Summer Reading 2011!

I am stealing this idea from my wonderful friend, but I think it's great to share with other people books that I am enjoying while on a break from school reading. Enjoy :)

Heart of the Matter by: Emily Giffin
I absolutely love Emily Giffin's books. Each book has gotten better and she has a way of making the ordinary chick novels have an extraordinary ending. I guess you could say I was expecting a lot out of this novel and it didn't quite meet my expectations. I didn't know how I wanted it to end because it is difficult to choose between two characters that you have come to know. I guess in the end I realized that the title of the book is very true. Love is more than just a feeling.

The Good Good Pig by Sy Montgomery

I think I picked up this book two summers ago and never got around to reading it until now. I don't know why I picked it up to begin with but it was definitely something that I needed to read this summer. It's about a pig that basically takes hold of everyone's heart in a small northern town. Sy describes how this pig lives such an easy life and it just gave me prespective on what is important in life.

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

See the previous post. One of the best books that I have ever read. It is still resonating with me even a month after I have finished it. I just keep thinking about the ending and what it meant for so many people.

Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman

It might not have been the best choice to follow The Help but I don't actually know if any book could follow The Help and capture my heart more. This book's ending also threw me for a loop but I am starting to discover that not understanding the ending of the book on the day you finish is not necessarily a bad thing. These are the books that you continue to think about and only truly understand after you have thought about it for awhile. This book is all about the power of women and how a herd of southern women can change the course of one girl's life. It makes me want to become even more southern and have the power to be whoever I am meant to be. It shows how a child's struggle can be changed by the power of unconditional love.

Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling

After much convincing from my little sister and others, I have decided it was probably time for me to tackle this ever so popular series of my childhood. I started about two weeks ago and I am already halfway through the third book. I guess that is saying something about the books addicting nature. I haven't decided if I am going to split the series and maybe read part over Christmas break or next summer or just trudge through them this summer so that I can say that I have partaken in the phenomena of my childhood.

I am hoping HP won't take me the rest of the summer, so I can update this post later in the summer with more amazing books that I have been able to complete.

"The Help"

I have lived below the Mason Dixon line my whole life. Yes, part of that time was spent in Texas which really doesn't adhere to the Civil War era label any more but 12 years of my life have been spent in Alabama and Georgia. Seeing as how all of my elementary school years were spent in Alabama and my high school years spent in Georgia, you could say that my education in history has been somewhat limited and never made it past 1899. We would sit in class for weeks discussing the Civil War and by the time I got to middle school I was ready to be done with "the war". I yearned to learn about the roaring 20s and the Great Depression that followed. The wars that changed the face of world and the challenging times of the 20th century never graced the conversations that took place in most of my high school classrooms. Most of my education in these subject matters came from the literature I read in English classes. Can I say I fully absorbed the ideas that were be presented to me then? No, but now I have the opportunity to learn on my own.

I just finished reading "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett which was as much of an enriching novel as it was a history lesson for me about the the 1960s. Almost every woman in my family has already read this book and when I mentioned that I had started reading it there was a new doorway opened to the history of my family. Most of the people I surround myself with can remember the times when the details described in the book were common place. Those are the types of stories that I like to hear because it makes me realize how much my parents and grandparents have witnessed.

I am tryng to imagine what in today's society is as taboo as the race relations described in "The Help". I still can't decide what I think is going to be my generations' taboo topic. Maybe we won't have one, but it's hard to imagine that we have gotten to a place in our lives where there isn't something that you just can't talk about. We learn from our past and I understand that in the 1960s people didn't know any better but it is continuously shown that most of the time all it takes is one person who is willing to risk their life to make a difference. I am greatful for those people throughout the past 100 years. My life wouldn't be the same if there weren't people fighting for what they believed in and fighting so hard that sometimes they just so happened to change others opinions.

