waterproof

i ordered some waterproof gear from the internet for my study abroad and some of it came today.
SO EXCITED.
less than 6 weeks :)
also, don't you enjoy the inspirational notes that my roommate writes on our mirror?

it's time to say thank you...

gotta be grateful that this exists...
i do have to admit that i a little bit love this. obvious parody? win.

Fly Me Away

I'm going on a study abroad to England this spring. In six weeks and two days, I will be in Scotland. We'll be hiking all over the place and I really just want to go now.
Who needs school, right?
I am so excited...until I looked at the packing list. Hiking clothes? What? This was all new to me. I mean, give me a pair of jeans and some tennis shoes and I'm good to go.
But no. I have to buy pants like these. Or even these.
Why, oh why. I guess I should forget my vanity. But who wants to ever feel like they're a nine year old boy with ZIP OFF PANTS. Not me, thank you very much.
I just keep telling myself, "Jane, you'll be in England. Who cares if you look like a socially awkward nine year old boy...and smell like one, too?"
I am so ready to go, tho. Despite the pants. Despite the smell and the blisters that are headed my way. When do you get a chance to hike across Great Britain with some pretty amazing people and see where Jane Austen and William Wordsworth and Charlotte Bronte lived and wrote?
So, please, just take me away right now.

relaxing before bed on pinterest?

and now I will never sleep again

love and loath.

love:
-being done with taxes. thank you, father.
-stake conference today. the member of the 70 that visited was hilarious.
-sunday naps.
-shakespeare. the more i read of him, the more i absolutely adore him.
-discussing which man from little house on the prairie is most attractive with my mom. (decision, none of them. to quote her: "I would poke myself in the eye before I would pick Charles.")

loath:
-meetings that go over time. i have issues with attention.
-people telling me what to do. it's probably my biggest pet peeve.
-forgetting homework until 10 pm the night before it's due.
-eating too much junk food. (gym tomorrow say what?)
-people telling my i'm doing my job wrong. especially when i'm not. (i guess that plays into people telling me what to do. i really hate that. maybe i shouldn't be so stubborn.)

I Want That.

how i feel scrolling through my pinterest food board.

Unibrows

So. At every school, I feel like you get your variety of weirdos. There's the kids who don't shower, the kids who are over confident, the a little too hipster kids...the list goes on.
My apartment has the blessing of associating with a few of these. Namely, the over confident, socially awkward type. You know what I mean. Don't get me wrong. They're nice. Just sometimes make for good stories.
Example:
A few Sundays ago, we were all home and one of those boys was visiting. I was washing the dishes, my back to a conversation, when I hear him read our quote wall out loud.
"'Unibrows are sexy. You can stroke them when you make out.'" A pause. "Wow, Jane. Guess I'd better start looking into a unibrow."
I turn around and he's looking at me in that way that makes me want to shower. With boiling water.
Yes, I indeed said that quote. Yes, it was a joke. Yes, he thought it was serious, and no, he wasn't joking. At least about the making out part.
My friend once told me she believes I have a creep magnet imbedded in my soul.
This just serves to prove her right.
That is all.
Hope your day is as awkward as mine!
-Jane

I want a giant dinosaur for Christmas.

Sometimes, when you spend way too much time on pinterest a pin comes into your life and changes it forever. Yesterday I say this, and I now know my life can never be complete until I have a pet lawn dinosaur. 

So naturally I turned to ebay.. 

I want him

unfortunately I dont have 36 grand.. or a lawn. 

but if you do, you can buy this guy here

and then bring him to me :)

The state school

SO, I go to a state school, and Jane goes to a church school.

Which means she sees things I would never see here and I see things she would never see there.

So we swap stories and it gets pretty entertaining.

