Not Even a Blink

A Wrap on My Freshman Year of College

I DIDN'T EVEN BLINK. This past school year has hands down been the fastest year of my life. If every year of college is like this, I'm going to have a degree in no time! People alwayssssss said that college is the fastest four years of your life, but holy crap. They really weren't kidding. I didn't even realize how quickly it had all gone by until I finished my last final last Thursday. It hit me like a ton of bricks. My first year in college was... over. Just like that. Where did the time go? Did I get anything accomplished? Did anything change? Turns out A LOT changed in what felt like such a short amount of time. So much changed that I actually have difficulties remembering life before college. It's shocking really, but I'm so proud of the strides I made this year to become the person I am today. I've decided to compile a list of things I've learned since I started college just 9 months ago. Just finished your freshman year of college? I'm sure you can relate.

10 Things I've learned in my freshman year of college.

1. It's okay to eat by yourself.

2. There's never an inappropriate time for pizza. Or any food for that matter.

3. That being said, the freshman 15 is a real thing, so you've got to work off that pizza.

4. It's a lot harder to make friends, but the ones you do make, will be some of the best friends you've ever had.

5. Not everybody is Christian. (Clearly, I knew this beforehand, but I really felt its impact this year).

6. People are different. Like really really different.

7. Professors (the good ones anyways) really care about you and can be some of the best mentors and super influential if you allow them to be. 

8. Going away is really awesome, but you can still "be on your own" while living at home.

9. Nothing, and I mean NOTHING is like high school. At all.

10. College is absolutely the best time to really discover yourself, and I plan on taking full advantage of that for the next three years. 

Overall, I've had an amazing year at NKU, and I'm really happy with my choice to go there despite some curve balls that were thrown my way. I've met so many awesome people, friends and professors, (and some professors who are now friends!) and I can't wait for the next three years in this phase of my life. There's nothing else quite like it. To incoming freshman (especially soon to be Norse), get ready for one of the best and most life-changing years of your life. You honestly have NO idea what you're in for, but I'm willing to bet, this time next year, you'll be saying some of the same exact stuff I'm saying right now. :)

Here's to the end of a great school year and the beginning of a great summer!

Stay classy,

Megan LouAnn

Actions Speak Louder than Words

Consider this statement: actions speak louder than words. I'm sure it's one you've heard many times in the past, and we can all understand its basic meaning - what you do is more important than what you say. However, words are noticed way more than actions. When someone blatantly tells us something, we have a better chance of remembering it than if they did something that could potentially convey the same meaning. We are able to make connections with words and give ourselves explanations based on those words, but often times, we aren't even considering actions. Why does this matter? Ask yourself how many times you've pushed someone away, be it a friend, significant other, family member, whoever, because you felt like they didn't care as much as you did. Maybe they rarely spoke about how much you meant to them, how much they cared, or how much they valued you. This made you question if any of the relationship was real in the first place and then there you were, pushing yourself away. However, later, you found yourself thinking: 'Crap. They really did care. They did so much for me. They treated me with nothing but kindness. How could I not see that?' Here's how: you were too focused on the words they said or didn't say and less focused on the actions they took. It's toxic. It is the source of the saying: "You don't know what you've got until it's gone".  It's human nature to want to hear what other people are thinking. It's easier for our brains to process because hello - it's straight forward, right there, in plain English. But as easy as it might be for someone to tell you how much they care, it is just as easy for them to tell you lies. Almost always, the truth lies behind the action. It's clear as day how someone feels about you if you pay attention to how they truly treat you, but that's just it - you have to consciously be aware of what they're doing. I'm not saying you should completely disregard what people tell you, but couple it with how they treat you, and I promise, you'll have a clearer idea of what you mean to them. Don't let those countless acts of kindness go unnoticed, no matter how small, and remember that for you to fully show someone you care about them, take action. It's that simple.

