Penguin gummies, highlighters and study breaks.

Well, I think I've read at least a hundred pages of assorted text books today. This is not me complaining though. I'm loving every minute of it - I'm taking Human Sexuality from a professor with a riot grrrl tattoo, a class about the autobiographies of women in radical social movements, and my English class is discussing the politics of disabilities. For those of you who are not social studies or English nerds, this is the kinda stuff us nerds get hot and bothered about. 

Besides my extremely consuming studies, I haven't had too too much time for fun activities. The most creative part of my day at the moment is picking out my outfit for class in the morning. Basically if avoid the dreaded athletic shorts and hoodie, I feel fashionably accomplished. So here's a peak at what I wore earlier in the week - I love this dress because of the color and it has a very comfortable fit with a neat open back detail. The scarf is just the bottom of one of my hemmed skirts - when you cut off a couple inches of skirt, you have an insta-infinity scarf!

As far as crafting goes, I finally caved and got a Pinterest so I could find stuff to do while I'm at school, where my time, materials and space are extremely limited. I hope to get a little crafting routine set up once I find a craft store to buy yarn for crocheting, and a cheap consignment store or salvation army to get clothes for altering. Sorry for letting you down as a craft blogger but I will avenge my love of crafting!

Smiles, 
Morgen

Dorming time.

I've been here since Thursday and it's already been an emotional adventure that I get equally excited and nervous about all the time. I thought I'd take this quiet Sunday off from going out to read some of my book (still loving Anna Karenina a lot) and to post about my living space as of now. It doesn't feel like home yet, but hopefully it does soon.

 I'm not really one of the matchy-matchy types, and my dorm isn't quite as cute as half the others I've seen but it's mine. As you can see, I had to bring my swing music CD and a copy of the Great Gatsby. Also, I have a cute little collage of photos of Sam and I from Prom which is nice for smiles. My jewelry containers have definitely been very convenient. I love my mixtape comforter too, it reminds me of one of my favorite books, "Love Is A Mixtape." If you haven't read it, look it up, I'm thinking of re-reading it soon.

I just started feeling a little homesick starting today. My little brother and I are texting a lot which is nice and keeps me from feeling far away. Living with three girls is much, much different from growing up with two brothers, that's for sure. Of course, I'm also adjusting to not being able to see Sam. It's not quite as dramatic as either of us imagined, but it'd still be nice to hold hands with my best friend. Anyone else going through this transition/remember going through it?

Smiles, Morgen.

See you later, York.

My apologies to anyone that cares that its been a couple of days since I posted but I’ve been all busy with my packing and moving efforts. I don’t anticipate having a very interesting weekend, will most likely just be continuing to settle in. Once I’m feeling at home in my space, Ill do a post about it.

Yesterday was my final day in York and it never felt like I was actually the last day. I went to lunch with my mom and friend of five years, Erin, at the restaurant I grew up in and worked in since I was six. We had a lovely time, joking about our boyfriends college futures and discussing our siblings school careers. But this familiarity and casual conversation is the type of thing I will miss about home. We had very yummy cupcakes after lunch at Just Cupcakes, on Philadelphia Street, which I recommend if you’re in the York area. Mine was cannoli flavored and had a chocolate chip ricotta filling. The goodbye I said to her didn’t hurt too bad because time apart is an integral part of our friendship, and we always come back together as if no time passes. I hope her time in Indiana, Pennsylvania is as lovely as she deserves.

 

That afternoon I picked up Sam and we did very normal things, as if our last day together wasn’t that day. We baked oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and watched Batman Begins. Easy, laid back days are the one’s I will miss because he makes things like that special. After dinner with my family, we went to Maple Donuts for one last hoorah and were honored to be treated like a couple of regulars. I wish we had started making a habit of going there earlier in the summer because it’s wonderful. Coffee and donuts were consumed and then we sat on the bleachers of my township park and talked about what was to come. We weren’t sad, we were both very stoked for each other. No tear drops feel until it was truly time to go. It felt impossible to say the words goodbye, because I know he’ll be visiting in a month, but that’s a long time to go without hugs and kisses. I am confident that everything will be lovely as always and that this time apart will only give us more strength as individuals, making us an even more kick ass couple.

Coming Soon: More details about the move in and new room.

Smiles, Morgen.

Going Away Present; Dorm DIY

My closest female friend and I have been friends for about five years, ever since we met at middle school cross country practice. Her and her boyfriend became our usual partners in crime all summer and it's been wonderful. She's someone I trust completely and love dearly, so I thought i'd make her something to hang in her dorm. Inspired by the colors and patterns of some of the dorm stuff at Target, i got to work. I took one of my old canvases and painted over it, and then painted this sweet mosaic pattern using some masking tape and acrylic paint.