So today a kid asked if he could buy me a drink sometime. I don't drink, and I know for a fact that he wasn't old enough to go bar hopping. nice try bud.

and the it was cracking me up that one of the sororities had a quote attributed to Eleanor Roosevelt  painted in their window. "Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That's why we call it the present"  I felt it terribly ironic that sweet Eleanor who was not known for her looks or sociability early in her life was inspiring sorority girls to YOLO. I would like to hear her thoughts on that haha.

then, I came home to a flooded apartment.. which unfortunately happens everywhere.. but today it happened here.

carry on.
love, penelope

the wiseman.

so today, i was talking to my coworker about his favorite topic. 

girls.

he was asking me what i like in a guy and then told me that i should be more open, so that if i am interested in a guy, he will know.

he also told me to climb a mountain with the boy i'm interested to know if he's the one to marry.

and to give him chocolate if i want him to know i am interested.

and to play with his hands when he's sitting next to me.

i laughed and told him that i didn't think i would, that it was too forward. not my style. that was too scary. he asked why, and i told him i'd been hurt pretty badly in the past and was worried that if i opened myself up again, the same thing would happen.

and this is what we said:

"jane, i'm going to tell you a story."

"ok," i laughed. we were walking through the snow to the next building and he began.

"once, there was a boy who lived in a village that felt like no one loved him. he couldn't understand why, so he went to the local wiseman to get his problem fixed.

"'wiseman, no one likes me. all the people avoid me. can you help me with my problem?'

"'yes, i can, but you in turn must help me with a problem i have.'

"'anything!' the eager young man said.

"'i have this ring that i need to sell,' the wiseman held up a simple band. 'take it to the city over there and sell if for no less than two gold coins.'

"the young man decided that sounded easy enough and went off on his journey. he approached the city and tried all day to sell the ring. people offered two silver coins, one gold coin, a bronze coin, but never two gold coins and the boy went back to the wiseman disappointed.

"'i couldn't sell it,' he handed the ring back to the wiseman.

"'that's alright. i want you to try again tomorrow, but this time go to the other town and see how much they will offer for the ring. don't sell it, just ask how much they will give you for it.'

"so, the next day, the young man headed to the other town and asked the first person he saw how much he'd give him for the ring. the young man was shocked as the man said he'd give him seventy-eight gold coins right there if he'd sell it. he decided to see what other people would offer, and was surprised as he got offers for eighty, sixty-seven, even one hundred gold coins! he returned to the wiseman and asked him which offer he would like for the ring.

"'i don't want to sell my ring,' the wiseman told the boy. 'it was merely a lesson for you. right now, you see yourself as the ring that no one will buy, but someday, someone will come along and want to buy you for the price you are really worth. don't sell yourself short to those who don't recognize the value of what they have.'"

he then asked me if i understood the story. i nodded, "i get it." i thanked him and we got back to work.

jane.

Today is Jane's Birthday!! So Since I am a billion miles away and cant embarrass her in person I get to post lots of embarrassing pictures on the internet, and mush about how great she is! woot!

This is jane and I shortly after we first became friends five years ago!

 Jane moonlights as a pole dancer

 and she is fantastic!

Happy Birthday Jane!! 

Love you!

penelope

I believe.

Journal Prompt via

I believe in dresses

I believe in family

I believe in fresh air and green mountains

I believe in nail polish

I believe in naps

I believe in friends

I believe in being kind. 

I believe in tender mercies

I believe in adventures

I believe in prayer.

penelope

a day in the life.

awkward:

• actually spending time getting ready this morning, only to get to class looking like a drowned cat. with frozen hair. i should have just turned back and put on a jacket with a hood. or grabbed an umbrella. or i could have skipped out on walking under that tree and bumping my head on the branch and getting water dumped all over me.
• frozen rain=shuffling/skating/slipping up hill to campus. hello unintentional ice rink of death.
• skipping the gym this morning in favor of extra sleep and feeling super bloated and tubby for the rest of the day.
• the fact that i didn't check the mirror before i left this morning. turns out that getting dressed in the dark isn't the greatest idea...
• the almost fight that went down in my english novel class today.
• getting checked out by a freshman boy that walked by me when i was at work. (would that be awesome? i can't decide. it was pretty awkward...although my coworker found it funny...)