That's all I have for this week. Thanks for reading, and feel free to leave a comment below. I appreciate all feedback. :)

Stay classy,
Megan LouAnn

Time

Time

OK I'm going to attempt to keep this post short and sweet this week, but you know how that always turns out... Anyways. Time. Weird concept if you think about it too much, but it might be one of if not the most important things we have while here on earth. It's been a long TIME since I've made a blog post, but that's just it. I've lost track of my time because I've been so busy and preoccupied with a billion other things. I forgot to just take a little extra TIME out of my day to sit down, and put some thought into words. But here I am world. Also speaking of time. It flies. Duh. But I mean it reallllllllly flies. I only have four weeks of school left, finals, and then my freshman year of college is complete. 

I mean seriously, what the heck. I don't even think I've blinked yet, and it's almost over. But looking back on it, so much has happened. I've changed a great deal and learned so many valuable lessons both in and outside of the classroom. But that shall be saved for another post possibly four or five weeks from now hint hint. That aside, the sad thing about time is that we often wish it away. Sure, maybe it's a part of human nature, but why do we do it. How many times do you find yourself thinking, "I wish we could just fast forward through this class." or "I wish we could just fast forward to next weekend." or sometimes even "I wish we could just fast forward to college." No, it's not a bad thing to look forward to something. That's great, but we shouldn't just piss away the time we have before that. Every second is precious no matter how bored or annoyed or stressed we are. It's all about "living in the present" per say. It's SO difficult, but it the best state of mind to be in. Reminiscing can be great too, but stay grounded and enjoy where you're at because that's all you really have.  

To further implement the beauty of time...

Same car. Same people.

That's all I have for this week's post! Thank you for reading and as always....

Stay classy,

Megan LouAnn

It's Ok

For those of you who belong to #BachelorNation, the title of this week's blog post might be immediately familiar as recent Bachelor, Juan Pablo's, new catch phrase. Even if you don't know who Juan Pablo or The Bachelor is, this post is still for you. Juan Pablo went down in history as the world's worst Bachelor, and I'm about to describe to you just why that is. Guys - take notes from Juan Pabs, and be sure to never ever follow them. Ladies - listen closely, and be sure to never ever date a Juan Pabs.

3 Reasons Juan Pablo was the worst Bachelor ever.

1. He made no sense. Ever. 

JP took the saying "talking in circles" to a whole new level. The man not only talked in circles, but zigzags, squares, rhombuses, you name it. He was all over the place, and he never made his points or ideas clear. One of the contestants on the show said, "I wish I was dumber." JP later blamed this on the language barrier, but the guy has been a citizen of the United States for 10+ years. It's not a language barrier but perhaps an intellectual one. The most unfortunate thing about this all is that he was able to talk his way out of any situation. The girls would become so confused, so they just let whatever he was trying to explain go. I don't know if it was the accent or his favorite way to end any conversation: "It's ok." that allowed him to bs his way through just about anything. 

2. He made zero attempts to get to know any of the women, but instead, he turned any conversation into one about himself.

Alright, so we all know that the Bachelor is really only a 6-week course of filming, so clearly, time is precious, and any smart man who truly cared about finding love, would spend as much time as he could to get to know the women that he could potentially propose to at the end of that fast-paced 6 weeks. However, this was not the case for Juan Pabs. Several of the women on the show explained that they never had the chance to talk about anything really meaningful, deep, or personal to JP because every time such a thing would come up, Juan was quick to change the subject.... to himself. Is Juan Pablo really that big of an egotistical asshole? Yes. It takes a lot for a woman to open herself up to another person, let alone the rest of America. So for him to immediately shoot her down, that's his loss because those are the women who could have turned out to be great wife/mother material. He was looking for a woman to just shut up and listen to him. Be in his shadow. Be a trophy wife. (I could go on and on about Nikki Ferrell and her stupid decision to stay with the guy, but that's too much ranting to fit into one post!)

