditation, watching the Colton Pitonyak live testimony (I used to watch CourtTV all day at SU when we had the free cable, and by the way, WHO goes to Mexico willingly with a guy that just killed and chopped up a friend?), watching a parenting video, and searching for group ice breakers. Anyhow, hit me up with some meditation. Thank you!

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Why do people in South Austin not know North?

Last night I was volunteering. After I had eaten my plastic food dinner and all the kids were tucked away in their counseling session, I was sitting and talking with two other volunteers who are UT freshmen, and my supervisor. Anyhow, so someone (and I can't remember which one) looked at me in all seriousness and said "Where's Round Rock?" I was like, "uhhh....where the new outlet mall and Ikea are," and they said "I know, I want to go to the Outlet Mall, but I don't know where Round Rock is" So I told them that it was North, and they asked where North was. I was like "?#!!@ - It's Freakin' NORTH!" So one of the other girls had to explain that if you get on I35 and go in the direction opposite of San Marcos you'll get to Round Rock. Everyone feel smarter for the fact that you actually know where Round Rock, and that mysterious "North" are.

Monday, January 22, 2007

Saffy's Food Review

I love how my dog is totally sure that anything I'm eating MUST be better than what she has. I'm pretty sure that beef flavored rawhide is more tasty than cucumbers, but if it's going in my mouth it becomes the most interesting thing in the room. And don't think anything porny about that. I know there are some gutter thoughts that could be inserted there, but I really mean it about food. Anyhow, today I officially unpacked my last box while watching a parenting video about how to get your kids to listen. The fun thing is that I get to count that as internship time since I was watching it for that. Look at me killing all these birds with one stone! Next thing you know they'll be blaming that South Congress bird killing on me for being so darn productive!

Sunday, January 21, 2007

Overcomitted

I'm sure a lot of you know what I'm talking about when I say that I feel like I've signed up for too much. Not that there's a single part of it that I don't want to do (ok, except maybe some papers for school), but it's a lot and at times I know everyone just sort of pauses and says "Oh My GOD, I have SO much to do!" I was actually talking to Ebony about that today. When it happens to me I sort of zone out and can't focus. In response to my recent freak-out I have started unpacking photographs. I feel productive because it is something I need to get done, but it's not really one of those "must do" type things. Anyhow, so it just makes me feel better to tell everyone everything I'm working on. Some of it might sound silly to worry about, but I worry about everything. And I love to plan stuff so I enjoy this all, but I still get a little crazy. And you guys can tell me everything you're doing. That way we can all be supportive of each other freak-outs. So here's mine:

1.
School
2.
Homework and projects (yes, that is separate than actually going to class
3. Internship (planning and actually counseling people)
4.
Volunteering
5.
planning bachelorette party (although actually going will be a big stress reliever)
6.
planning Homecoming
7.
Alumni Council
8. trying to get into a doctoral program
9. running (I know I don't have to do it, but the weather has sucked lately so it's stressing me out to not cause when I finally can I'll have to start from square 1 again)
10.
doing my best to help Eb plan the ADPi 100th Anniversary
11.
helping plan our 5th Reunion
12.
making sure we don't forget to do anything for Barbara's wedding (I know, that's probably Barbara's biggest stress for the last year, but I don't want to do something like....who knows what - not plan a shower or forget my dress or something, and yes I know that's kind of far away to be worrying about, but so is homecoming).

OK, so I'm sure there's something in there that I'm forgetting, but looking around at all my notebooks and books, and calendars that's what I have for now. Now I just need to figure out a time to get a haircut, when to get Saffy groomed, take some garage sale stuff home to my mom, convince my mom to help me make curtains (I already bought the fabric!) and telling my dad that I need his help doing things like hanging stuff so it won't fall and covering up holes in my walls. I want my apartment to feel somewhat "new" since I decided to stay another year. I don't want to feel bored and stuck in a rut with it. Anyhow, I'm glad it's a sunny day and that everyone can get their Vitamin D to pump up their happy. Now let me know everything that is stressing you out (it's like group therapy).

Monday, January 15, 2007

$$ ropas para poco dinero $$

At Christmas I got a ton of cute, yet seriously cheap shirts from my grandma that are really great (I asked her for them, my grandma isn't that hip). I get comments and questions every time I wear one, so it isn't just me thinking they're great. I don't have pictures of me in any of the tops, but I have the teal version of the shirt in this picture. I wanted to wear them a few times to make sure that they weren't going to fall apart while I wore them, but the ones I've worn so far have passed the one-wear test. They are ALL hand wash only - which probably speaks to the fact that they aren't that long lasting. The jewelry is cheap ($) too, and seems to be pretty stable. They fit pretty much the way they should. I've tried tops and accessories and next I'll move on to some pants and dresses. Everyone keeps asking about them, so being the good friend I am (believe me, I'd love to keep the cute, cheap clothes secret - it's my only edge!) I will share my secret shopping find - Body Central. However, I ask that everyone donates a link back of a website that has cute yet cheap stuff. Nothing is free - including website tips! Oh, and if we ever happen to be wearing the same thing, I was wearing it first! ;o)

Friday, January 12, 2007

Week end update

Remember how I said posting about guys seemed to jinx me? Well, so far it hasn't. I just thought you'd all like to know. Mike (or as Misty likes to call him "Friend of Folic Acid Man") came over the other day with pretty purple tulips for me. Aww... he's really sweet. And he puts up with my total insanity. The fact that we hang out so much sort of clouds the fact that we've only known each other about two weeks, and I forget to try to act normal for a while. So for now, the only thing jinxing me is me. I had my first day of class Thursday and I really like the professor and am doing my best to start out the semester in speaking mode. And that is my update for the week. Now I'm headed up to SU to meet about next years Homecoming, and then over to TBCH to get some video's that I'm going to use for my group session on Monday. And, if anyone ever needs this service, I have figured out how to get segments out of movies and string them together into my own dvd. I'm an evil genius and I promise to only use it for educational purposes, so to the secret government people that track everything, please don't turn me in!