Cheap Tricks DIY

I took my brother with me to thrift for the first time, which was pretty adorable since he had no idea what was going on. He ended up getting a striped tshirt and a color block sweater that are both very 90s. I'm a proud older sister though. I picked up a floor length floral dress with a darling lace collar and an extra large tribal print tshirt. After a couple carefully placed cuts and stitching, I now have two trendy looking tops for under five dollars.

Dwindling Weekend; Part Five THE FINAL COUNTDOWN

        This is the last one. The final countdowns- cue Gob from Arrested Development. My dwindling weekends are finished. In just three days, I’m moving out of the house I’ve grown up in and into my new life in Philadelphia. My room and life are messes with all these preparations for take-off. There are plastic bins and boxes occupying all corners of my room, and goodbyes are happening every day.

        Thursday was the true beginning of it. One half of our best couple friends, Ian, had to leave a whole week before the rest of us because he is playing soccer at school. We are excited for him but quite sad to see him go. The summer has been all the more meaningful with these friends along for the ride, and we will all be there to support each other as we go through the same thing. After some pool side sitting and pizza eating, we gave hugs and good lucks and watched him go. I’m attempting to master the last look as I go through the “see you laters” to friends. Even to acquaintances or fellow employees, that look seems important. I’m collecting them at this point, like Drew from Elizabethtown. We attended one last party that was hosted before everyone started leaving. Even the people I never cared for in high school will stick in my mind.

        Friday is the day one of our larger local farmers markets is open, so Sam and I bought some produce, fish and a pie and made ourselves some stew for lunch, before I had to work on Friday and then Saturday night. I know Ill be back to work on breaks and whatnot, but the fact that I grew up in the restaurant I work in makes each good luck handshake a little bit more honest and a little more sentimental.

           Finally Sunday came around and I did my first round of packing for clothing. I went ahead and picked out the sweaters and pants I’d need once fall got closer. And then it came to my normal outfits; I packed ten skirts and at least twelve dresses. The first chest is practically full and I haven’t packed tops, workout/lounge clothes, tights…basically I’m not even started. Sam and I got together in the evening. We found the most adorable diner in Columbia, called the Columbia Diner. It’s totally old school, with sassy waitress and great coffee to boot. The yummy blueberry pancakes were enough to fill me up for our last outdoor concert at Long’s Park – Joshua James. This summer is being kind to us and allowing us a sneak peak of cooler weather, so much so that we got to wear jeans and long sleeves to the show. 

          I did a bunch of clothing refurbishing and DIY projects this past week as well! I'll be doing some posts that will go up while i finish packing this week. Smiles, Morgen.

Birthday Crafts!

Today is Sam's birthday! He's now a big, bad adult and the same age as me. I stayed up later than my usual old lady bed time last night to finish the first part of his birthday gift. Since I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise, this will be posted tomorrow. I got crafty for my babe and made some hand embroidered handkerchiefs since he always keeps one in his pocket.

I decided to take a shortcut and not make the handkerchiefs from scratch, I got these at Kohl's for about ten bucks. Also to start, you'll just need sewing basics; needle, thread, pencil. (This is my sewing box for college, isn't it adorable and bitsy?)

I did a couple with just a monogram of his initials in different thread colors. Then I decided to get tricky and do some things that are a little more personal to him. I think the treble clef turned out the best, but the steal your face skull is the one I'm thinking he'll be most excited about.

Dwindling Weekends (More like weeks) Part Four

So I haven't been doing very good at doing my posts during the week because I'm busy having fun doing so much other stuff before I leave, so this will cover Wednesday through Sunday. (If you haven't noticed, I've fallen head over heels for #picstitch. Definitely my current favorite app.)

Sam has become quite the tie dye artist as of late, as in he's tie dyed at least ten shirts in the past two weeks. He's expanded into pillow cases and apparently women's blouses. If you want one, he'd be happy to make you one. He's so proud of his work and it brought me great joy to watch him do his art on Wednesday evening after thrifting that afternoon.

Thursday and Friday were both spent in our lovely downtown of York. Most of the people our age scoff at the idea of going downtown, but we had a great time. Central Market and Cherry Lane were our destination of choice on Thursday morning. After getting a cranberry walnut cookie from a new bakery, we hung out on the Codorus Creek and took some cutesy montage pictures. On Friday, I finally took Sam to a swing dancing class at the York Swing Club. Since I was busy dancing, I couldn't take pictures but I snagged some of us after in our outfits. It was so much fun and for only five bucks, you get a lesson and hours of dancing! But what you don't expect is how sore it makes your calves. We are going to try to go back next Friday if I get off work!

Saturday night was spent at a graduation party, which wasn't too interesting aside from some goodbyes to friends. It's just getting progressively more weird to think of saying goodbye to people I take for granted. Sam and I returned to one of our favorite hiking spots at Apollo County park on Sunday afternoon. York is having this wonderful break from the heat with regular breezes that force you to think about the anticipation of fall! To take full advantage of the weather, we went to another free concert at Long's Park featuring Booker T. Jones. I got a chance to rock my new tie dye blouse and jeans, but even more exciting was Sam's super seventies collar on his thrifted shirt from Wednesday. He looked like a total dad with his cooler and backpack chair, very cute though.  

