May Indulgence

May was my last full month of my Undergraduate career as a student. Despite the overwhelming-ness of it all, I still found time to make some incredible memories with some of my favorite people. So, thank you to each and every person who adventured with me this month <3

Cal Poly Spring Dance Show

WOW. Let’s just start off with that. On May 23, 2013 I attended Cal Poly’s Spring Dance Show for the first time in my four years of college. Part of me wishes I had gone sooner…but I was still so proud to attend this year. I went to this year’s show to support two of my close friends—one I know through Orientation Programs at Cal Poly and the other I know through my a cappella group, Take it SLO. It was so beautiful to see their passion of dance brought to life…especially since I had never had the chance to see that side before. I felt so proud of their confidence and their outstanding performance…but I also felt proud to be a student of Cal Poly. I absolutely love that this show allowed the Business majors and the Engineers and the future teachers a chance to indulge in what they love. I was beaming the entire time.

Let me not forget another reason this evening was so wonderful: my close and much loved friend, Spencer went to the show with me. If there is one person in this world that knows how to cheer a girl up—it is this guy. He is next year’s President of Take it SLO and I could not be more proud of him. Thank you so much for being such a supportive, loving, and entertaining friend to me this year. I appreciate it more than you’ll ever know. I can’t wait to see all the great things you do in your life.

My A Cappella Obsession

Once again, recap: Take it SLO is Cal Poly’s premiere a cappella group. It rocks and I had the honor of being in the group for three beautiful years. Now onto why it was so great THIS month:

Shows shows shows. I have always believed that Take it SLO thrives before, during, and after performances and this month just proved that. Take it SLO is available for booking for events any time during the school year…assuming it works with everyone’s class schedules. Lucky for us, we had three gigs this month (which is a lot for us). Two of them were a blast—they caused us to hang out, bond, and drive all day—but one of them deserves special attention.

Take it UU Hour

Take it SLO UU Hour Performance

This year, Take it SLO was asked to perform at UU Hour on Cal Poly’s campus. This is a big deal because every week, ASI books a new “band” to entertain the students of Cal Poly in our neatly landscaped University Union Plaza. We were beyond excited to get this request, obviously. The beauty of this performance came a lot from (I believe) the “Takeit Ten Anniversary” that occurred just the week beforehand. Everyone was focused and it felt like we all fell even deeper in love with Take it SLO that weekend—I know I did. Anyways, the performance ROCKED…and you know what made it even better? A few of our alumni from the audience helped us out and sang a few songs. So here is my big shout out and thank you to IanO’Rourke and Joe Palomares. You guys really helped us kick some butt that day. Side note: everyone should check out these guys’ YouTube channels (I have them linked)…they’ve got a lot of talent squished into their bodies. I’m so lucky to say that I have had the pleasure of singing with them during their Take it SLO careers.

When Life Gives You Lemons…

Jumping my car together-- what a great bonding moment.

Car. Troubles. That was a big part of May, unfortunately. But now that my car is all fixed, I can look at the wonderful lessons I learned from the experience. Thankfully, throughout all my vehicle complications, my friend Sam was able to lend a helping hand, jumper cables, and some insight on cars. Two good things came from this experience: One, I re-learned how to jump my car (and got really really good at it...practice makes perfect right?) and two, it forced me to run to the mechanic that was about 4 miles away. So I guess I can be a little proud of that…haha. Also, thank you to all of my roommates and friends who drove me around, let me borrow their cars, and helped me jump mine…it helped a whole lot J

Spending Time with My Parents

If there is one thing that I have learned from living away from home the past four years, it is this: My parents are two of the coolest humans on the planet. Lucky for me, I don’t live TOO far away from home that I can’t go see them (or them see me) for a weekend.

Surprising Dad

My dad (Pat 5.0) recently took up the hobby of running half marathons….no big deal. I love this for so many reasons, one big one being that him and I always have something to talk about or do together. His first half marathon was on May 5, 2013 down in Orange County. I, of course, felt compelled to come support him. I drove home Thursday night through the Camarillo fires so that I could be at the airport the next morning to pick him up with my mom. As he walked out of the airport, I bolted out of the car to run and give him a hug. I have never seen a grown man look so confused in his entire life. I didn’t tell him I was coming home to watch his race so I guess he was a little shocked.

