Snow Place Like Home
 

            It was day 4 of being snowbound…we had chopped up Emma’s wicker porch chairs for kindling…nothing left in the fridge but cheese slices and leftover sweet and sour sauce…the scent of Go Chicken Go behind our house was starting to smell more appealing…I think I saw Liz hungrily eyeing the possum (Count Fosco) that lives in our backyard…

            Just kidding.  We still have power and have been living off of brownies and egg sandwiches, not cheese and sweet and sour sauce.  And Count Fosco was alive and well last time we checked.  But we are snowbound and going a little stir crazy, so surprisingly no one is too thrilled at the prospect of “Rocky” the blizzard rolling in soon.  We have been trying to pass our time with some productive and some not-so-productive activities these past few days…here is an account of some of things the snowed in residents of Forest Avenue have been up to:

·         Worked on thesis and capstone.  Emma has officially written one sentence of her capstone, Sam (who lives down the street) is currently sitting in my sunroom muttering something about catching up with capstone journals, and I have actually done some work on my thesis!  I powered through about two pages while sitting on my kitchen floor eating soup (sometimes you just need a change of scene), and I am now up to my elbows in Kabbalah research.  My topic is Kafka and Gnosticism, and it is involving a lot more research than any other project I have undertaken.  I guess that’s to be expected from a senior thesis.

 

A nightmarish mind map of my thesis...

·         Pearl Jam.  Every February Alpha Sigma Alpha has a date party called Pearl Jam to welcome our new members (we call them “pearls”).  Unfortunately, the snow prevented us from going to a venue for the dance, but we had a fun night making do in the Rockhurst Activity Hall (AKA the “Party Barn”). 

·         Our Own Dance Party.  My friend Sam and I were a little disappointed by our Pearl Jam DJ, so we spent the better half of Saturday night DJing our own dance party in my sunroom.

 

 

·         Played Headbandz.  Nothing says snow day like some good ole fashioned games.  Went over to Sam’s for an afternoon/evening and played Headbandz…a favorite of everyone from my 10-year-old cousin to my college friends.

·         Filled Sam’s sketchbook.  Midterms kind of snuck up on Sam this year…she was supposed to have half of a sketchbook filled by this Wednesday, but she had approximately zero drawings finished.  So on Saturday we decided to alternate dancing with her sketching and me halfheartedly researching the overlap between Gnosticism and Kabbalah.

My brain according to Sam - Tibetan prayer flags, Klimt's Tree of Life, some columns from the Roman Forum, and a "bright and beautiful" flower inspired by a centerpeice on my table...sounds good to me!

 

·         Made cupcakes.  And not just any cupcakes.  Emma pureed strawberries to make the most delectable strawberry frosting you can ever imagine. 

·         Burned cookies.  Needless to say,  Emma’s frosting has nothing on these charcoal babies. 

·         Watched A LOT of movies.  I mean A LOT.

·         Slept.  I mean A LOT.

·         Made Snow Ice Cream.  It definitely wouldn’t be a snow day without breaking out the snow ice cream recipe passed down from my Nana, to my mom, to me!  Get some fresh snow and add milk, vanilla, and sugar!

 

All in all, a successful round of snow days, with possibly some more on the way…

Impending Storms

            Today is a snow day, something I will never stop being excited about despite the fact that I am 22 years old.  There is almost a foot of snow, no one has touched our streets, and the weather channel is telling us that the worst storm won’t even come until 5:00 tonight (so hopefully snow day tomorrow to make it a 4 day weekend?).  Right now I am settling in to a day of warm foods, snow ice cream (an old family recipe), and alternating between writing my thesis and watching Netflix.  Life is going to be pretty great today. 

            But at the moment, it’s yesterday I’m thinking of.  The day before a potential snow day is hyperactive compared to the snow day itself.  People running to the stores (I witnessed empty bread and egg shelves at price chopper), everyone giving contradictory weather reports, and just the general buzz of speculation, excitement, doubt, and dread in a few cases (to those people, I say “Grinch.”). 

            Yesterday was also the day of the graduation fair.  My classmates and I filled out forms for our cap and gown sizes, contemplated how much we actually wanted to spend on announcements, and chatted with career services about our plans for next year…or lack thereof. 