The book points out how important it is for those people to speak their mind. It doesn't even matter how many lies they have to tell to keep people from finding out their secret. In the 1960's, colored women couldn't speak their minds in fear of the consequences. The fact that a white women was willing to take on the task of collecting the stories of the maids and compiling them together to create a complete picture of Jackson, Mississippi shows the bravery of a person who has the chance to change the world. How would we all feel if we got the opportunity to see ourselves through the eyes of someone else? We probably wouldn't enjoy reading about our own actions but if we care as much about our images as the women of the 1960s did then a manuscript of our own lives would probably make us change our tune real quick.

The most surprising thing about the book was the ending. Since the book is told from three different perspectives it's hard to imagine how everything should be tied up. It's not one of those books where you can predict whose going to live happily ever after. There actually isn't complete closure at the end of the novel, yet as a reader you know what comes next. I got the feeling that the three women in the novel had the freedom they deserved which alluded to the years to follow in their lives when most people would also get that freedom.

Definitely a book that made me think, but that's something that I have wanted recently. I want to be challenged by the things I spend my free time on. I want to learn about our past and make a difference in my future. I am glad that such an enjoyable book has opened up my eyes.

Letting Loose

I have discovered that there are very few moments in my life when I can say that I am completely relaxed. Most of the time when I try to forget about everything that is going on in my life I end up worrying more about something slipping my mind. This weekend I had the opportunity to turn off my commitments and just enjoy being a 20 year old sorority girl. Are there things that I should of taken care of? Yes, but I am learning that people understand. It might hurt me in the long run but right now I have to make myself believe that in the end as long as I am keeping up, people will understand.

This weekend, I finally lived like most 20 year olds. I had friends spend the weekend at my house, staying up until 3 a.m. watching chick flicks and talking about random topics. I got to attend my first wedding for a sorority sister and just enjoyed the evening with all the girls who I have come to love the last two years. The most surprising thing to me is how much you can relax while dancing to some of the best music at a wedding. I love when a couple finds a great DJ for their wedding because it makes the whole atmosphere so much more inviting and relaxed (if I can't use that word enough haha). It is surprising to me that I am coming back to music (I wrote about it in a previous post) because it wasn't until this year that I really discovered my passion for it.

Last night at the wedding reception, I let loose! I let myself dance to all those songs that the DJ was spinning and I realized that by being rigid, I am missing out on an experience. As one of my sorority sisters said, "everyone underestimates you". I am always the responsible one and it takes a lot for me to just give in. I am coming to believe that some people think that I can't have fun. I am here to admit that is completely untrue. Am I self conscious about breaking out of my shell? Yeah but I have come to believe that most people are self conscious about a few things. The benefits of breaking out of my shell and just letting loose far outweigh the cost of trying to follow my own personal rule book. And guess what? It's my own rule book, so I can say that rules are meant to be broken and things can change.

I am making an oath to try to let loose more often in the next few months. I am more conscious of how outside activities can effect my academic life, so I will have more of a handle on making sure that I make myself happy in my academic endeavors but I also realize that making yourself happy in all endeavors can be the best thing you can do for yourself. All of these thoughts were validated today when I realized that not allowing yourself to let loose can lead to much worse outcomes than any consequences that might come from not responding to an email within 24 hours. I am glad I got to enjoy this weekend :) I can't wait until the next time that I absolutely "let loose" and enjoy all the little things that life has to offer.




Delta Gamma Girls



Cleaning

I made it through the final weeks of the semester and even though I might not be overly thrilled with how my grades ended up, I can say that I made it through the toughest five months of my life. I will never have the opportunity to relive my sophomore year of college but I can't say that I really want to. I think that everything I have done in these past few months has been a learning experience.