Dad coming down the final stretch of his first Half Marathon

Come race day, I followed my dad around everywhere. I tried to take a picture of him stretching, singing to the National Anthem, cross the start and finish lines—everywhere but on the actual course ‘cause there was no way in hell I was running 13.1 miles that day, haha. I was and am so proud of him for completing his first half marathon in one piece, running another one since then, and running yet another this upcoming weekend. I guess I got a taste of the kind of pride parents feel for their children that day…only it was inverse this time. I couldn’t be more proud of you Dad, I love you.

Morro Bay with Momma

Somehow with our busy schedules, my mom and I found a weekend that we both were available to hang out in the Central Coast together—for the last time before I graduated. We stayed in MorroBay, walked around the cute little fishing town, went out to dinner, drank wine, watched movies, got our nails done, and talked and talked and talked, as always. It was so nice to escape the normal stresses of school and just get to be with someone I love as much as my mother. She is my best friend and I am so unbelievably grateful for her.

Memorial Day Weekend

St. Patrick's Day 2012

I made some of my best friends EVER through Take it SLO my first year in the group.  One of those friends was my roommate the past year and the other two both live down in Azusa together while they work at their big-boy jobs. Since my two guy friends just recently moved in together, me and Julie figured we would go visit for a little house-warming party.

When we arrived, their house was set up in the “True American” game board with the rules taped to the wall. True American is a drinking game we all saw being played on New Girl one day and we all fell in love. We had been talking about playing for over a year before the day finally arrived! One of the rules of “True American” has to do with finishing famous quotes. Well, at some point in the evening, Julie started laughing really hard (typical) while she had beer in her mouth. She exclaimed, “Oh my gosh, beer just came…” and Joe finished the sentence “…out my nose!!!!” and proceeded to the next game board spot as if what Julie was saying was a quote for the game. We all died laughing.

Sometimes we pretend we're in a boy band. 

The next day we went to Flappy Jack's and got gluten free buttermilk pancakes, pretended we lived in IKEA for over two hours in their showrooms, and played basketball and skeeball at Dave&Busters. To close out the day, we all played Catch Phrase and “Heads Up”, Ellen Degeneres’ new Smart phone Application (I highly recommend you all download it), at Congregation Ale House in Azusa. It was a heart-warming way to spend the weekend with my best friends…especially since it’s going to be at least a year before the four of us will be able to be at the same place at the same time again. Thank you guys for all the laughs this weekend and always :) 

The Simple Serendipities

And now for my favorite section, the quirky events in May that are too flattering, fantastic, or funny to skip over:

Trivia String Cheese: Julie and I would always buy the Trivia String Cheese from the store because who doesn’t want to learn while they’re consuming cheese? The question on this particular cheese was “Meteorology is the study of what?” I sent Julie a picture saying the question was dumb because the answer was so obvious...and she agreed. Upon opening the cheese, I felt a huge rush of embarrassment. Newsflash: Meteorology is not the study of meteors (my guess) OR stars (Julie’s guess)…it’s the study of weather. Duh. I guess Trivia String Cheese actually is helpful…

This weather sign: It's hard not to chuckle at this...

Up to the minute weather reports courtesy of Paso Robles Inn.

Maybe I should go into Public Speaking?: In my poetry class, my Professor has us read famous poems aloud here and there. On this particular day, I was chosen to read. After class, my Professor told me that I have a wonderful speaking voice and that I should consider going into Public Speaking of some sort. Maybe he’s on to something…

That Graduation Thing: I picked up my cap and gown. So weird. But look at my cool cap!

Update on the right now:

Countdown to Mississippi: 27 days.

I’m back in Orange County after spending the weekend with my Dad in Buffalo…and Niagara Falls (pictures to come).

I leave for San Luis Obispo tomorrow because a) I need to pick up my last paycheck b) its my friend’s birthday and c) I’m already SLOme sick.

I have time to write these blogs finally! But the next one won’t be coming until early July…so hold tight til then J