Friday Five: Maya Angelou

Happy Friday!

This week one of my favorite poets passed away, Maya Angelou. She was an amazing woman and accomplished so much throughout the duration of her life.  I remember my mom making memorize one of her poems, when I was young, and ever since then I have always admired the woman for her strength and courage.  

This article from CNN describes some highlights from Maya Angelou's life. 

Today's Friday five are quotes from Maya herself.

Enjoy your weekend!

xoxo

-mQs-

Memorial Day Weekend Recap

(A day late)

In just two short weeks I fell into "summer mode".  I have forgotten the days of the week, I've finished a few books, my skin is already peeling from sunburn, I have spent time watching netflix, and I have managed to sleep past nine a few times. 

As much as I would love to live this care free for the entire summer, it is now back to reality.  Yesterday I started my two summer classes.  Let me tell you summer classes are intense.  For some reason I thought they would be easier, jokes on me.  We cover the same amount of material in five weeks that would be covered in a regular 15-16 week semester.  Today was day two and in my one class several people have already dropped.  This may sound odd, but I enjoy the rigor and fast pace style of the courses.  Doing them this way keeps you organized, on task, and gets rid of the "fluff" that is not needed in college classes. But enough of me rambling on about summer classes, more to come in future post. 

And now for the real reason I wrote this post...

Memorial Day Weekend entails something different for every individual.  Some people have traditions, some open their summer homes during this weekend, some spend their weekend on sports field, others visit with family and friends, sadly some people have to spent it at work, and for others it is just like any other weekend during the year (just a little longer).  

My weekend was filled with productivity, time in the sun, gardening, food, family, friends, and a little bit of tradition.  

Friday morning was a busy one for me.  I woke up and went for a two mile run. (I think it might be time for new running sneakers because I woke up Saturday morning with shin splints.)  I then took Todd to work and we managed to squeeze in a brief Starbucks date.  2 caramel macchiatos, one iced and one hot. I then took a ride over to the local library. Since classes ended, I have been a bit of a book worm.  I don't have time to read for pleasure during the semester, so I guess I really missed it.  I had planed just to bring one book home with me, but after an hour of walking through each isle, of books, I ended up coming home with six books.  I really don't know where I thought I would be getting all the time to read six books on top of working and taking classes.  I then spent the rest of the day getting a head start on my online class.

Friday night Todd and I went out for sushi.  We were lucky enough to sit outside. 

Saturday my mom and I took an adventure. More details will come in future post, but the place was adorable and filled with home and garden essentials.

Sunday I helped my mom do some yard work.  My family grilled burgers for dinner, and my mom made pasta salad and potato salad (so yummy!). Later that night we enjoyed the nice weather by sitting, on a deck, catching up with our neither.  My mom and I stopped by and ice-cream store in our town.  It was so hot out, that the ice cream was melting faster than we could eat it!

Monday morning I sat on our deck and read a book for awhile.  At 1 pm, the family all gathered to watch the Division 1 Men's Lacrosse Championship game.  This is the tradition I was referring to earlier.  We watch this game every year, a couple of years we actually went to the game.  Although my brother nor I play lacrosse anymore, our family still loves the sport.  Throughout the day several family members stopped by for brief visits. We ended the weekend with family dinner.

I hope you all had a wonderful MDW weekend!

xoxo

-mQs-

Friday Five: Memorial Day Weekend Sales

Happy Friday, I haven't done a Friday Five post in quite some time, so I decided this week would be a good time to start doing them again.  I always enjoy Friday Five posts because there are so many different things to write about with this general topic.

Holiday weekends always seem to be popular times for sales.  I. myself, will not be out shopping but I figured I would share some deals with all of you.

Jcrew Factory:

 50% off all men's and women's styles in the store and online

 Francesca's: 

Clothing BOGO buy one, get one 50% off

Gap:

40% off all regular style items

South Moon Under: 

25% off all Sale merchandise

Pottery Barn: 

Up to 60% off items

Summer Classes

Next week marks the start of summer session classes.  This will be my first time taking them. As much as I've enjoyed sleeping in and having the freedom to what I please, the past two weeks, I am sort of looking forward to the start of my classes.  This may sound odd, but I enjoy learning. I find it fun when the topic is interesting.  One of my courses I have to commute to school for and the other one is online.  Another first for me, I've never taken an online course before.  I've already started to do some work for the online class since it went live a couple of days ago.  I am lucky enough to have the opportunity to be able to take summer courses: I don't have a restricting job and my family was able to afford them.

I found this super cute note taking sheet on pinterest this morning.  I thought I would share it here for the rest of my fellow summer course taking bloggers to use too!

Next week is also my first week working. I got a waitressing job at a nearby country club.  The upcoming weeks are going to be busy! 

It's back to making to do lists, scheduling my time, waking up early, and still finding time for fun and fitness!