My most recent learning experience came with the realization that some people don't know how to survive in the real world. I will preface with the fact that I in no means have my life figured out. I feel like I should be responsible enough to pay some of my bills or live on my own but then again it is just too easy to not have to worry about those things. I will say though that my parents taught me the right way to treat my surroundings. Even though I didn't like the fact that we got rid of our maid in my teenage years, I understand the importance of cleaning up after myself and consistently cleaning the room that surrounds me. How would I ever survive in the real world if I didn't understand those basic concepts? I got to see how some people do it by cleaning out a very large house over the weekend. We had a maid come on Friday afternoon and by Saturday evening there was two times the trash piled up on the back porch then what the maid had taken care of the day before. My mother would of been horrified if I had left my room in such a disarray. I hope other mothers would feel the same way if they saw what I had to clean up over the weekend. I guess it just shows me that having a little bit of respect for your surroundings can make a difference in the long run. Hopefully I can convey to people next year that respect for their surroundings is something that is expected not a happy accident.

Yes, that whole incident was a learning experience on my part and one that I will take with me if and when I get my own place but I am also learning the importance of purging your belongings. I don't really think I cleaned out my room last summer. I kind of moved stuff around to make room for some the things I brought home from college but mostly I just kept everything in the living room downstairs to be moved back to Athens in the fall. This year I decided that in the fall I am moving back to Athens with a minimalistic attitude. I also got home on Sunday night and realized that I no longer had enough room in my closet for all my clothes. Well after three days of looking through all my belongings I have about four trash bags worth of stuff to get rid of and still not enough space on my bookshelf or closet. How did I accumulate all of these things? I have enough t-shirts from my sorority to get me through a month without repeating. I am over stuff. There is too much of it but yet I know that I am still tied to it in some way. Everything has a meaning and it is not until that meaning completely wears out that I can get rid of something. I have been working for three straight days trying to get my room in order and it will still probably take at least two more to be completely finished. Hopefully after this purging session, I will be good for a while but who knows how much I can accumulate within the year.

Cleaning is a necessary part of life. One that has become more apparent to me within the last week. I know from now on I will make myself take care of my surroundings and question myself more often when I want to buy something because I would really prefer not to have to get rid of something that still has the tag on it three years later. It's a skill that needs to be learned by everyone and one that I seem to be mastering pretty quickly. Oh the simple things in life :)

The "Final" Weeks

I am avoiding doing any productive work as well as planning my schedule for the next few weeks because I know that these moments of total waste are getting fewer and farther between. I am technically not completely wasting time right now because I am at work making minimum wage to sit at a desk but other than the money that is being earned right now, there is nothing going on in my life utterly pressing which means that I have been doing a whole lot of nothing lately. For the first time the whole semester, I am all caught up on reading. I still have a whole lot of problems to work but they are going to help me on the final exam so I can wait a few days to get started on them.

These past few weeks have been undoubtable easier than the rest of the semester for me. I believe that dropping one of my classes had a lot to do with that because it means that I have less reading and problems to do. I guess I will be studying that stuff all summer though, so it might not be as peachy as I think. Having a job has actually made me be more productive because I get pretty bored sitting at the desk, so I get most of my studying done in the morning. I always worry all semester about my grades in classes and then we get to the end of the semester and I just have to do decent on my finals in order to get sufficient grades in classes. I guess my stressing all semester gives me the luxury to relax a little bit during finals. Testing still gets me uptight though, so I will still strive to do the best I can on my finals. Peace of mind just makes my studying process easier. I just don't want to get too relaxed before finals because then I will just freak out.

I am trying to come to terms with the end of this year (another post for another day)! I have done so much in the past few months that I don't want it to end because I don't know how life can get much better. I am on the downhill swing of college. I only have two more years left to experience everything that this chapter of my life has to offer. I think I am going to make a college bucket list this summer. Every restaurant I want to visit, every activity on campus, and every place in the city of Athens that I need to see before I leave my home away from home. That's probably something I could be doing now with all this extra time on my hands but I know that crunch time is right around the corner. This post is actually making me worry about everything that I might need to be doing between now and the end of the year.

I hope that I have time to post within the next few weeks but my school work should come first. We are getting down to the wire and I am determined to finish out this semester strong!

Freedom

I learn something new every day in the Terry College of Business. Yes, I know I am in school and learning is why I struggle out of bed every morning, but I never realized how much learning takes place outside of books and tests.