3. Finally, he's rude. Period.

Where to begin with this one... Juan was rude on and off of the show. Even his family warned both of the final contestants that Juan can be "a lot to deal with" and "mean". Several of the girls left JP on their own because of how nasty he was. One girl said he told her that she "hardly made it this far." How is that supposed to make her feel? Like crap. Lucky for this girl, Andi, she became a fan favorite, and her strong willed personality landed her a spot as the new Bachelorette. However, Juan Pab's real personality came out during the live "After the Final Rose" show when he got pissed at the host, Chris Harrison, for apparently interrupting him. To get to the point, Juan simply thinks the world revolves around him, and unfortunately for him, that's definitely not the case. However, he will forever be notorious for the world's worst Bachelor.




Now, I suppose since I talked about all the reasons why JP was a horrid Bachelor, I guess I should mention just ONE reason why he could have made a good one.

1 Reason Juan Pablo COULD Have Been a Great Bachelor 

1. Just look at him.

That about wraps up this week's blog post. Remember: GUYS-don't be a Juan Pabs. GIRLS-don't date a Juan Pabs. Thanks for reading, and I'll see you all next week :)

Stay classy,
Megan LouAnn

Fabio

Staycation time!

Blehhfjdsakjfewia. That's a little insight into my wonderful mind these past 2 weeks. I really think this week was just as time consuming and annoying as finals week was before Christmas Break. It was the week before the midterm and spring break, and my goodness, I promise you E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G. was due all at once. More than one exam or midterm a day, everyday. And now that it's all over, I still have the lingering feeling that I should be doing something productive because something will be due soon! However, luckily, that's not that case, and I get to relax for 9 days. NINE DAYS. That is amazing. Although vacation plans didn't work out, I think it's almost for the best. I really need time to just breathe and give my mind a break. Not that I couldn't do that on a beach somewhere.... sighhhh. But this way, I'm not worrying about all the traveling and planning and what not. Not to mention I'm saving some extra mula which I have recently realized is kind of super important. Allow me to explain. 

Yet another realization that I'm growing up!

Boo. Although growing up is really exciting, it comes with so many new responsibilities, and as much as I want to just gather all my things and move out, it's not that easy. First of all, I've recently gotten a new car - bye bye Neon. Yay! Right? Well, yes, I loveeeee my new Ford Focus whom I designated as Fabio. Cute, huh? However, those car payments are a tough pill to swallow. I can't just go out and splurge on gifts for myself like I used to (a little more often than I'd like to admit). I have to SAVE my money now. Woh.... save money? What's up with that?! But if I ever want to be able to afford to really get out there on my own, that's exactly what I need to do.  It's all new to me, but it's nice knowing that I'm working toward a goal that is helping me to become a mature adult. I love my family, don't get me wrong, but I think I'm ready to take a few steps away, and paying for something like a CAR all on my own is a great feeling. It seems like just yesterday I was driving my little Barbie jeep around the neighborhood! :)

Snap snap

So in some of my earlier posts, I talked about my passion for photography. It's hands down one of my favorite art forms, and recently, I was able to attend a photography exhibit at school, and I LOVED it. The theme for all of the photographers' displays was "people" which happens to be my favorite kind of photography - portraits. It was really awesome to see different ideas the photographers came up with, and it pushed me to get back behind the lens of my very standard camera and take a few shots of my very beautiful sister, Madison. I'm hoping to get a newer and better camera for my birthday, and over the summer, I want to look into taking some photography classes. Here are a few of my favorite shots of Mady. I also did her hair and makeup for this shoot, and I think it's a fabulous look on her.  

Quaint little smile.

I think I told her to think of someone she dislikes. Oops. Death glare for sure. But a gorgeous one!

Eyes.

Stunning. That's pretty much all else I have to say on that one. I really need to invest in a better camera and venture away from just shooting Madison, but as stated in above section, I'm saving money, so it will just have to wait for now!

Until next time...

Stay classy,

Megan LouAnn :)

Being in Love and Being Lazy

Okay so I obviously wrote the following portion of this post a week ago on Valentine's Day, and I believe I passed out right after, soooooo one week later, here I am finishing this post! I've been busy!