            As we wait to hear back about Alumni Service Corps (me, I’ll talk more about that later), Physicians Assistant school or volunteering in Costa Rica (my roommate Elizabeth), or a job at Visitation elementary school (my roommate Anne), the emotions are similar to that of waiting for a snowstorm (though unfortunately I don’t think life after college is like a snow day).  Some people—like those who hear about classes cancelled early—are celebrating their acceptance into Boston College’s social work graduate program (my roommate Emma…and with a full tuition scholarship!).  Others are dreading the difficulties that storms and graduation brings, and others are as ready for the next adventure as a kid for a snowball fight…and most of the time we are a mix of all of these things.    

            Life next year is a storm brewing, and we wait, we dread, we wonder, we pray for what the next stage will be.  I remember so clearly my graduation from high school and I am thinking all the cliché things one thinks when looking back—it seems so close, but I have grown so much, will I look any better in these graduation pictures than some of those atrocious old ones?

            But we are ready.  Elizabeth absentmindedly tells me about medical terms that I find on paintings I’m looking through for an art show without even having to look up from her homework.  Anne grills me about grammar while she is making a test for her student teaching class and I pass with flying colors.  Emma patiently explains to us the difference between cognitive and behavioral psychology when we have no idea what she is talking about for her capstone.  Most days we are excited for what we will do…we are the storms brewing!  Gathering strength for four years and ready to break on the world!  At least, that’s what I tell myself on good days.

            But today, no graduation fair, no applications, no brewing my own storm…the only thing that is brewing is a big breakfast with with my roommates and a day of enjoying the snow and the happiness of being a college student whose classes are cancelled…

 

Snowpocalypse

 

Future social worker and future physicians assistant on a snow day...auspicious beginnings

 

 

A little throwback to the high school graduation.  Here's to hopefully getting better educated and more photogenic after four years...

 

 

 

 

Sandwich-Eating Philanthropist

            Freshman year, you are working with monopoly money.  You’ve got your swipe card and it’ll get you three square meals a day, plus all of the midnight Planet Sub runs for ice cream and chips that your little heart could possibly desire.  In the case of most freshman girls (the guys tend to eat a little more), you always end up with leftover meal points at the end of the semester, so you never worry about budgeting your meals or anything like that.

            Senior year is a little different.  Granted, since I live on campus I am lucky enough to have a half meal plan, which comes in handy when it’s noon on a Saturday and I’m too lazy to make your own breakfast, but just motivated enough to haul myself and whatever roommate happens to be awake to the cafeteria in sweatpants for some biscuits and gravy.  But I pay for the rest of my groceries, and it turns out that pop tarts, hot pockets, and other luxuries from home are not exactly in a college student’s budget.

            Bottom line: Freshman year you joke about wanting free food…senior year, you decide you need free food.  Enter Saturday night auctions.  I found out about these auctions through my sorority’s philanthropy chair, who passes along volunteering opportunities to the chapter every week.  It turns out that if you volunteer at an auction, there is a high likelihood of free food being involved—in most cases, sandwiches, cookies, and all sorts of easy to serve goodies, plus sometimes fancy treats leftover from the actual auction food.  So the running joke in my house is that I have been spending my Saturday nights volunteering at auctions so I can enjoy free and delicious dinners every weekend. 

            I’d be lying if I said the free sandwiches weren’t a nice bonus, but I really like working the auctions.  In addition to all of the typical good volunteering feelings, it is an interesting people watching experience.  The last two auctions I’ve helped with have been at the Starlight Theater and the Marriott downtown, which are both beautiful places as is, but it is even cooler to see them transformed into a “Bayou Bash” for a school for children with disabilities, or an “Art for the Children” benefit for medical missions in Africa.  People come in their beautiful dresses and dapper tuxes, and the tables are set with elaborate lamps and centerpieces, with crème brulee waiting in the wings. 

            Even if I’m not actually a medical mission doctor or someone at the auction, it still feels like stepping into a different world than a college cafeteria for a few hours.  It makes me wonder if someday I will be in a position to be this generous, and it makes me grateful for the people in Kansas City who can afford to give financially to the causes that I can usually only give time to.

            So am I trolling for sandwiches?  Yes.  But I am doing some sort of festive wonderland.  And I like to think that even if I’m eating cheap cookies instead of crème brulee, I’m still a bit of a philanthropist for a night. 

 

Table Decoartions for the Bayou Bash for Horizon Academy

 

 

 

 

Group of Alpha Sigma Alphas helping out at the Art for the Children Auction at the Marriott