awesome:

• actually understanding things in my french review today. quelle chance!! (hehe)
• fabulous chicken salad sandwich for lunch.
• pandora win. work today was great because i had hilary duff and journey and cascada singing about everytime we touch, and anyway i want it, and this is what dreams are made of.
• actually only falling down once. i'm quite proud of myself.
• talking to a friend i hadn't seen in awhile in said french review.
• my cousin dyed my hair again and it's absolutely perfect. i love everything about it. love love love love love!!

if you don't believe me about the rain, check this out:

this is no exaggeration. i was late to class.

here's hoping your day was less slippery than mine,
jane.

happy.

Sometimes in life there are moments where you realize you are happy. Not for any reason in particular, you just are. I am totally convinced there is no one in the world more content or pleased their life than me. Its really really hard. but I like where I am. I like where I am headed, and I am happy.

-Penelope

in which jane experiences an identity crisis.

is it bad that sometimes i just hate hate HATE reading classics?
because i do.
but then on the other hand, i am an english major and i should just jump for joy at the thought of reading 80 pages in Joseph Andrews before class tomorrow.
trust me, i'm not. the book is ridiculous and i'd much rather be watching community. thank you very much.

which, you know, i just might do.
good night everybody!

-jane.

Pinterest lies to you.

I want a dog. and a house and a yard.. Apartment life is killing me... but not my bank accounts.. so pick your battles I guess

But really. I want a dog. a big one. even though I wont have one for many many years.. I like to research breeds..

I love Bernese mountain dogs but they have so may health problems.. so when I saw these pictures of Tibetan mastiffs on pinterest. I naively thought they were adorable

Sooo..... I google imaged them

and these beauties were the first images.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Can we talk about my need for therapy now? I can't un see it....

Scariest dog in the world. Its like an adorable dog drank a potion that turned him into his own evil twin and then had a love child with a lion and now it wants to eat your face and burn your house down.

and I thought they looked so cute.

Love, Penelope

terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day

Sick sick sick sick.
    I have the flu.
        At least this better be the flu
             It is a beast of a thing regardless

several members of my family got sick over the break. I was feeling invincable. I had avoided stomach bug over thanksgiving, and now flu over Christmas. With all the family gatherings and runny nosed children I was thinking I had the best immune system ever.

And then I woke up the day I was headed back home. totally sick. So. Close.

The first few days I had to pretend I was a normal person becasue I had so much to do. luckilly when it got the worst the only thing on my agenda was to get better

wanna know the best thing ever?

 

My cough drops are motivational. they make me feel like a superhero with a cold. which was awesome the first few days. cleaning like a boss. paperwork like a boss. and now it's more like. sleeping like a boss.. netflix like a boss. sounding like a dying animal. like a boss.... oh you know

 

 

School starts on MONDAY and I am freaking out a little because my family who got sick way before me... are still sick. but I am taking like the whole cold section of pills from my health food store.. so since I am taking more gross stuff I should be sick a shorter time. it's only fair.

 

I asked my baby sister once what she did on no good very bad days, and she told me she reads.

 

she is pretty dang smart.

 

so today I shall take her advice.

 

Love, Penelope



 

in which time passes too quickly.

we got THREE WEEKS off for christmas break. so great right??
except school starts on monday and i very much want to hole up in my parent's basement and play with a cute little 4 year old blonde boy for the rest of my life. well, not really.
but isn't he cute?

 i just really don't want to go back to school.

-jane

in which people lack ambition

That seems like an awfully high number of people with no goals! Maybe it just seems crazy because I have had goal making drilled into me my whole life.

that being said I havent made any goals yet..
but I do annual goals by my birthday..

So today my goal is to eat black eyed peas and icecream.

see how driven I am?

Carry on. Love,

Penelope.