Here's to the start of a productive summer!

xoxo

-mQs-

Wednesday Words of Wisdom: Pinterest Style

I am a huge fan of quotes and inspiration.  I have an entire Pinterest Board full of "Words Worth Reading".  It has all different quotes about a variety of things.  Some of the quotes in this post came from my board.  If you ever need some inspiration or a pick me up, reading quotes is the way to go.

Hope you enjoyed a little inspiration.

xoxo

-mQs-

Post Semester Organization

Now that the semester has ended it's time to organize all of my school supplies. At the conclusion of each semester I take some time to organize my notebooks, binders, notes, papers, and textbooks. I discard items from my general education  classes because I won't need them in the future.  I usually keep my notes from classes within my major.  I have a large folder that has about 30 different sections that I use for those items.  This keeps everything together in an organized manner, and I know where to find each course when I need to reference it in the future.  This folder is the pink one in the picture below

This cleaning also includes purging textbooks that I won't need in the future.  When it comes to text books every college student has their own method.  Some students use textbooks, others don't use them, some rent their books, others buy theirs, some students sell their books to the school bookstore, some sell them to a book truck, some lend them to friends, some sell them online, and others enjoy keeping all of their books.  Personally, I sell my books once the semester ends.  I sell them to friends or I sell them via an online site.  My favorite site for getting book quotes is Slug Books.This site compares the selling prices of books from several different book companies.  This helps when deciding which company will give you the most money for your book. 

xoxo

-mQs-

National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day

May 15th is National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day. I love chocolate chip cookies.  I think it's funny how many different variations are of just one kind of cookie.  I was looking on pinterest today and these were some of the chocolate chip cookie pins I found.

chocolate chip cookie dough fudge

Toasted oatmeal, pecan, and chocolate chip cookies

Chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream sandwiches

Strawberry chocolate chip cookies

The smallest thing can change the way a cookie appears. 

Check out the Ultimate Guide to Chocolate Chip Cookies

Xoxo

-mQs-

Tuesday Tunes

Last week while I was studying, I decided to try out Spotify.  I've heard of it before but I had never actually used it. I know it has been around for quite some time, but I've always just used Pandora. Let me tell you downloading Spotify is definitely not something I regret. I like how it allows you to listen to whatever song you want whenever you want. 

From listening to Spotify I've created a new playlist!

Currently listening to:

Riptide- Vance Joy

Pumpin Blood- NONONO

Rather Be- Clean Bandit

Summer- Calvin Harris

Am I Wrong- Nico & Vinz

Give Me Back My Home Town- Eric Church

19 You + Me- Dan & Shay

Rewind- Rascal Flatts

Whiskey In My Water- Tyler Farr

Breeze Blocks- Alt. J

The Mother We Share-CHVRCHES

Sleeping With A Friend- Neon Trees

Bad- David Guetta

Red Lights- Tiesto

Waves- Mr. Probz

xoxo

-mQs-

Two Years Down

I did it! I completed another year of college! I am so happy that this semester is over.  I had over seven days off of classes due to snow, which is insane.  For some reason a school official somewhere down the line thought it would be a good idea to make up the lost time, from our snow days, during finals week.   Most universities don't hold classes during finals week, students are just responsible for taking their exams and writing term papers.  Last week I had to go to all of my classes, study and take all of my exams, and write a few term papers. This schedule made the week even more hectic, tiring, and stressful than usual.  Luckily I got through with only having to put in one really late night of studying.

 It's so hard to believe that I'm almost half way done with college.  I say almost because transferring has pushed my graduation date back a semester.  It still feels like just yesterday I was sitting next to my best friends at our high school graduation. So much has changed in the past two years; some change has been for the better while other changes are a little disappointing.  Everything I have gone through and experienced has made me the person I am today and I am incredibly thankful for all of these opportunities.

As you've read, this entire year has been a period of change for me going from the school of my dreams to your average state school.  Last semester I was miserable.  I had some good times, but overall I just was not a happy person.  

(Semester Reflection, Transferring Part 1, and Transferring Part 2)

This semester, however, was much better.  I think I finally came to terms with transferring.  I now know more people, I figured out how to balance 18 credits, I took advantage of more opportunities, and I stopped wishing I was somewhere else and started being happy with where I am today.  I still can't say I am in love with the school I attend, but I have learned how to tolerate it. 

I can honestly say that joining a sorority has been the one thing that has kept me from transferring a second time.  Joining Alpha Delta Pi helped me meet so many people.  Not only did it give 85 women to turn to at any time, but it provided me with role models and great networking opportunities.  ADPi has also provided me with more of a social life than I had last semester too.  Being a commuter and a transfer made it very difficult to make friends and find people to hangout with outside of classes...this semester I have formed some great friendships with people who I can count on at anytime.

Here are a few snapshots from this semester:

I am excited for the summer to be here.  I have a few weeks off before my month of summer classes begins.  This summer I am focusing on becoming fit, bettering my little blog, making money, and just really enjoying my time off.  

I hope you all are having a wonderful weekend!

xoxo

-mQs-