Love is in the air…

Alright, let's get the obvious over with. It's Valentines's Day, and I bet some of you are expecting me to complain and whine about it because - hello I'm like super single. But no, I actually enjoy Valentine's Day. Sure, I'll make jokes, but honestly, it's a great day. It's not just couples being all mushy gushy bleh, bleh, bleh. It's really just about love. It doesn't matter if a little 8 yr old gave me a Valentine, it still brightened my day. My sisters (yes, I have two, Madison, and then Justine, a newly adopted sibling of mine) and I went to Build-a-Bear and made each other bears, and it was a ton of fun. My mom had Gigi's cupcakes delivered to our front door by the Florence Freedom mascot, and it was the sweetest thing in the world. I had a fabulous Valentine's Day. So for all of you out there who moped your way through today, stop making yourself miserable, and open up your eyes to the other forms of love all around you! Love isn't just from relationships, but from friends and family too!

This about sums up my Valentine's Day, luvvvvvvvvvvved it. 

My Vow to Stop Being So Lazy

We live in a generation very, VERY different from our parents', and it's fairly obvious most of the significant changes come from rapid technological advances. Yes, this has benefited society in countless ways, from new medical treatments to easier communication across the board, but with all of the technological advances comes a lot of laziness. It starts small. Instead of walking up to the front door and ringing the door bell to pick someone up, we sit in our cars and send a simple "Here" text message. Some of us can start our cars from the warm indoors on a cold winter morning by the press of a button (I for one, definitely do not have this luxury). But all these little things add up to a lot of laziness, and then we become comfortable being lazy. SO many teenagers can sit down in front of the TV or computer screen and literally watch 10 hours of Netflix. I'm guilty. You're probably guilty. And a lazy day like this is okay every ONCE in a while, but honestly, being this lazy scares the poop out of me. When you put this life into perspective, there are so many things to try, do, see, and learn, and we will never have enough time. But we do have some time here on Earth, so why are we not doing everything we can to make the most out of it? I don't want to waste 10 hours in front of a projected image. I want to spend 10 hours doing something I have never done before. I want to stop being so lazy, and actually get out and see what else the world has to offer other than 6 seasons, 120 hours, 5 days of Gossip Girl. So here is my vow to STOP being so lazy, and START exploring much much more. It's easier said than done, but I'm ready. You should be too.

Randomness because that's what I do

1. I have been wanting to get a tattoo for a while now, and I think I'm finally going to get it in the near future! Yay! Also, I can't stand when people say "That tattoo has no meaning" or "He/she only got that tattoo because it's 'hipster'" Like no. If someone is getting a tattoo (aka placing something on themselves for the rest of their life) it has meaning. They might not give you a reason, but to them, there's a reason. So stop being a little poo head, and let them be.

2. I've been asked a lot lately why I write a blog, so I figured I'd remind my readers and myself of the answer. I write a blog for a few main reasons.

1. I really enjoy writing. Always have, always will. I've just gone from writing about cute little stories I made up when I was about 12 years old to writing about real things I see happening around me, and hopefully one day I'll be published for something whatever it may be - book, article, I don't care. 
2. I think blogging is a great way for me to connect with those who I don't get to see very often, and let them know of some things going on in my life. I've been told a few times by people that I don't see much that they really like reading my blog because they feel it helps keep us close even if we're not together nearly as much as in the past. (Shout out to my girl McKenzie)
3. Finally, I blog to keep a record of some of the most unique years of my life - college. I love to look back on memories, especially through pictures, but I also think this blog is a great way to do just that.

Okay now that I've sufficiently expressed my love for blogging, I'm out! It's been real, see you lovely readers next week! Maybe! You never know with me. 