Monday, January 08, 2007

Can you hear me now?

I went to the Cingular store cause my phone has been having that problem where I can't hear anyone. I figured that it was either 1)my phone had broke when i dropped it in Killeen or 2)the service had suddenly decided to suck. It turns out that I had broken one of the speakers while in Killeen. This still doesn't explain to me WHY it worked better sometimes than others, but I wasn't going to ask more questions. So, I now have a new phone that the guy assured me was one of the most durable they had, and I only had to pay $30 for it cause he did an override on the thing that told me I couldn't "upgrade" yet. For all of you non-Cingular customers, it's basically when you re-sign your contract after 2 years and they let you get the discount that a new customer would get for a new phone. So, I got a new phone and a new contract. I also saw this guy I went to high school with who is apparently a warranty/fix-it guy there. He said if I had come to him first he would have just given me a new phone for free and pretended it was under warranty and that it didn't have a huge crack from me dropping it. Very sweet of him. Which he should be since he WAS my first kiss. Yup, in the third grade he decided that he was going to kiss me, so he did (OK, only on the cheek, but I was still shocked). Anyhow, so he kissed me in the hall and I happened to be holding this art-ish project that happened to have a lot of loose sand on it, which I promptly dumped on his head before he could make a running getaway. I went home and cried and my mom told me that some day I'd cry because boys didn't kiss me. I reminded him of the kiss, and he thought it was hilarious and got my phone number, so we're going to hang out some time. It's fun to run into people when you live a new city and don't expect them to be here, especially a block from your apartment.

How does that make you feel?

OK, so since Barbara (I used that coffee bean grinder today by the way - thanks!) was talking about freaking out in her last post I thought I would share what I am currently freaking out about. Tonight is my first night as a counselor. OH MY GOD I'm not ready! I'm going to sound like a complete dope, and it's not even with just one client, it's with a whole group AND my supervisor. I mean, of course I'll keep in mind that my supervisor told me that I probably can't make anything any worse, and that my upstairs neighbor (who is one semester away from completing her Masters of Social Work at UT) told me to "trust the process," but still...none of that tells me how to phrase things. Who would trust a counselor who said something like "umm...I can't think of the word for it, but you know...when you feel like people don't get you" or something stupid like that. Cause I know it'll happen. Maybe it'll inspire the women to think that they too can get a Masters if this idiot can. But really, it would be sort of like throwing any of you who have degrees in psychology into a room and telling you to work with someone. OK, maybe I've learned a tiny tad more about HOW to do it than a psych major, but seriously I think it's probably about the same. I pictured my first client being a kid, and well...not a group of adults plus a supervisor. Maybe just one adult, but group therapy is my worst nightmare. Seriously - I put off taking my group therapy class until my last semester of school because it terrifies me; so now I have to actually do it for real without any idea of how it should go. It's like God knew that in order to earn a good internship with good play therapy he was going to make me do something totally horrifying to me. I guess it will help me grow. And while you are all at home tonight eating dinner, picture me looking like a deer in headlights sitting in a group of women trying to form words and not turn red. It'll be good for a laugh, but if you don't mind, cross your fingers for me at the same time please.

Friday, January 05, 2007

Someone to bounce things off of...

I know my dog-lover friends know what Kongs are. For the rest of you, it's a toy that you can stuff with good stuff like peanut butter, carrots, treats, etc. and give to your dog. It has a little hole that they try to get the yummies out of - basically keeping them busy for hours. I gave Saffy a Kong last night, and she eventually got tired of it and gave up. This morning however she was back at it - tossing the Kong off of hard things to try to loosen up the peanut butter. She had tried a couple of other hard things to bounce the Kong off of when she walked over to me while I was laying on the floor, and threw the Kong at my head! No joke. And then she just stood there and tilted her head in confusion when it didn't work.

Wednesday, January 03, 2007

Cheers!

Nothing curses me more when it comes to guys than blogging about them, but...I can't help it. I'm sure the curse will break somewhere. Anyhow, so...I would say that most people were downtown when we saw folic acid man, yes? OK, probably not most people, but some. First of all, about him... Barbara was saying that the more I told her about him the worse he sounded. Well, I've heard more after dates 1 and 1.5 with Mike, and the more he said the worse folic acid man sounded. Anyhow so the guy Folic was friends with - Mike, who got my number...we had a first date yesterday. Well, I'll call it first and 1.5. Today is #2. We'll be married by next Thursday (joke). He doesn't care about the huge zits I have right now, and he seems to get my odd sense of humor. OK, maybe nobody "gets" it (except Barbara sometimes) but he seems to not be scared of it. I was telling him about the New Years party and I realized that the more I told him about that and other outings we've been on, the more and more it sounds like Barbara, Zach, and I have some weird Mormon polygamy going on, except Barbara is the one married to two people instead of it being the man. Anyhow, he thought it all sounded funny, including me deciding to monopolize a whole bottle of champagne, and chowing down on 3 or 4 stalks of celery at once. Last night he gave me my New Years kiss and said that the year was starting out great, and I agree. So, if I get down at any point, just kick my ass in the right direction and give me a shove. One of my resolutions is to not let myself get down so I appreciate all the help I can get. The other one is to not pick at my pimples so if anyone wants to come live by my mirror and smack me when I do, you're invited. I hope everyone has a happy and interesting 2007. I drank enough champagne to toast everyone reading this so...cheers!