We had a speaker in my management class this morning and he was telling us ways to succeed in the business world. All of his points started to make me think about my life as an undergraduate student and the life I want to have after I leave the University. I really have no idea what's in store for me when I enter the "real world" which makes my Type A personality go a little crazy. I want my life to be planned but each day I am in college I realize it's easier to have long term goals and just live my life to the best of my abilities each day to achieve those goals. I believe that my actions influence the opportunities that I am presented with on a daily basis but I also have to believe that there is a plan for my life that is out of my control.

All of those factors considered, I tend to question "life in general" fairly often. Will I be happy working in the business world? Will I be able to have the family I have always dreamed about? How will my dreams change when I do enter the work force? I have always had a picture of how I thought my life would end up but with each passing "lesson" I am realizing that my dreams and the path that my life is taking right now are different. Since I am unaware of what the real world has in store for me, I don't know when my dreams and the life I am living will cross paths but I know that when I get to that part of my life I will learn how to handle whatever life throws at me.

I think the lecture that I heard today was just the icing on the cake of a balanced week for me. Yes, I had a finance test last night that the professor had to apologize for after the fact because he didn't even realize how brutal it was before making us sit through it for 2.5 hours, but that is just one slot of time in a week that is made up of 168 hours. I also took time this week to reconnect with Habitat's overall purpose and help people I care about not lose their minds over preparing for this weekend. I am so content with my life this week that it makes me wonder what is lurking around the corner. Good or bad, I am ready for whatever comes next.

Moral of the story: one of my peers this morning asked our guest speaker "how do you measure success?" and our speaker replied that he had no idea how much he was worth but he knows that he has the freedom to do what he wants when he wants to do. I think that might be the perfect answer to that question. Who doesn't want the ability to travel the world on your own ticket without anything holding you back? Traveling the world is definitely not the first thing on my list but it's just the idea of knowing that you control your life because you have the resources to make your own decisions that is empowering. Now, I have to take these lessons and actually apply them to my life going forward...should be an interesting ride!

Spring Break 2011!

So, my big plans for spring break consist of me being at home for seven straight days of peace and relaxation! Go ahead and call me lame for not partaking in all the wildness that takes place on the white sandy beaches of the gulf! I fully plan on partaking in all that wildness next year when I can legally have a good time!

Coming home for spring break is exactly what I needed this year. The first two and half months of this semester have been a huge learning experience for me. I have had to figure out how to time manage more than I ever had to before and I haven't been doing that good of a job. It's really hard to live in a sorority house because there is always something else you would rather be doing. There is always someone around willing to procastinate with you. My living situation has been both good and bad for me because it has forced me to be more outgoing and get to know the people that I live with but it has also made me think that being social is the only important aspect of life and it is having negative effects on my performance in school.

I am also taking some of the hardest classes that I have ever been in this semester. No one can really talk until they actually start to get into their major classes. Learning what you are actually going to be practicing in the real world is a whole nother ball game than just memorizing facts for a required lower level class. I don't want to be the Accounting major without a life though. I refuse to only focus on my studies because in the end that is not going to make me a better person. I need to learn how to interact with people as well as how to give back to my community because both of those things can only add to my career later in life. I want to succeed but I also want to make sure that I enjoy the ride.

I needed to come home for Spring Break to rejuvenate my life. I need to get caught up on school work so that I can go back feeling confident about the rest of the semester. I also just need to rest and reconnect with people I haven't talked to in a while. Taking a break is what everyone needs once in a while.

Today was my first day of spring break and it was a day of perfect balance. I got to catch up on sleep, catch up on some of my tv shows and started the process of catching up on school work. I am so looking forward to this week! I know that might make me a nerd but I don't care. Taking care of yourself is the most important aspect of your life and this week of balance is just what the doctor ordered!

The name of the game is taking care of yourself, because you're going to live long enough to wish you had.” - Grace Mirabella