Stay classy,

Megan LouAnn :)

Slim Shadyyy - a guide to DTR

DTR

For those of you lameos out there who don't watch MTV's Awkward (watch it, people.), DTR stands for "Define the Relationship". Since Valentine's Day is coming up in a week, I figured it would be a good idea for me to help some of you DTR if you are caught in the limbo of not knowing whether or not to get your boo thang a gift or not. Those of you who know me might be thinking to themselves "who is she to be giving relationship advice?!" because yeah, well I've been single for close to 2 years now. Ouch. But that doesn't mean I haven't been through countless trial and error processes of everything leading up to an actual relationship. So yes, I'm drawing from my own personal experiences, my friend's personal experiences, and summarizing it into a few generic situations you could find yourself in whether you're in a relationship or in that unknown phase where you just don't know what the heck is going on. Phew. Here goes nothing.

1. The Repeat Offender

Alright, this sucker just keeps popping up in the confusion of "should we try it AGAIN?!" Is it worth it? Why hasn't it ever worked out in the past? This could be the ex you just can't let go of, or maybe just someone that you've always had something special with but haven't acted upon it. They're the one who you finally let go and then a simple text saying, "Hey I miss you, let's hang out!" draws you right back into the mess of things. I know you've all had something like this, and I think this is one of the most confusing situations to DTR. Obviously, there has been reasons why it never worked out in the past, but that can just be trivial things such as timing. You've also got something that makes you hold on. So what do you do? My best advice: decide to dive right in and REALLY try to see where things could go, or let it go. Don't let it be an in between situation any longer. Tell yourselves, yes, let's go on a few dates and decide if it's going to work once and for all, OR next time you get that "I miss you" text, tell yourself you don't want to go down that road again. It's easier said than done I KNOW. But if you're ever going to get past it, you've got to picture this guy/girl with a "yes" and "no" box next to them, and then check one. There are no more "maybes".  

2. BFF or BF

As far as identifying this relationship, I think it's pretty self explanatory. You are really good friends -REALLY good friends, but there's also that chemistry between the two of you, and you don't want to ignore it anymore. This is one that I'm really drawing from personal experience, and one that I'm not very happy with the outcome. Everyone always says that the best relationships come from being friends first which I'm going to necessarily disagree with. And I also think if it's really bugging you to find out if you could be something more than just friends then by all means go for it. You'll never know if you never try. However, make sure going into it, you're both on the same page as to what would happen if it ended up not working out, especially if you value your friendship a lot. To go from talking to someone almost all day every day, to walking past them without even acknowledging each other, sucks. Period. You've really got to make a promise to each other that you're willing to get past the hurt feelings or awkwardness in order to be friends again because no valuable friendship is worth losing over a failed relationship. End of story.

3. The Next Morning

Okay, what in the world do I mean by "The Next Morning"? This is the guy you made out with at a party, possibly intoxicated, and you're left wondering the next day if it could be anything more than that: a drunk hookup. Honestly, nine times out of ten, the answer is going to be no. First, you might not even really know anything about him/her, especially important details like their oh I don't know... name? number? But okay, let's say you do know their name, and they saved their number in your phone. Now comes the actual deciphering to decide if they were really into you or not. First, you have to ask yourself if they actually held conversations with you. Did they show an interest in actually getting to know you or were they more interested in the obvious? How drunk were the both of you? Alcohol has a funny way of making you do things contrary to your "norm". Unless he/she really went out of their way to talk to you for a while and wasn't really drunk, I'd just let it go. Sure, you had fun with them, but as far as turning into a possible relationship, the chances are slim shadyyy. On the contrary, if you really do want to see if they have an interest in something more, wait a day or two, text them, and find out, but just be aware that they might just reject the idea all together. It's cool, it happens, and maybe you'll be the 1/10 that starts into something more. 

That's alllllll folks. Have fun DTRing. It really isn't fun when you think about it, but after you DTR, you'll feel a LOT better about things. As for me, I'll go ahead and DTR my relationship with food. I think he might propose soon.... :D 

Until next time..

Stay classy,

Megan LouAnn