Dorm Crafts: "Jewelry Box"

In preparation for my move to dorm living, I've been doing the normal shopping for big plastic bins, bed linens and school supplies. However, the more pressing issues to me are those concerning how I will bring all my clothes, scarves, shoes and jewelry with me without losing it all in a big plastic bin. So I concocted this remedy for my jewelry. I have an old wooden jewelry box in my room that I love dearly but I wouldn't think to bring it to college because it's a bit clunky. I made my own "jewelry box" out of recycled boxes that I've received jewelry in, and a gift box. Using Modge Podge and colorful cardstock, I decorated each tiny box and labeled them for optimal getting-ready-in-the-morning speed. One tip for using Modge Podge, make sure you cover the surface with a layer of Modge Podge then add the next object before covering it in Modge Podge again. I think it turned out cute and it was fun to do! Anyone else been doing cute dorm room prep crafting?

Dwindling Weekends (Part Three) plus a Monday!

The weekend itself was pretty low key. We celebrated Sam's graduation and his brothers with a party thrown at his house. The most eventful part of this was when the boys played jazz for about twenty minutes at a time. I adore watching Sam perform and play his guitar because he is so happy to do it. Some of our couple friends showed up later in the party and we all ate and had some laughs since we hadn't all been together for a few weeks. After the party we went to watch fireworks at the park, where the boys decided to take their shirts off and we all sang "When My Time Comes" by Dawes at a borderline disturbing volume.

Thanks to Sam's parent's we got to go to Philly for the day and see Good Old War perform at Union Transfer as his birthday gift. It was a new experience to travel together but we made quite the pair since we are both so into planning things down to a tee. We spent the afternoon in South Philly, walking through the neighborhoods of older town houses and grabbing a malt on South Street. After working up an appetite from walking for a few hours, we headed into Center City and Rittenhouse Square. The hot dogs we got from Underdogs on 17th street were fantastic, especially because they were accompanied by great tunes and friendly staff! I will definitely be making this a regular stop whenever I'm in this area. To regain some strength and rest up before the show, we got coffee and pastries from a French bakery and sat around in Rittenhouse park for a few hours of people watching, reading and talking about dogs. We made our way north for the concert before the doors even opened. Good Old War had a great DJ spinning oldies tunes and a pleasantly surprising funky folk band opening for them.  Of course, Good Old War was awesome especially because Sam sang along to every song, since they're his favorite band. We had to leave early to catch our train home, but it was okay because the day was perfect. I'm looking forward to having memories with Sam in Philly, so when I go to school it will feel a little more like home.
Smiles, Morgen.

Summer (from concentrate)

Have you ever tasted the orange juice from concentrate that comes in the frozen cans? It tastes insanely sweet because its so much flavor without anything to dilute it. That's how my week has been, except it's summer fun instead of orange flavor. So much so that I haven't been home for more than a few hours, besides for sleeping purposes, all week. Enjoy the long post to recap my week.

Monday was date night after a day of moping around and being kind of scared of my professional future, or lack thereof one. My babe took me out for sushi at my favorite place and then we went to Maple Donuts for coffee and the best donuts. (Side note: I will miss these donuts a lot while in Philly. They are a York treasure.)

Tuesday started with a hike in Wrightsville, on a portion of the Mason Dixon Trail that I strongly recommend, and some nice views of the river. I rushed home and got dressed just in time to drive a little ways, about a half hour really, to go to Maple Farms in New Park for some peach picking. The experience was incredibly fun, though the weather was a bit warm, and the peaches were a total steal at only six bucks for half a basket, which is about fifteen peaches. Fast forward to the evening, and me and the boyfriend joined his brother for some free bowling courtesy of local coupons. This was probably my favorite day of the week, and the most tiring.

Wednesday began early in the morning with loading the kayaks on Sam's truck and heading to Shank's Mare for some "yaking" on the river. Beautiful morning on the water, but didn't get any pictures. Our evening found us in Hanover, a small town west of York. We were planning on seeing the Grateful Dead movie that was showing at select theaters in memory of Jerry Garcia's birthday. Before the movie, we went to a little drive-in called the Tropical Treat upon recommendation of his mother. I cannot get over how adorable this place was - straight out of the 1950's, order at your car, cheeseburgers and french fries with a vanilla malt. Not only was it great ambiance, but delicious food!

Thursday came and it already feels like the weekend. We took Riley to Gifford Pinchot State Park to hike and to learn to swim. Yet another time I wish I had taken pictures because he looked so cute in the water, but I was having enough trouble keeping up with him as is without a phone in hand. I'm happy to be home to work on re-purposing a skirt and read some of Anna Karenina before bed! Sweet dreams & sunny mornings to all!